Private rented tenancies remain one of the leading routes into homelessness across the West Midlands. For years, tenants could lose their homes through a Section 21 "no-fault" eviction even where they had paid their rent and complied with their tenancy obligations. The abolition of Section 21 under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 represents one of the most significant changes to housing law in a generation, but what does it actually mean for tenants facing the loss of their home?
Across Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and the wider Midlands, demand for housing assistance remains exceptionally high. With more than 5,500 households estimated to have been living in temporary accommodation in Birmingham alone at the start of 2026, reducing preventable homelessness remains a major challenge for local authorities across the region.
What Has Changed?
For decades, the assured shorthold tenancy provided landlords with a route to recover possession without having to establish any fault on the part of the tenant. A landlord who wanted a property back could serve a Section 21 notice, wait for the notice period to expire, and apply to the court for possession if the tenant did not leave.
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 abolished that no-fault eviction route. Assured shorthold tenancies automatically converted to assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026. Landlords wishing to recover possession must now rely upon specific statutory grounds, including rent arrears, anti-social behaviour, an intention to sell the property, or an intention to occupy it themselves, and must be able to establish those grounds before the court if challenged.
The practical effect is significant. A landlord who simply wants a property back, or who wishes to replace a long-standing tenant with one willing to pay a higher rent, no longer has a straightforward legal route to do so.
Can Landlords Still Evict Tenants?
Yes.
The abolition of Section 21 does not mean that tenants can never be evicted. Landlords remain entitled to seek possession where lawful grounds exist. These include serious rent arrears, anti-social behaviour, breaches of tenancy obligations, or genuine intentions to sell or occupy the property.
The key difference is that possession can no longer be obtained simply because a landlord wishes to end the tenancy. There must be a recognised legal basis for doing so, and in many cases that basis may be scrutinised by the court.
Why This Matters for Homelessness
The private rented sector occupies a unique position in the West Midlands housing system. On the one hand, the end of a private tenancy has long been one of the most common triggers for homelessness. On the other, local authorities frequently rely upon the private rented sector to discharge homelessness duties and secure accommodation for households in need.
Government figures for July to September 2025 recorded the end of a private rented tenancy as the most common reason households were owed a homelessness prevention duty in England, accounting for more than a third of all such cases.
The abolition of Section 21 removes one significant route into homelessness. However, the wider pressures driving housing insecurity remain. Affordability challenges, shortages of available housing, and housing benefit levels that continue to lag behind market rents all contribute to increasing demand on homelessness services across the West Midlands.
Received a Notice? Don't Leave Immediately
One issue that housing advisers continue to encounter is tenants leaving their homes as soon as they receive correspondence from a landlord, sometimes nothing more than a letter threatening possession proceedings.
A possession notice, even where it is formally valid, is not a court order. In most cases, a tenant is not required to leave simply because a notice has been served. Only the court can usually make an order for possession.
Leaving accommodation before that stage can create significant difficulties. A local authority assessing a subsequent homelessness application may need to consider whether the applicant became homeless intentionally, and the circumstances surrounding the departure can become highly relevant.
For that reason, anyone who receives a possession notice should seek legal advice before deciding whether to leave.
A Practitioner's Perspective
"What we are seeing in practice is that many tenants still assume they must leave as soon as a landlord serves notice. In reality, there are often options available, but those options become much harder to pursue once a tenant has already moved out. Taking advice early can make a significant difference."
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