The government has announced several radical reforms of the private rental market recently including banning fees charges to tenants and reducing the level of rental deposits landlords can ask for.

But now it wants to even further and has revealed plans to prevent landlords evicting tenants without 'good reason', effectively ushering in a new system of open-ended rental agreements.

Getting rid of 'no fault' evictions will give tenants more security when renting in the private sector, it is claimed, although landlords will still be able to eject a tenant if they want to sell the property or move back into it themselves.

The new measures are to be put to tenants, landlords and letting agents for comment during an eight-week consultation process to start soon.

If this is successful, existing laws will be modified or repealed and soon landlords will no longer be able to evict tenants on a whim and at short notice - as is the case at the moment - and instead will have to prove that they have ‘good reason’ to regain the property and eject the tenant.

May banks on tenants

The change in the law is so seismic that unusually, even the Prime Minister has passed comment.

“Everyone renting in the private sector has the right to feel secure in their home, settled in their community and able to plan for the future with confidence,” she said.

“But millions of responsible tenants could still be uprooted by their landlord with little notice, and often little justification.

“This is wrong – and today we’re acting by preventing these unfair evictions.”

Tenant evictions are the exception rather than the rule. Approximately 200 people are removed from their homes each day, or some 70,000 a year.

Although for many of these people eviction means facing significant financial and accommodation challenges, only 2% of rented households experience it every year.

“One in four families now privately rent their home, as do hundreds of thousands of older people,” says Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter.

“And yet, we frequently hear from people with contracts shorter than your average gym membership, who live in constant fear of being thrown out at the drop of a hat.

“Ending Section 21 evictions will transform these renters’ lives – giving them room to breathe and put down roots in a place they can finally call home.”

Confidence to invest

Landlords have not welcomed the initiative warmly. The Residential Landlords Association, which represents thousands of landlords in the UK, says: “With the demand for private rented homes continuing to increase, we need most good landlords to have confidence to invest in new homes.

“This means ensuring they can swiftly repossess properties for legitimate reasons such as rent arrears, tenant anti-social behaviour or wanting to sell them. This needs to happen before any moves are made to end Section 21.

“For all the talk of greater security for tenants, that will be nothing if the homes to rent are not there in the first place. We call on the government to act with caution.”

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Remember the information provided in this article is for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice.