Northern Ireland Assembly backs no-fault eviction ban motion

“It is a stain on the record of the assembly that the numbers on our social housing waiting lists have risen to a mammoth 45,000 households as of March last year. 

“That did not happen overnight. Instead, it is a result of a sustained failure by the executive to fund homelessness prevention initiatives, set and meet ambitious social housing build targets, and prioritise such strategies as the empty homes strategy, which has not made a dent in reducing some 20,000 empty homes across the region.”

Westminster has long-held plans to ban no-fault eviction in England. The proposals are included in the Renters (Reform) Bill. 

It is nearly a year since it was presented to parliament, and six since the reform plans were announced by former prime minister Theresa May. The bill is due back in parliament this week. 

In Northern Ireland, the Private Tenancies Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 was introduced to strengthen protections for private renters. It includes changes to notice periods and obligations on landlords to provide tenants with tenancy information. 

However, it did not include any proposed ban on no-fault evictions. 

Mr Durkan said the act “fell short of what is required, but we were assured that we would see subsequent legislation that would strengthen security of tenure and deal with grounds for eviction”.

Maurice Bradley, MLA for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), moved an amendment to replace the phrase “bring forward legislation to ban no-fault evictions in Northern Ireland” in the motion with “as a matter of priority, meet the duty to bring forward regulations to put in place much longer notice to quit periods, as provided for in Section 11 of the Private Tenancies Act”.

He said: “Recent research by the Chartered Institute of Housing has found that as many as 60% of private landlords could seek to exit the market, particularly when Airbnb and holiday lets may acquire higher rents.”

However, the amendment was later rejected. 

Sinn Féin backed the motion. Ciara Ferguson, MLA for the party, said: “We would go further and suggest looking to tenancies of indefinite duration, which would effectively mean that after six months of living in a tenancy, the tenant would have a right to remain for an unlimited duration provided they uphold their rental obligations, unless served with a limited and valid notice on permitted termination grounds.”

Kellie Armstrong, MLA for the Alliance Party, said she supported the motion, but not the amendment. She warned that if a ban is introduced, there will need to be “careful consideration” of the reasons why landlords are permitted to end a tenancy.

Ms Armstrong said: “Some of those reasons are just not acceptable to me, and it would be appropriate to have proper scrutiny of that and bring that forward.”

Mike Nesbitt, MLA for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), said he supported the motion, but not the amendment. 

“Removing the ability of a landlord to end a tenancy for no reason provides much more security to households, many of whom, as I said, are among the vulnerable in our society. 

“This is a reasonable, proportionate and balanced proposal, which this party is happy to support,” he explained.

Communities minister Mr Lyons said there was “much” in the motion that he supports.

He said: “I am very concerned about the high demand for social housing, increasing waiting lists and pressure on the homelessness system. 

“Alongside that, there is increasing pressure on our private rented sector, where supply is reducing and costs are increasing.”

Mr Lyons said security of tenure is a “major concern for tenants” and that he is “already taking forward work under phase one of my department’s reform of the private rented sector to introduce much longer notice to quit periods”.

He added: “My officials are drafting regulations on exceptions to those notice periods in legislation in order to ensure that our action is compliant with the Human Rights Act 1998. 

“The Private Tenancies Act included a deadline of 27 April 2024 for that work, but engagement with stakeholders has shown that that is not realistic. 

“I apologise to the assembly for that delay and for missing the deadline that the assembly set for my department. 

“However it is, obviously, important that we fully consider equality implications, such as where tenant behaviour that others might see as disruptive is linked to domestic violence.”

The DUP minister said he would be “happy to support” his party’s amendment. 

He said the work on longer notices is “not complete”. Mr Lyons added that ending no-fault evictions is “complex” and “would involve an entirely new approach and require a fundamental review of how our private tenancy system works”.  

The minister said he will seek the executive’s endorsement of the housing supply strategy and “will continue to prioritise building more social homes”. 

The motion, but not the amendment, was passed.