Solicitors across England have reported being inundated with last-minute requests to serve Section 21 no-fault eviction notices before the practice is banned when the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force on Friday. Legal professionals say they are working through the night to process the sudden surge of instructions, while tenant support services warn that thousands of households now face imminent homelessness.
In March alone, Citizens Advice helped 2,335 people dealing with a no-fault eviction — a 16 per cent increase on the same period last year. The charity also assisted more than 1,800 tenants with disrepair issues such as damp and mould, and over 1,000 with rent increases. Mustafa Sidki, a partner at the London- and Kent-based law firm Thackray Williams, described Wednesday as “an absolutely manically busy day”, adding: “We’ve had lots of landlords trying to serve last-minute section 21 notices, but also lots of tenants who have been served, seeking advice because people are desperate. This is people’s homes, people’s lives.”
The number of Section 21 instructions Sidki has received this year is up fourfold on last year. So frantic is the final push that there is no longer time to post the notices, forcing landlords to pay process servers to deliver the documents by hand. “I’m having to say to them if I post it, it’s not going to be served on time, so you can either hand-serve it yourself or pay a process server to do it, with a photograph of themselves affixing it to the door or serving it through a letterbox,” Sidki said. “So if a judge raises a question down the line, you have the evidence you did it by 1 May.”
Why the rush?
The urgency stems from a combination of financial pressure and anxiety about the new eviction regime. Landlords view Section 21 as a far quicker and simpler route to regain possession compared with the grounds-based Section 8 process that will replace it. “People are scared. That’s why they’re doing the section 21 notices now, because it’s perceived to be quicker and easier than what’s coming,” Sidki said. Buy-to-let landlords, in particular, are worried about covering mortgage payments if their relationship with a tenant breaks down and they cannot regain the property quickly.
The National Residential Landlords Association has argued that six months is insufficient for landlords and property businesses to prepare for such significant changes. A survey by LegalforLandlords found that 43 per cent of landlords cited the removal of Section 21 as their main concern, while 24 per cent are considering selling up and a further 13 per cent plan to reduce their rental properties in response to the Act. Of those remaining, 60 per cent intend to tighten tenant vetting, placing greater emphasis on income assessments, references and credit checks.
The broader market context is also driving the rush. Rising mortgage interest rates have made it less viable for some landlords to continue letting, prompting them to sell. Citizens Advice research from June 2023 found that 48 per cent of renters who had experienced an eviction had been told their landlord wanted to sell up. Ministry of Justice figures show that between July 2024 and June 2025, 11,400 households in England were evicted by bailiffs following a Section 21 notice — an 8 per cent increase on the previous year — with over 30,000 notices issued by private landlords in that period. Since the ban was first promised in April 2019, 37,684 households have been evicted by bailiffs under Section 21.
Acorn, the renters’ union, reported that no-fault evictions accounted for one in five of its members’ cases in October, rising to nearly one in three by January 2026. Shelter has warned that for every month the ban was delayed, approximately 950 households could be evicted by bailiffs, and that over 116,000 households have been threatened with eviction since the 2019 promise.
What the new law means
Described by the government as the biggest change to renting in a generation, the Renters’ Rights Act bans no-fault evictions entirely, replacing fixed-term tenancies with rolling periodic tenancies that tenants can end with two months’ notice. Rent increases will be limited to once a year, and tenants will have the ability to challenge increases at the Property Tribunal. Landlords can only demand a maximum of one month’s rent upfront, and bidding wars for rental properties — where prospective tenants outbid each other on price — are banned outright.
The law also prohibits discrimination against prospective tenants who are in receipt of benefits or have children, and gives renters the right to request a pet, which landlords cannot unreasonably refuse. Councils receive new powers to investigate and clamp down on rogue landlords. Additional provisions not yet in force include the extension of the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector and the introduction of Awaab’s Law, which will set defined timeframes for landlords to resolve hazards such as damp and mould.
Transitional arrangements mean that any Section 21 notice served before 1 May remains valid until it expires — typically six months from service — and new possession proceedings based on such a notice must be issued no later than 31 July 2026.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “For too long, families have lived with constant fear of eviction while young people have been outbid for the homes they need to start their lives. Today we are putting that right.”
Tenant advocacy and housing pressures
Despite the protections, tenant support groups stress that the underlying shortage of affordable housing remains acute. Sidki observed that many tenants are choosing to stay in their properties until served with a warrant of possession because there is nowhere else to go. “A lot of people are saying there’s no housing for them anywhere else and they can’t get social housing,” he said. “The intention [of the new law] is good. But there’s still a lack of housing.”
Data from the English Housing Survey for 2022-2023 indicates that around 1 million households experienced dampness problems, with private renters most affected — 10 per cent living in damp conditions. Housing disrepair claims against social landlords have risen by more than 350 per cent between 2018-19 and 2023-24. Meanwhile, average private rents in England rose 3.4 per cent year-on-year in March 2026 to £1,434 per month. The Renters’ Reform Coalition found that nearly a third of private renters “always” or “often” struggle to afford essentials because of rent costs, and over 70 per cent of the public support a cap on rent increases.
Citizens Advice data shows that single parents, women and people from racially minoritised groups are disproportionately affected by Section 21 evictions, and renters on Universal Credit are twice as likely to have received a Section 21 notice in the past 12 months compared with the average renter.
Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, said Friday marks “a new era for private renters across England. This new law is a vital step towards rebalancing power between renters and landlords. For decades, section 21 evictions forced renters to live in fear of being turfed out of our homes, preventing us from raising valid concerns with our landlords. At last, this outdated and unfair law has been sent packing.”
Clara Collingwood of the Renters’ Reform Coalition added: “It’s fantastic that section 21 no fault evictions have finally been banned. For too long this everyday injustice has allowed landlords to get away with outrageous behaviour — profiting from unhealthy homes and threatening tenants who try to stand up to them.”
