Property guru launches petition to allow evictions after two weeks’ rent arrears

Ranjan Bhattacharya says not paying rent is theft and that landlords should be able to begin possession action earlier.

evictions

A well-known property industry figure and Youtuber has launched an official petition calling on the government to enable landlords to start evictions once a tenant falls more than two weeks behind in their rent.

Property investment mentor and Sky TV pundit Ranjan Bhattacharya, is calling on the government to bring in similar legislation to Australia, where tenants can be evicted after accumulating two weeks’ rent arrears.

“You can’t go into a supermarket and steal your weeks groceries,” he says.

“There are laws in place to protect shop keepers large and small. Not paying rent is also theft with the landlord being the victim.”

Bhattacharya says the current system is unfair to landlords, even without the delays brought in by the Covid evictions restrictions.

“If a Tenant doesn’t pay rent then it can take a year for a landlord to regain possession.

“In that time, they still have to pay mortgage and other costs. This can ruin many small scale landlords,” he says.

“Furthermore, it incentives landlords to only rent their properties to tenants with higher than average incomes who are likely to care about getting a bad credit rating. Lets’ have an Australia-style system which aims to be neutral between landlord and tenant.”

So far just under 2,000 people have signed the petition. E-petitions must gather 10,000 signatures to prompt a response from the government, and 100,000 in order to be debated in parliament – but this does not mean Ministers are then required to introduce evictions legislation.

At the moment, anyone seeking to commence possession must give six months’ notice before being able to then formally begin the court process and, evictions Paul Shamplina says, a landlord with a non-priority case could currently expect to wait 14 months in total to evict a tenant.


4 Comments

  1. You can’t get get credit to buy your groceries in the Supermarket ( or pretty much anywhere else. ) Why should Tenants have the legal ability to stay in a property they are not paying rent for. !

    Pre-Covid, Possession took around 7 months, now with Govt interference to avoid them having to pay ( more ) to accommodate those who fall into genuine Covid financial difficulties, – the Govt has Transferred their welfare responsibilities onto private landlords.

    Currently, evicting a tenant is going to take at least TWICE as long – around 15 months.
    Private landlords who rely on rent to sustain their own financial expenses shouldn’t be subsidising state responsibilities.

  2. Given the time to fully pursue a legal solution it makes sense to enable landlords to start earlier but with most tenants paying monthly cant see how this should be less than 1 month arrears. Lets also not forget there are very reasonable/cheap rent warranties that can guarantee 6+ months rent + legals. However cant see this getting anywhere near the traction it needs- most rent arrears issues can usually be solved with some good, honest conversation.

  3. Law should be “Don’t pay, we take it away”, No exceptions. Two weeks is spot on to either agree a payment plan, or expect action. It’s always been stacked in tenants favour by legislation and court delays. It needs to change as PRS landlords leave and rents will carry on hiking. Landlords should be encouraged to let, not penalised.

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