The Government is delivering its manifesto commitment to transform the experience of private renting by levelling the playing field decisively between landlords and tenants. The Renters’ Rights Bill will replace section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions with a modern tenancy system, giving renters greater security and protections.

The Government welcomes private investment into housing, and new tenures in the private rented sector such as those offered by Build to Rent providers. These can provide tenants with greater stability and more choice. The Department will continue to engage – and work – with the Build to Rent sector to understand their needs in the process of designing any regulation.

The department will publish an impact assessment for the Renters' Rights Bill in due course. We will work closely with all parts of the sector to ensure a smooth transition to the new system and will provide sufficient notice ahead of implementation.

The system to process possession claims when section 21 is abolished already exists for claims under Section 8 grounds of the Housing Act 1988 and the Civil Procedure Rules.

There will be some form changes to remove the Section 21 process. Any changes required will be made by the relevant Procedure Rule Committee once the details of the new legislation are confirmed. Guidance materials for court staff will also be updated accordingly. Judicial training is the responsibility of the Lady Chief Justice and the Judicial College and will be considered as part of wider implementation plans.

As the House can imagine, this is a complex area; court reform is really important, but it is also important to understand that the statistics are actually relatively good for the judiciary at this time. We are hearing that, of those that actually have a target here, the Ministry of Justice and His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service already meet the requirement for hearings to be within four to eight weeks of receipt in over 95% of courts. The time it now takes has gone down to seven weeks rather than 25 weeks a year earlier, so things are happening but a lot more can be done.

My Lords, that is precisely why the evictions moratorium had to end. We have to protect landlords from egregious rent arrears as well as from cases of abandonment, fraud, anti-social behaviour and, in the social sector, domestic abuse. That is why the judiciary called for a start on proceedings, to focus on the most difficult cases first.