Two legal experts have told MPs probing the Government’s plans to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault evictions’ that improving the crumbling courts system could take years.

Their comments follow the Government’s decision to delay abolishing Section 21 evictions until the courts are sorted out, a decision that has attracted criticism from housing campaigners but praise from the landlord sector.

But representatives from both the Law Society and the Law Centres Network have told the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Local Government Select Committee that waiting for the courts to improve will delay abolishing Section 21 evictions for up to three years.

Nimrod Ben-Cnaan from the Law Centres Network said that due to these delays, getting rid of ‘no fault’ evictions should take place first.

But Richad Miller from The Law Society, echoing recent comments by the NRLA, said this would significantly increase the workload of the courts because more eviction cases would be contested by tenants, clogging up the courts further. He added: “There are some genuine concerns about the capacity of the system at the moment. We are seeing significant backlogs within the courts.”