Big landlord says action needed to stop vulnerable tenants getting into arrears
A Portsmouth-based landlords association has called on local authorities and charities to behave like letting agents when introducing high-risk tenants to landlords.
Martin Silman of Portsmouth & District Landlords Association says government departments and charities should adopt the same duty of care as lettings agencies when referring vulnerable or homeless applicants to landlords.
Naturally wary
The risk of default from those types of tenants is high so landlords are naturally wary, and even more so with the pending abolition of Section 21 notices.
Research shows that more than half the people claiming Universal Credit were in rent arrears, according to the National Residential Landlords Association.
Silman says: “For our landlord members, the impact of arrears can be devastating. In severe cases of rent arrears and legal costs, landlords can be left with no option but to sell up, with a devastating and life-changing loss of pension income.”
Professional approach
In order to improve the uptake of such tenants he says the risks for landlords must be mitigated. This could be achieved, he suggests, by the various bodies taking a more professional approach.
That would mean, for example, carrying out proper pre-tenancy checks including references and affordability as well as putting in place some form of guarantor to minimise the impact of defaults.
Find the balance between enabling tenants to find homes and mitigating or eliminating risks to our landlord members.”
Silman goes as far as to suggest that, like agents, the relevant government agencies and charities could be qualified, licensed and ultimately regulated by law.
He concludes that this might: “Help find the balance between enabling tenants to find homes and mitigating or eliminating risks to our landlord members.
Very true. I’m biggest private provider to Nottingham’s Benefit tenants over 27 years and I no longer take Benefit tenants cause of the above. We get to a stage where we don’t help the Council any more cause the tenants they give us are sh__e and then the Council and Courts and Govt make it nigh impossible for us to get rid of them