As expected the government has confirmed that Section 21 eviction notices will be abolished in last week’s unveiling of its latest version of Renters (Rights) Bill, however there are major concerns across the sector whether courts will be able to cope.

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The Tory government had held back from banning Section 21 notices until a new court process and structure could be introduced because of the expected ‘rush’ in landlords looking for legitimate alternatives to evict tenants when necessary.

But of course this is not in Labour’s mantra whilst abolishing the no fault evictions, the Renters Rights Bill also increases the two month’s arrears reason for issuing evictions to three and has doubled the eviction notice period from two to four weeks.

The bill does include stronger rights for landlords to repossess properties when it is essential such as moving back into or selling the property.

Renters will be given a ’12 month grace period’ from the start of a tenancy of not being evicted even if landlords need to move back into the property or to sell it.

The Bill will also do away with fixed term assured tenancies and allows private tenants to end their tenancies by giving two months-notice.

Sarah Taylor, a property dispute resolution partner with a law firm, said: “This ban on no fault evictions is good news for tenants and should protect them from unscrupulous landlords who decide to serve notice on the tenant with no good reason. The proposed legislation should not adversely affect good landlords who are fair and reasonable when considering when to obtain possession of their properties.

“The risk to both tenants and landlords is the existing backlogs in the Court system. Trying to obtain possession orders will be protracted, causing uncertainty and delays for both landlords and tenants.

“There is a risk that landlords who are unhappy with the proposed changes, may decide to sell their rental properties, leading to a shortage of good rental properties for prospective tenants. It remains to be seen whether the legislation will actually solve the issues that it is supposed to.”

Scott Goldstein, partner and property disputes specialist at another law firm, warned there will be  a “huge surge” in section 21 notices served before the Bill becomes law  and two months later will see the notices periods’ expiring causing a major headache for the overrun courts.

He added: “The county court system is completely broken. It now takes many weeks to process claims. We must hope that the government invests in the courts to cope with the expected influx in new claims.”

A rental platform spokesman, said: “The Conservative Government offered the industry something of a fudge around the scrapping of no fault evictions, with vague promises to introduce it once the courts were ‘ready’.