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Government softens blow of ‘no fault’ eviction ban proposals

Landlords will be able to use Section 8 process to regain their properties should they wish to sell it or move in, it has been announced.

Nigel Lewis

 

eviction

Following yesterday’s announcement from the government that it is to ban Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions by landlords and letting agents, further proposals to soften the blow of the shock announcement have been revealed.

The more complicated Section 8 eviction process is to be amended to enable landlords to end a tenancy if they have a legitimate reason to do so, including regaining a home should they wish to sell it or move into it.

Also, the legal process of eviction is to be ‘expedited’ to help landlords regain their properties more quickly and smoothly if tenants fail to pay their rent or damage a property.

These proposals, along with yesterday’s decision to end Section 21 evictions, are to be put out to consultation.

New deal

“The government will collaborate with and listen to tenants, landlords and others in the private rented sector to develop a new deal for renting,” a government statement says.

Ongoing industry reaction to the proposed measures has been unremittingly either cautious or hostile.

eviction“While this latest move has been made with the best intentions, it’s vital that the landlords themselves are also safeguarded so that we don’t further exacerbate this exodus of rental property providers,” says Calum Brannan, CEO of lettings platform Howsy (pictured, left).

Peter Hermon-Taylor, Managing Director of lettings agency Maskells, says: “Meddling with a system that already works for the overwhelming majority is a perilous undertaking and we are very wary of this process, which by its nature is designed to tip the balance of power towards the tenant.

“By doing so however they risk upsetting this stability of the whole sector which could have the effect of pushing droves of landlords out of the industry altogether. The devil however, and as always, will be in the detail.”

April 16, 2019

5 comments

  1. What next?! When is it going to stop?! Some of us are just honest, small independent agencies, wanting to survive an already tough market, in our local communities. the Tenant Fees Ban is already the final nail in the coffin for a lot of agencies. The Government seems to tar us all with the same brush, to take a blanket approach to make their life easier. What they should be doing is concentrating on targeting the minority rogue agents and landlords and leaving us honest, hard working citizens to try and make a decent living!

    • I agree Jason, This is become an absolutely devastating impact on all us small independents and I just do not know how much more I can take with Brexit, low interest in properties, Fee Ban and now this. I was told by the RLA trainer that 16 000 Letting Agents will go out of business due to the Fee Ban alone.
      The powers that be are destroying even the strongest hardest working people who like you and me are doing a great job and are hard working and honest citizens providing a good service.

  2. The headline was banning S21, the issue is not so much to do with S21 more to do with S8.
    Very few landlords use the S21 for a no fault eviction process, most use S21 for other reasons such as rent arrears breach of tenancy because the S8 process is not fit for purpose. S8 is rife with pitfalls, loopholes and opportunities for the tenants that know the system (& “charities”) to exploit. Delays cost landlords money and there is often no recourse on the offending tenants so landlords take a view that at least S21 gives them certainty; they write off any tenant debts just to get the property back.
    S21 & S8 do not need ‘tinkering with’, they need a total review! A landlord must be able to get the property back either when the landlord wants it (sale, move in, for relative etc) but also when tenant defaults. Any new S8 grounds must be able to be actioned quickly to prevent huge losses to the landlord, say within 14 days for rent arrears? In addition, when the tenants owe the landlord money for rent, repairs etc. the tenant must immediately, without any further court action receive a County Court Judgement for the debt; if the tenant owes rent they must not be given Carte Blanc to go and do it again to another landlord. A central register which can be accessed by landlords and agents which shows all offending tenants must be produced.
    In my opinion, if a tenant discovers that he/she/they are going to get a CCJ, it will focus their minds and moderate their behaviour.
    So, this means radical changes to the court system with accessible court time for landlords and penalties on the system if it cannot perform; if the courts had to say, pay teh landlords’ rent and costs for any delayed time then landlords might not mind waiting. At the moment the biggest issue with landlords taking tenants to court via S8 is the uncertainty and the time delay – RESOLVE THAT FIRST BEFORE EVEN TALKING ABOUT BANNING S21!

  3. Of course the government has to allow a landlord to sell a property when he wants to what’s the alternative force a landlord to be a landlord until such time a tenant decides to leave. Rather alarmist to have thought otherwise so not really a softening. I am all for a mechanism of long term tenancies but banning the s21 notice cant be a way of doing it.
    What happens when a landlord wants to increase the rent? The tenant will simply refuse to accept any increase knowing they cant be evicted. So there will have to be a mechanism in place where a landlord applies to a property chamber or rent officer to set the rent. Whose going to pay for the applications and how many months will it take to get a rent increase through and how will the rent increase be calculated? That will be bringing back the rent control of the 1970’s that didn’t work. If there is a rent review clause in the agreement it will be a government controlled increase pegged to the Base Rate will that really work?
    This government is running scared from Corbyn because these are labour policies just like the tenant fee ban was. The Tories are desperate to not see the young persons vote go to them and not stick with labour as it did in the last election. Vote Tory or labour it will make no difference – except labour are talking about capping house price inflation so guess what will be coming out from the Tories next!

  4. I’ll be interested to see how this government can ‘expediate’ the legal process of eviction. This government has no idea. Totally agree with Peter Hermon-Taylor.

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