Section 21 Accelerated Repossession will be scrapped

The new government's Queen's Speech included the scrapping of Section 21 Notices which give Oxford landlords access to a mandatory and accelerated process for achieving vacant possession through the courts.

Instead Oxford landlords will be forced to rely on the longer-winded Section 8 Notice which includes greater discretion for the courts, albeit with some mandatory criteria defined.  This author worries that without reform of the courts and the creation of a dedicated Housing Court, the already congested courts will not be able to cope, causing landlords greater losses and much longer periods before they can regain possession of their property.

The Section 8 process is well-established and broadly fit for purpose provided that landlords can secure early court dates.  Costs of Section 8 are typically higher, and landlords have to represent themselves or hire a solicitor, which further increases their costs.

Unfortunately Section 21 Notices which have come to referred to as 'no fault evictions' has been abused by a few rogue landlords, and those few bad apples have ensured that the vast majority of landlords who have used the process correctly now have to pay the price.  The worst hot spots for abuse of Section 21 are Manchester, St Helens, Liverpool, Birkenhead, The London boroughs of Croydon and Central London, followed by Stratford, Bromley, Clerkenwell and Shoreditch make up the top 10.