Commencement date for Respect Orders and Closure Powers for Registered Providers of Social Housing

On 14 May 2026 the Government introduced the Social Housing Bill. Following on from the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and the Crime and Policing Act 2026 this Bill proposes further changes to the social housing sector. The Bill introduces a range of new measures designed to deal with domestic abuse. The headline changes are that, in domestic abuse cases where the abuser and their victim are joint tenants: The court must transfer the abuser’s interest in the property to the victim (and any other non-abuser joint tenants) rather than make a possession order; and The abusive joint-tenant can be blocked from serving a valid Notice to Quit. The Bill introduces a new mandatory ground of possession for both assured and secured tenancy agreements which allow for possession where the landlord is a social housing provider and: A tenant has been convicted of a domestic abuse offence, and the offence took place against a resident partner or a family member of the partner (who was a resident at the property); or A tenant has been found to have breached either a non-molestation order or a domestic abuse protection order and the breach took place against a resident partner or a family member of the partner (who was a resident at the property). For both grounds, there is no requirement for the offence/breach to have taken place in (or in the vicinity of) the property, merely that it takes place against a partner or family member who was a resident of the property (at the time of the offence/breach). Domestic abuse offences have been set out by the Bill as including: controlling or coercive behaviour, breaching a non-molestation order, breaching a restraining order, breaching a domestic abuse protection order, or any offence under Schedule 2A of the Housing Act 1985 (the current list of serious offences for the mandatory anti-social behaviour ground of possession) where there is a finding that the offence involved domestic abuse by the offender. The Bill also amends the current discretionary domestic abuse grounds of possession (Ground 2A for secure tenancies and Ground 14A for assured tenancies). The amended ground, which will still only be available to social landlords, no longer requires the victim of the domestic abuse to have fled the property and be unlikely to return. The amended discretionary ground requires that there has been domestic abuse by a tenant towards a resident partner or the family member of a resident partner (who must also be resident in the property). For the purposes of the Bill ‘domestic abuse’ has been defined by reference to section 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and therefore requires conduct (whether as a course of conduct or single incident) which amounts to: Physical or sexual abuse; Violent or threatening behaviour; Controlling or coercive behaviour; Economic abuse; Psychological, emotional or other abuse. Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, the Bill gives the court options beyond possession. Where the abusive tenant is a sole tenant, or the victim isn’t themselves a joint tenant, both the new mandatory and amended discretionary grounds still allow for possession to be sought however, where the victim is a joint tenant with the abuser (and potentially with other people), the court must make an order transferring the abuser's interest in the property to the victim (and any other joint tenants). This means that, subject to a couple of exceptions as set out below, if the court finds that either the new mandatory or amended discretionary ground is made out it must order that a joint tenancy would become a sole tenancy in the sole name of the victim. The court does not have to make such an order if it would be inappropriate to do so by reference to the nature of the abuse or there is suitable accommodation available. The Bill also stops the practice of abusers serving Notice’s to Quit to terminate a tenancy as, once a notice has been served under the new mandatory and amended discretionary (or possession proceedings have commenced on one or more of those grounds but hasn’t concluded) any Notice to Quit served by the offender is of no effect. Separate to the above changes, the Bill also proposes changes to the Right to Buy such as: Increasing the qualification period from 3 to 10-years; Limiting the ability for someone to exercise the Right to Buy when they have previously done so; Allowing for suspension of the Right to Buy where there is suspected fraud; Capping discounts at 15%; Increasing the discount repayment period from 5 to 10-years; Removing the 10-year limitation on the right of first refusal. by Daryl Bigwood