Last week this blog looked at the problems that could be caused for the rental sector by the proposal to scrap “no-fault” Section 21 evictions.
The government proposes to effectively make tenancies open-ended, while at the same time strengthening the rights of landlords who want to recover their properties by giving the Section 8 process more teeth. Getting this right will make or break the planned change in the law. Get it wrong and the government risks seriously damaging the rental sector – which is already struggling to meet the demand for housing.
The average time it takes for a private landlord to repossess a property via the current system is nearly four months, according to data from the Ministry of Justice published in Landlord Today last week. This is completely unacceptable. All landlords know that eviction of any kind is a last resort. And even official figures point to the fact that only 10% of tenancies are ended by the landlord, not the tenant. All other things being equal, they have a better investment with a long term tenant where there is no void rent loss and less move-in, move-out wear and tear. But there are legitimate reasons why a buy-to-let landlord may need to evict someone when they have a change of circumstances and that situation must be supported by an efficient court process.
In Scotland, where court reform was rolled out prior to scrapping their equivalent of Section 21, the new regime seems to be working. So paying attention to Section 8 will be vital if the new regime is to be fair to landlords as well as to tenants.
Not surprisingly, there has been a strong reaction to the government’s plans from the lettings sector, with more than 6,000 people responding to the Residential Landlord Association’s survey asking what a post-Section 21 private rented sector should look like – a record response for the trade body. The RLA survey closes today and the results will be used to respond to the government’s formal consultation when it is launched, so go to the RLA website at https://rla.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/possession-reform-ensuring-landlord-confidence-apr-may to have your say.