Landlords in England will be able to evict tenants for antisocial behaviour more easily as part of a wider package of reforms to the rental market, after heavy lobbying by industry organisations and Conservative backbenchers.
Michael Gove will use the renters’ reform bill, which could be introduced to the Commons as soon as next week, to strengthen landlords’ rights when it comes to dealing with alleged antisocial behaviour.
The move is designed both to reduce antisocial behaviour and to allay landlords’ concerns as the housing secretary also prepares to bring an end to “no-fault” evictions. But charities warn it could also harm victims of domestic abuse, who are often accused mistakenly by neighbours of antisocial behaviour because of the violence happening within their homes.
Deidre Cartwright, the senior housing manager at Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, said: “We welcome the fact that no-fault eviction is ending. But the worry is that by expanding the grounds for landlords to evict people for antisocial behaviour, the government is creating a back door for landlords who otherwise would have used the no-fault route.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We will bring forward legislation very shortly, which will include a ban on no-fault evictions, so that all tenants have greater security in their homes and are empowered to challenge poor conditions.”
The centrepiece of the bill will be a ban on property owners evicting tenants without showing any fault on the tenants’ part, something some landlords do as a way to put up rents before a contract ends.
The ban fulfils a manifesto commitment the Conservatives made in 2019 and is part of a push by Gove to refocus Tory housing policy on renters and leaseholders in part to win back young urban voters who have deserted the party in their millions.
He is already having to water down parts of that move, however. The Guardian revealed on Wednesday he had been forced to drop plans to end leaseholds altogether after Downing Street warned it could not be accomplished before the election.
In recent weeks, Gove has also come under heavy pressure to change the rental proposals as well, with Tory MPs and landlord organisations calling for the bill to give landlords more rights.
In recent weeks ministers have met MPs on the Property Research Group, a group of Tory MPs formed to fight against property tax, but which also contains several landlords. The group was set up by Kevin Hollinrake, a business minister who co-founded Hunters estate agents and owns five properties from which he collects rent.
They have also been lobbied by the National Residential Landlords Association, which has campaigned for greater landlord rights in a number of areas, including antisocial behaviour.
Ben Beadle, the chief executive of the NRLA, said: “We want to see an announcement that gives responsible landlords the confidence that they can evict tenants for things such as rent arrears or antisocial behaviour.”
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Government sources say Gove has agreed that it should be easier for landlords to evict tenants on antisocial behaviour grounds, though they deny this is as a result of the lobbying he has come under. One said: “The idea this is a sop to landlords is absurd.”
Many of the proposals that will be included in the bill when it is introduced to the Commons featured in Rishi Sunak’s antisocial behaviour action plan, which the prime minister published earlier this year.
They include expanding the definition of antisocial behaviour to include “any behaviour capable of causing nuisance or annoyance”, and making it easier for landlords to prove such behaviour in court.
Some are concerned, however, that the measures could tilt the balance of power too far towards landlords. Natalie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, said: “We will need to see the detail of these proposals, but we do not want to see landlords being able to claim that tenants are being antisocial simply because they make complaints about them or their properties.”
The concerns around domestic abuse, meanwhile, stem from the fact that domestic abuse victims are four times more likely to have antisocial behaviour complaints made against them, often because neighbours simply misunderstand what is happening inside a household.
