What does the pledge mean?

When Labour entered government, landlords in England could evict tenants on assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs), the most common type of tenancy in the private rental sector, without giving a reason for doing so, by using a Section 21 notice. ‘Section 21’ in this context refers to the legal provision in the Housing Act 1988 that allowed this practice.

Landlords could use this notice either after a fixed term tenancy ends or during a tenancy with no fixed end date (also called a ‘periodic’ or ‘rolling’ tenancy).

A Section 21 notice is also commonly referred to as a ‘no fault’ eviction, which distinguishes it from a Section 8 eviction, used when a tenant has broken the terms of their contract, such as not paying rent.

Landlords are required to give at least two months’ notice when serving a Section 21. There are some circumstances in which they are not allowed to use this as a means to evict tenants—for example, if they have not repaid any unlawful fees or deposits charged to the tenant.

While the majority of tenants in the social housing sector have an assured tenancy, rather than an AST, meaning Section 21 can’t be used, there remain some social housing tenants on assured shorthold or starter tenancies, where Section 21 evictions can be used.

As housing is devolved, there are different rules governing the eviction of tenants in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. As such, this pledge applies to England only.

What progress has been made?

The Renters’ Rights Act passed into law on 27 October 2025. It scraps Section 21 notices as a means of ‘no fault’ eviction in the private rental sector. Section 21 notices will also be abolished for social housing tenants on ASTs or starter tenancies, though as this requires a statutory consultation process. The government has said this will be applied to social tenancies where the landlord is a private registered provider of social housing “at a later date”.

Despite the legislation passing, the reforms have not yet been rolled out. As such, we’re still rating this pledge as ‘Appears on track’.

The government has however said that the new tenancy regime will come into force for both new and existing tenancies from 1 May 2026, and that this will include the abolition of Section 21 notices. So we expect to change our rating to ‘achieved’ on that date.

Under the changes included in the Act, ASTs (which can be called a ‘fixed term tenancy’ when tenants and landlords have agreed a finite period of time for the tenancy) in the private rented sector will be converted to ‘rolling’ tenancies. These can be ended when a tenant gives two months’ notice. Tenants will be given an initial 12-month protected period where a landlord cannot evict them in order to move into or sell the property, and landlords will have to give tenants four months’ notice, instead of two, if they wish to use these grounds as a reason for eviction.

The Renters’ Rights Bill was included in the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, which set out the government’s first legislative agenda, before being introduced to Parliament in September 2024. So while Section 21 evictions have not been banned “immediately”, it does appear that work began shortly after the election towards meeting that goal.