The Renters Rights Act has significantly overhauled the private rental sector, and the ability of landlords to regain possession of residential property. No fault evictions/Section 21 Notices and Assured Shorthold Tenancies have been abolished. The legislation is deliberately geared around giving greater security for tenants and making eviction requirements more onerous for landlords. Arrears need to be higher, notice requirements are more stringent, and the eviction court process will take longer.
The only way for a private sector landlord to obtain possession without agreement by the tenant is to serve a Section 8 notice. This notice requires a landlord to rely on a specified ground, or multiple grounds. There have been some changes to existing grounds and the addition of some new ones.
The grounds are split into mandatory and discretionary grounds. Mandatory grounds are those where, if the landlord proves the notice ground requirements are met, the court must order possession to the landlord. Discretionary grounds are those where, even if the landlord proves that the ground is satisfied, the court can still refuse possession if it decides that eviction wouldn’t be reasonable in all the circumstances.
The new section 8 grounds which are likely to be relevant to most private sector landlords are:
- Ground 1 – the landlord or a family member are moving into the property themselves. If the Landlord or a close family member wants to live in the property, they can serve a Section 8 notice with four months’ notice to the tenant. The notice cannot be served in the first 12 months of the tenancy.
- Ground 1A – the landlord wishes to sell the property. A Section 8 notice can be served giving the tenant four months’ notice. Again, the notice cannot be served in the first 12 months of the tenancy.
- Ground 8 – the tenant is in rent arrears. To rely on this ground, there must be three or more months’ (or 13 weeks) rent arrears. The landlord must give four months notice.
- Ground 11 – the tenant is in persistent arrears. This will be relevant where a tenant has repeatedly delayed paying rent must may not meet the threshold required for Ground 8. The landlord will need to give four weeks notice. This ground is a discretionary ground and so there is no guarantee that an order will be made.
- Ground 12 – the tenant has breached one or more terms in the tenancy agreement, not related to rent. The landlord will need to give two weeks notice. Again, this is a discretionary ground.
All of the Section 8 grounds will require evidence in support. It will therefore be important that landlords consider what evidence they have, and if a possession claim is required, this will need to be presented to the court correctly. If the evidence is not presented correctly, the possession claim will fail and the landlord might be ordered to pay the tenants costs, all whilst arrears continue to accrue.
Tenants will also be able to defend the proceedings and make counterclaims including where deposits have not been protected, where there is alleged disrepair in the property and where they say that rent is not properly due. The new regime is likely to result in more defences to possession claims, as tenants can now put landlords to proof as to the evidence supporting their grounds. In turn we anticipate elongated timescales in court claims because more court time will be needed, and with greater incentive to defend and counterclaim, more complex legal and factual arguments are likely to be run, even if they have no merit, simply to buy time.
