Section 21 and fixed term tenancies will be ditched immediately when the Renters’ Rights Bill is implemented on 6th April, top property lawyer David Smith has predicted.
He believes that after the legislation gets Royal Assent – most likely before conference season this September - the industry will get six months to comply.
Smith, at Spector Constant & Williams, says April is a traditional time to bring in new laws. “The 6th April would also allow the government to paint the date as being something that was dictated by convention rather than them caving to vested landlord interests,” he explains.
“Given that some tenant groups want Section 21 got rid of immediately on Royal Assent, the government sets itself up for trouble if it tells people now that there will be a gap of any significance between Assent and implementation.”
It’s clear that the government will ditch Section 21 on the implementation date, and that inevitably means getting rid of ASTs and fixed term tenancies and changing section 8 grounds as well to make it all work, says Smith.
However, he does not see Awaab’s law or the Decent Homes Standard being ready by then, as they are in ongoing consultations, nor the redress scheme as the government has yet to make clear how many schemes there will be, let alone who will be filling that role.
“I see no reason not to make all the changes on pets, discrimination, and written tenancy agreements at the same time as much of the underlying guidance around that is broadly ready to go,” he adds. “I would assume that the new rent increase process will come into effect at the same time too.
“I don’t know what the current status of the PRS database is and I would not expect it to be ready by April but there is value in getting on with it to give landlords time to sign up.”
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