Allow Landlords to evict tenants where there are 14 days rent arrears
by Chris Daniel
All Landlords, please SIGN this petition and share with as many landlords as possible. Click Here
You can’t go into a supermarket and steal your weeks’ groceries. There are laws in place to protect shopkeepers large and small. Not paying rent is also theft with the Landlord being the victim. In Australia, tenants can be evicted for being 14 days in arrears with the rent. Let’s have that system here.
The current system is unfair to Landlords. If a Tenant doesn’t pay rent then it can take a year for a Landlord to regain procession. In that time the Landlord still has to pay the mortgage and other costs. This can ruin many small scale Landlords. Furthermore, it incentivises Landlords to only rent their properties to tenants with higher than average income who are likely to care about getting a bad credit rating.
Let’s have an Australian style system which aims to be neutral between Landlord and Tenant.
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Member Since February 2015 - Comments: 8
10:24 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
14 days is unreasonable and therefore unhelpful to our cause. It would be much better to aim for something with a chance of success.
I’m sorry to be ‘picky’ but if I was to sign a petition of this nature I would want the grammar and spelling to be correct. There are three errors in the one short paragraph.
Member Since April 2018 - Comments: 69
10:32 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
I’m wholeheartedly with Whiteskifreak Surrey on this. We will be slaughtered by all and sundry if we go for any short period rent arrears eviction without genuine cause.
Many people fall into arrears for many genuine and laudable reasons. In these circumstances, it is my duty as the LL and joint custodian of the property to offer assistance where I can.
That said, I do draw the line at tenants who are determined to ‘put one over’ the LL with the intent to avoid paying the agreed rent.
As LLs, we need to recognise and deal with unfortunate circumstances but in the meantime, vigorously campaign to be able to evict those who choose to cheat LLs and flout the law of the land. I sympathise with idea of a petition but it needs to be for values the law makers will support.
Member Since April 2017 - Comments: 225
10:35 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
Something has to change somewhere along the line so that landlords don’t have to wait stupid amounts of income-threatening times in order to get possession so although I think 2 weeks is too short and should be phased in like anything else that is radical we have to start somewhere. So there is the time we have to wait before we serve the legal doc that starts the eviction procedure, the time we have to wait until the next stage and the next stage and ALL of them need sorting out. So what is the average time until eviciton nowadays? a year? Well somewhere along that line we have to change it so it becomes 9 months, then 6 months, then 3 months. We also need to change how much a landlord can lose so if the money lost during that timescale (whichever one) was recoverable then it wouldn’t matter as much about the time taken. So a lot of places along that journey where intervention is necessary. If a landlord could serve notice after 14 days but it still took as long for the whole process then not a lot gained but at least one part of the process has been addressed so I have signed
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 648
10:57 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Rennie at 02/10/2020 – 10:35
Very well said.
Member Since April 2017 - Comments: 225
11:08 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
If just this part of the process were changed as a first step it would at least change tenants’ perception (and Shelter’s) of the amount of time available to get one’s butt into gear. It would be a good beginning to re-education. Sometimes it is a bury your head in the sand reaction and if something is prompting action after 2 weeks the head might come out of the sand sooner
Member Since April 2015 - Comments: 468
11:11 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Whiteskifreak Surrey at 02/10/2020 – 08:16
I agree with you that 14 days is too short a period & possibly ridiculous to expect with our government when bodies like UC are designed by the government such that landlords can be robbed. I think one month in arrears would be more reasonable. I don’t think like you it will make any difference and possibly back fire. I have signed the petition nevertheless.
Member Since November 2014 - Comments: 14
11:15 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
Please take the 14 day petition down and replace with a more realistic timeframe and showing empathy to the tenants situation, then I would definitely sign but I could not sign the way it is and the way it portrays landlords !
Member Since July 2018 - Comments: 44
11:22 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
I agree with Chris. This proposed petition will do landlords more harm than good and I will not sign.
Member Since February 2016 - Comments: 977 - Articles: 1
11:25 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
Reading now quite a lot of comments, I decided not to sign it. As I said more harm than good. Thanks all.
Member Since February 2020 - Comments: 360
11:29 AM, 2nd October 2020, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by brian gibson at 02/10/2020 – 11:15
Whatever we ask for, we will get less.
So putting a “realistic” amount of days notice, will be watered down significantly.
The quickest I have evicted somebody was 6 months. They paid the first months rent, and then just stopped and would not communicate.
If we ask for 2 months, then nothing will change.
Other countries like Aus and NZ deal with this in a sensible way. They gasp at how long it takes for an eviction here.
The Government are the unrealistic ones.