NATIONWIDE has called for reform of the courts after a government ban on so-called no fault evictions.

Private landlords will be prevented from evicting tenants under Section 21 notices without good reason, according to plans announced this week.

Both Section 21 and Section 8 notices are used by landlords to notify tenants of eviction. They differ in that Section 8 is used to evict a tenant in breach of their contract, whereas a section 21 notice can be served without any grounds and does not go through the courts.

Paul Simpson, director of home propositions at the Swindon-based building society, welcomed the move but called for reform of the court system to handle disputes.

He said: “We’ve come to the opinion that tenants require more security of tenure. Renting is widely accepted as the norm and something for the long term and not the short term.

“Around one quarter of all children in the UK live in private rented accommodation. It’s vitally important those families have that security from eviction, which should be balanced with good reason as opposed to the pure freedom that Section 21 currently allows.”

He called for greater reform in the housing court system, adding: “At the moment there is the potential to not have the right level of expertise from the court process for a housing-related issue.”

Sue Gidney, managing director of lettings at Richard James, expressed similar concerns.

“In our experience the Section 21 notices aren’t used for retaliatory eviction, or for no reason,” she said.

“There are occasions, unfortunately, when they are needed because of problems with the behaviour of a tenant, for example, not taking care of a property or creating health and safety problems, and those cases will still need to be dealt with.”

She warned the ban could cause a bottleneck could put landlords off investing.

She added: “If that happens, then there could be decrease the supply of homes to rent, which would unfortunately mean higher rental prices for tenants. So, we’ve been making sure that our landlords are kept up to date with information and advice so that they are ready for the changes.”