46% of RLA landlords intend to sell post Section 21 scrapping plans

46% of RLA landlords intend to sell post Section 21 scrapping plans

15:36 PM, 22nd May 2019, About 5 years ago 5

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The RLA has surveyed more than 6,500 landlords and agents finding more than 46% now plan to sell some or all of their rental property following government announced plans to scrap Section 21 repossessions.

The research also found an additional 40% of landlords were waiting to make a decision based on it becoming clearer in the consultations to follow how new procedures and amendment to section 8 will affect possession rights.

91% of landlords supported the establishment of a special housing court, bringing together all housing disputes under a single body.

79% who have used the current court system did not consider the courts to be reliable.

David Smith, RLA policy director, said: “Security of tenure means nothing unless the homes to rent are there in the first place.

“With the demand for private rented housing showing no signs of slowing down it is vital that landlords are confident that they can quickly and easily get back their property in legitimate circumstances. Whilst the system should clearly be fair to tenants, it needs also to support and encourage good landlords.

“Our survey shows how complex it will be to ensure that the grounds on which landlords can repossess properties are both clear and comprehensive. This needs to be underpinned by a court system that is fit for purpose and properly resourced. At present it is neither.

“It is vital that the government’s planned reforms are carefully considered to avoid finding ourselves needing to reopen this whole issue later down the line.”


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Comments

Rob Crawford

13:44 PM, 24th May 2019, About 5 years ago

The loss of section 21 will most certainly be a deal breaker for many, especially if the Gov't remove it before the very necessary revamp of the Courts and section 8 process takes place. Note to the Gov't, the results of this survey must not be ignored! Whoever is elected as the next PM needs to overhaul housing issues as a priority and with an unbiased understanding of the consequences of any change (or lack of change)! ARL has provided this survey as evidence that surely cannot be ignored - well done the ARL & especially David Smith.

Whiteskifreak Surrey

13:52 PM, 24th May 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Rob Crawford at 24/05/2019 - 13:44
Goos post, Rob. However I am afraid it will certainly fall onto deaf ears... Like many warnings before.

Old Mrs Landlord

18:19 PM, 24th May 2019, About 5 years ago

It should be noted that the heading of this thread is not really accurate as the survey was open to all landlords, not just RLA members, so is likely to be representative of a wider landlord demographic.

Marie

7:48 AM, 1st June 2019, About 5 years ago

I was in court yesterday in a tenant related matter. Had to wait 4 1/2 hours as I ended up on a floating list due to lack of judges. Looking at the list of cases, the majority were from either housing associations or councils applying for possession. It made me realise the scale of housing issues going to court and how much a separate Housing Court is needed, but also that most of the issues seem to arise in the social sector and nobody is vilifying the HA or councils in the media.

Laura Delow

8:18 AM, 6th June 2019, About 5 years ago

We also were in court yesterday. One of our long standing tenants of 13 years who for 6 years had no rent increases until 4 years ago when we piecemeal increased it twice by £25 & £50 pm (albeit still £300 pm below market rent), always paid her rent on time but from August 2018 started paying late & then fell in to arrears due to unfortunate circumstances out of her control. Our Rent Protect/Legal Expenses cover kicked in when her arrears exceeded 2 months & told us there was no way she could pay these (policy was set up when she worked full time & passed full referencing/affordability criteria). The insurers appointed lawyer suggested serving a section 8 to which we voiced 2 concerns; 1) we knew she wanted to stay & might reduce the arrears to just below 2 months & felt a section 21 might therefore be best.........because although...
2) we were happy for her to stay on it would be conditional that besides paying the arrears i) she provide a guarantor so we could renew / set up new Rent Cover as she no longer met criteria & ii) once the rent arrears were cleared, the rent should increase by £50 pm rent that should have gone through 21.11.18 (she would still be £250 pm below market rent).
The judge ordered a suspended possession order & said she be allowed to clear the arrears over 6 months (this was okay with us) but laughed derisively at our guarantor request when we told him this was important otherwise we could not get new Rent Protect cover & would leave us exposed if she fell in to arrears again, to which he replied saying this was our problem & should be of no concern to the tenant.
Had a section 21 been served we would have been granted possession.
However we would only have followed through with possession if the tenant did not pay the arrears (a given), provide a suitable guarantor & sign a new AST at £50 pm more rent.

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