The government has reassured landlords that it is forging ahead with plans for court reform in readiness for abolishing section 21.

Addressing the House of Commons, Housing Minister Jacob Young said he had discussed reform and the timetable for the legislation’s implementation with the relevant minister in the Ministry of Justice.

He added: “We are working at pace to ensure that the courts are ready for the biggest change in the private rented sector in over 30 years.”

Clive Betts, chair of the levelling up, housing and communities’ committee, questioned how the government’s plans had been helped by the Chancellor’s announcement that there would be a freeze of the Ministry of Justice’s budget for the whole of the next Parliament.

Betts added that his committee had taken evidence about local government finances and found that in the past two years, expenditure on homelessness and temporary accommodation had increased by 50%.

Prime driver

“The reality is that section 21 notices are a prime driver of that,” he said.

Housing Minister Jacob Young (main picture) said the government was currently conducting a new ‘burdens assessment’ for local government to ensure that any additional loads put on councils were funded properly.

After Angela Rayner, shadow secretary for housing, accused Housing Secretary Michael Gove for drawing up, “a bill to ban no-fault evictions that will not ban no-fault evictions, and a bill to ban leasehold that will not ban leasehold”, Young insisted that it needed to ensure it got the Renters Reform Bill – which has now completed committee stage – right, both for tenants and the 2.4 million landlords.

“She may be willing to brush aside the concerns of landlords and turn her back on what are often small businesses,” he told MPs. “We are not. We will deliver a bill that protects renters and ensures a fair system for landlords.”