Almost one in four tenants were served notice in the month before the Renters’ Rights Act came into force, analysis from property management platform COHO reveals..
The study, based on 150,000 tenancies, suggests the abolition of Section 21 “no-fault” evictions triggered a significant increase in notices being issued ahead of the legislation taking effect on 1 May.
COHO estimates that around 73,900 additional eviction notices were served between the announcement of the reforms in 2023 and the implementation of the legislation, with almost 20,000 issued during the final month alone.
The data shows notice levels peaked at 27.1% of tenants in April 2026, compared with historic levels linked to Section 21 of around 5.7%.
FUTURE PROOFING
However, COHO argues the figures should not be interpreted as evidence of landlords rushing to remove tenants without cause. Instead, the company believes many landlords acted because of concerns about managing future tenancy issues without access to Section 21.
The analysis found Section 21-related notices rose above 8% following the initial announcement of the reforms before climbing to 11.4% as the legislation became increasingly likely.
Vann Vogstad (main picture, inset), Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of COHO, says: “Landlords aren’t looking for perfect tenants, they’re looking for tenants who can pay the rent and live without causing issues. In most cases, they’ll give people the benefit of the doubt for quite some time.
“Section 21 gave landlords a safety net.”
“Section 21 gave landlords a safety net. It allowed them to stick with tenants through arrears or challenges, knowing there was a final route if things didn’t improve. Removing that option has understandably changed behaviours.
“What we’re seeing isn’t landlords evicting for the sake of evicting; it’s landlords responding to a shift in risk. Without Section 21, dealing with serious arrears or anti-social issues can take months, so some have had to act ahead of that change.”
VIABLE INVESTMENT
He adds: “It’s important to remember that landlords don’t want empty properties. Rental income is what makes the investment viable. Many are still choosing to work with tenants that owe them rent, hoping situations improve, rather than issuing notice.
“Ultimately, the removal of no-fault evictions will likely make landlords more cautious and selective, which may have wider impacts across the rental market.”
The figures provide one of the first large-scale datasets showing how landlord behaviour changed in the run-up to the Renters’ Rights Act, which abolished Section 21 evictions and introduced a new system of periodic tenancies across England.
