Ministers have been accused of betraying renters after Downing Street confirmed that a promised ban on no-fault evictions will be delayed until potentially lengthy reforms to the judicial system are completed.
The renters reform bill received its second reading in the Commons on Monday, giving MPs the first chance to vote on it, with a series of Conservative backbenchers pushing against the ban on section 21 evictions in England.
The bill passed its second reading without a division and will undergo further scrutiny at a later stage.
Section 21 evictions allow landlords to give householders two months’ notice to leave without needing to give a reason, something the Conservatives promised to end in their 2019 manifesto as part of wider reforms to tenants’ and leaseholders’ rights.
While the measure will remain in the bill, a government response on Friday to a separate select committee report on private renting said implementation of the ban would wait until changes to speed up the courts system, such as digitising processes, were complete.
The Tory backbenchers Desmond Swayne and Daniel Kawczynski questioned how the bill would make it “easier” for landlords to let go of tenants displaying antisocial behaviour or for landlords facing tenants who owed them money.
Marcus Fysh, the Conservative MP for Yeovil, said the bill would “drive private landlords out of the market”, adding: “And is this not entirely contrary to the government’s main aim right now of bringing inflation down?
“Private rents are the key cause of core inflation. And this is disastrous for every renter in the country who wants to see a well-supplied housing market.”
Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, who is leading on the bill, wrote to Tory MPs saying it was important to implement the changes to the courts system to speed up cases, so as to help landlords evict unruly or antisocial tenants once no-fault evictions are banned.
Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson confirmed this was the case, and was unable to say how long this might delay the measure.
“The bill will deliver on the government’s manifesto commitment to abolish no-fault evictions. On the courts point specifically, obviously it’s right that the courts are ready for what will be the most significant reforms to tenancy law in three decades,” he said.
“It is obviously right that we put in place the necessary provisions before introducing that power.”
The implementation of measures in the bill “will be phased”, he said, adding: “It is a significant reform. And it’s essential that tenants and landlords have swift and effective access to justice once that power comes into force.”
A source in the levelling up department said it was “well aware of need for urgency” and that officials there would work with the Ministry of Justice on the issue.
They added that the select committee report into renting, compiled by a cross-party group of MPs, had also recommended the abolition of no-fault evictions should only happen once possession claims could be settled more quickly.
Sunak and Gove have faced a potential rebellion over the ban on no-fault evictions from some Tory MPs, about a fifth of whom are landlords, according to their register of interests.
Some MPs have argued that barring no-fault evictions would simply make a number of landlords exit the rental market, reducing supply and pushing up prices.
Labour has previously calculated that since the idea of no-fault evictions was first announced in April 2019, more than 70,000 households have left their homes due to section 21 notices.
The party said that if the ban was delayed to the end of January 2025, the last possible time for a general election, more than 30,000 more notices could be served.
Angela Rayner, the shadow levelling up secretary, said: “The government has betrayed renters with this grubby deal with the Tory backbenches. The Conservatives’ long-promised ban on no-fault evictions has majority and cross-party support across the house, but this flip-flop kicks it into the long grass.
“Having broken the justice system, they are now using their own failure to indefinitely delay keeping their promises to renters in the most underhand way. This comes at a heavy price for renters who have been let down for too long already.”
Rayner told the Commons the bill was “better late than never”, following a series of delays to its passage through parliament.
She said her party would not oppose the bill at second reading, adding: “Which may be more than can be said from the benches behind [Gove]. After nearly five years of foot-dragging, it appears they need to be appeased with yet more delays. We disagree with that.”
The Liberal Democrats are calling on the 68 Conservative MPs who are declared as landlords to state whether they have ever used a section 21 notice to evict people from a home they own.
