For tenants, it was presented as a major step towards greater security. For landlords, it meant a very different process for recovering possession of their property.
Four months on, however, another question is beginning to emerge.
Can the court system actually cope?
The latest Ministry of Justice figures show 23,635 landlord possession claims were made between April and June 2026, 6% higher than during the same period last year. Accelerated possession claims increased by 16%.
There was always likely to be some additional pressure around the introduction of the new legislation. Landlords who had served valid Section 21 notices before 1 May had until the end of July to begin proceedings, creating something of a final rush under the old system.
Yet this isn't simply a story about court statistics.
Behind every possession case there is a landlord and a tenant, and quite often neither is necessarily doing anything wrong.
A landlord may genuinely need to sell. They may need the property back for themselves or their family. Under the new legislation, there are still grounds that allow them to do this.
The tenant, meanwhile, may have paid their rent on time, looked after the property and lived there happily for years.
They still need somewhere else to live.
And that is where one housing problem quickly becomes another.
If there aren't enough affordable properties available in the private rented sector, the tenant may approach their local council. Councils themselves are already under enormous pressure, with more than 135,000 households living in temporary accommodation in England at the end of March.
The landlord may then find themselves waiting for possession. The tenant is waiting for somewhere to live. The council is struggling to find accommodation, and the court is dealing with an increasing caseload.
Everybody is waiting.
Recent reports suggest the pressure is particularly severe in some housing courts. Long waits for hearings and bailiffs have been reported, raising an important question about whether changing the legislation was only one part of the job.
Perhaps the bigger question is whether we have changed rental law without changing enough of the system needed to support it.
That is what we will be discussing this week on Property Quorum.
Gareth Wax, Hamish McLay and Silas J Lees will be looking at what the reforms mean in practice and whether the infrastructure surrounding them is keeping pace.
Because abolishing Section 21 doesn't remove the need for possession proceedings.
A tenant deserves proper protection and security in their home. Equally, a landlord with a legitimate reason for recovering their property needs a process that works within a reasonable timeframe.
Then there are the councils, courts, solicitors, letting agents and housing organisations trying to make the whole thing work.
The danger is that pressure simply moves from one part of the system to another.
Protect the tenant without sufficient alternative housing, and councils face greater pressure.
Give landlords legitimate possession grounds without enough court capacity, and cases build up.
If landlords decide the risks and delays are simply too great and leave the market, rental supply could become even tighter.
This isn't an argument for reversing rental reform.
It is an argument for asking whether the rest of the housing system was genuinely ready for it.
Join us for Property Quorum, live this Thursday at 10am, as we ask whether rental reform has collided with a courtroom system already struggling to keep up.
Watch live or catch up afterwards on Spilling The Proper-Tea:
https://www.youtube.com/@SpillingTheProper-Tea
For Property Quorum and podcast enquiries:
For property and conveyancing enquiries: