What affect will the new tenant protection laws abolishing non fault eviction mean for us if we rent out our home?

[CarrieCardigan]

Hi, I’ve had a look but can’t quite find what I’m looking for.
In just over a year, we’ll need to move for a period of 1yr for DH’s job whilst he oversees a new office. The plan was to rent out our home and rent there for 1yr. Where do we stand with the new law? Can we do anything to ensure our tenants definitely move out after 1yr to enable us to move back in? Would a fixed term rental mean we get the house back.
I’m sure the agency can advise but we haven’t spoken to them in detail yet. I was just curious how the new law would apply as we can’t risk not being able to move back in. Thanks

Even now you can't force someone to move. Only the Tennant or court can.

We moved for 1 year for work so rented out our house.

Shit for brains Tennant went to the attic they weren't supposed to go in, fell broke their collar bone and tried to sue us.

They painted over a bedroom mural, re wallpapered, cracked the splash back behind the cooker.

I obviously took their whole deposit, they lost the law suit against us.

The agency (Peter allen) were also extremely useless and found to be at fault.

You will need expert advice. A tenancy can only be ended by the tenant or the court - estate agents don't always make this clear. There is a ground you can include in your contract that explains it's your main home and you may need to move back in, it's Ground 1 and here is some information https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/possession_and_eviction/grounds_for_possession/assured_tenancy_mandatory_grounds_for_possession
Section 21 being abolished does not affect you if you go about this properly, with a tenant who understands the situation before moving in and with proper advice (not from an estate agent keen to make a fee who may unfortunately mislead either you or a tenant).

When I needed just a year I let to students as it was the safest option and fell into the timeline to ensure we had a short term let. Even without the changes ensuring the changes there is no guarantee the property will be empty when needed.

Thanks but it’s not really a student type of house. It will rent for about 3.5k a month and it’s quite a trek from the nearest university even with a car.
I’ll just need to be careful and ensure we follow procedure carefully.

It’s not the law yet and we don’t know exactly what form it will take. The government would like to abolish Section 21 (which is 2 months notice from the landlord taking into account any fixed terms). They may find this is more difficult than they would like due to the courts being very clear that they have serious issues with capacity at the moment.

IF the government are able to abolish section 21, they have suggested there will be improved grounds for possession under section 8. It is almost certain there will be a mechanism within this which will allow for a landlord to move back into or sell a property.

As is the situation now, you cannot do anything to ensure a tenant moves out at any point. All you can do is serve legally correct notice in whichever format the legislation mandates, and then if the tenant doesn’t move out you would need to apply to court for possession.

Yes - you can't guarantee you will be able to move back in when you want to (remembering it will be the tenant's home). If that's not a risk you can take then definitely worth considering whether you want to go ahead.

Thanks. We do need to go ahead but we’ll need to think carefully about what to do. I guess I was hoping we’d rent to someone who only wants the house short term, maybe if they were building their own or renovating a house they’d bought or similar. Maybe we could discuss prioritising potential tenants in these circumstances. I think because the rent will be so high, it’s less likely to be the choice of someone looking to rent long term. We certainly won’t be spending 3.5k on whatever we rent. It’s simply not something we could afford and although it’s market rate for our house, our mortgage is half that.