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The Renters (Reform) Bill must come with court reform
The abolition of no-fault evictions will be a disaster without improvement of the court system, writes Ian Fletcher, director of policy (real estate) at the British Property Federation
Responsible landlords use the courts sparingly, but there are instances when going to court is the only option.
Take the case of Miss X from Hampshire – a real-life example. Miss X was given a tenancy by a landlord and within weeks of moving in, reports of anti-social behaviour began. This then became 19 serious incidents at the property, including violence, noise disturbance, drug use and property damage.
In addition, further cases were reported of targeted attacks on neighbours by Miss X with cat excrement. It was also ascertained that she was subletting her 2nd bedroom, against the terms of her lease.
The behaviour of Miss X and her guests also had a detrimental effect on neighbouring properties. Neighbours cited that they were not able to enjoy their home, experienced disturbance to their sleep and feared injury to themselves.
Five tenancies were ended citing Miss X’s anti-social behaviour as the reason for moving out. All exiting residents expressed their disappointment in the reason why they had had to move home and the length of time it was taking to resolve matters through the courts.
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During a year and a half, Miss X’s landlord incurred additional security costs of £5,808, unpaid rent by Miss X of £12,025, legal fees of £27,300, and loss of rent from neighbouring empty properties of £11,700. This is a total of £56,833.
The Renters (Reform) Bill going through Parliament was developed by the current government. Its main provisions reflect many months, and indeed years, of consultation with organisations representing landlords and tenants.
The bill therefore rests on a strong consensus and has wide support. This is because it seeks to strike a balance. Landlords will lose no-fault evictions, giving tenants greater security in their homes. In return, to help landlords gain back their property, there are improved grounds for possession.
“Landlords will lose no-fault evictions, giving tenants greater security in their homes. In return, to help landlords gain back their property, there are improved grounds for possession”
This balance, however, also has a third strand to it. A promise by government as part of reform. Not legislative, but practical, to deliver court reform. This is hugely important to landlords because any ground for possession relies on a well-functioning court system. If courts are under resourced and cannot cope with increased volume, then the balance in renters reform breaks down.
In other words, the strengthened grounds for possession are only as good as access to the courts for a landlord seeking to exercise them.
To provide assurance, housing secretary Michael Gove stipulated in October 2023 that the abolition of no-fault evictions would depend on progress on court reforms. It was a statement hugely welcomed by landlords, subject to what ‘progress’ meant in practice?
It is important to explore some myths that have grown up around this statement. The first is that progress has been met because court processing times rose during the pandemic and are back to normal levels. But it was never the case that court reform, as part of renters reform, merely entailed the restoration of ‘normal’, otherwise why call for reform?
Reform is needed because ‘normal’ is a very poor service, and with landlords relying solely on court-approved repossessions, normal is all they have. The likelihood is that normal would get worse too, as the workload of the courts increases with the new system.
A second myth is that there would be very few additional cases under the new system. Most tenants do not contest current possession claims, and so the argument goes they won’t under the new system. But at present, contesting a possession claim is relatively futile because landlords can rely on the no-faults ground.
“It was never the case that court reform, as part of renters reform, merely entailed the restoration of ‘normal’, otherwise why call for reform?”
When that is gone, it is unrealistic to expect that landlords and tenants’ behaviour will not change. Greater insight on the impact of the reforms on court workloads would be helpful, but the government won’t publish its projections.
A significant example of reform is court digitalisation. This would help improve case processing times, provide a far more customer-friendly service and help the system cope with greater volumes. The government is committed to digitalisation for possession cases, which is great, but it won’t provide any detail on how that project is progressing.
Fundamentally, court reform may sound slightly esoteric, but it is vital to the functioning of the new system, and to the people who use it. The British Property Federation supports the Renters (Reform) Bill, but the government must deliver on its promise of court reform. If it does not, landlords like those of Miss X will never forgive it.
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