Landlords may lose a year’s worth of rent under the Renters’ Rights Bill, it is reported.

A clause in the Bill prevents property owners from renting out homes that fail to sell for up to a year.

The measure is designed to prevent landlords from evicting tenants ‘by the back door’ by going through the motion of selling, and then relisting as a rental soon afterwards.

Fall throughs

But if a former rental fails to sell due to a genuine fall-through then it cannot be rented out again for at least 12 months, the Daily Telegraph claims.

Chris Norris, Policy Director at the NRLA (National Residential Landlords Association), said: “Around a third of property sales fall through before completion, mostly as a result of problems faced by the buyer.

It cannot be right that homes will be left empty for many months even when landlords are not to blame.”

“Given the scale of the housing crisis, it cannot be right that homes will be left empty for many months even when landlords are not to blame when a house sale fails to progress.”

Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark, said under the Bill “landlords must provide at least four months’ notice to a tenant.

“In addition, there will also be an initial 12 months ‘protected interval’ at the start of any tenancy where a landlord is prevented from evicting a tenant for the purpose of selling.

Pressurised situation

“Further to this, should a landlord choose to sell the property in question, they will be restricted from re-letting that property for a period of 12 months after evicting the tenant, should the property not sell”.

“This may in some circumstance cause a degree of property vacancy, in an already pressurised situation where supply is greatly required.”

The British Property Federation, NRLA and The Lettings Industry Council have written to Housing Minister Baroness Taylor outlining their concerns about what happens when the Bill becomes law.

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