Property Matters

Is there life beyond section 21?

Serving a notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, has been one route for private landlords to seek possession of their property after the end of a fixed term of an assured shorthold tenancy. Are we now seeing the beginning of the end of section 21?

How have we got here?

On 2 July 2018, the Government launched an eight-week consultation seeking views on longer tenancies, which proposed a new, three-year tenancy model. The responses numbered just over 8,500, including responses from a survey run by Shelter. Whilst there was some evidence that tenants felt a degree of insecurity in shorter-term tenancies, there was no consensus from tenant responders over the preferred length of tenancies. Landlords, on the other hand, wanted to maintain the status quo of the typical six or 12-month tenancy.

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