Government announces that no fault evictions will not be abolished until after court improvements.

In August 2022 we published a blog post detailing what was known at that stage of the Government’s plans to abolish ‘no fault’ evictions under Section 21 Housing Act 1988. That post can be accessed here and also summarises what section 21 is, why it is popular with landlords and unpopular with tenants.
 
On 20 October 2023 the Government responded to a report by the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee on Reforming the Private Rented Sector, the response stated that section 21 will not be abolished until there have been improvements to the court system:
 
In our white paper, ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector,’ we set out a range of court improvements to target those areas which can currently cause frustration and delays. We are working closely with the Ministry of Justice and HM Courts and Tribunal Service to drive forward improvements to the court possession process so that users have a modern, digital service that will align with the reforms to tenancy law.
 
Implementation of the new system will not take place until we judge sufficient progress has been made to improve the courts. That means we will not proceed with the abolition of section 21, until reforms to the justice system are in place.
 
No time frame has been suggested but court improvements will inevitably take a lengthy period. It therefore appears that unless the Government’s position changes section 21 will be here to stay for a while longer.