Council unveils landlord mediation service to curb tenant evictions

The service offers tailored guidance, connecting tenants to financial assistance and advising landlords on their legal obligations and alternative approaches to issuing notices.

Sounds to me like a council only sniffing about to find ways/reasons of stopping a LL issuing a formal notice in the first place so they don’t have to worry about any homelessness prevention or duty being invoked. …or am I being far too cynical?

Tenants and LL’s know there is always council help available – but it is always the tenant themselves that has to ask for help directly and has to apply for a DHP etc.

If they are on UC and have asked for the rent element to be sent to them while eviction takes place, then they are hardly going to go to the council for help if they are pocketing months of UC rent payments in the interim are they.

If tenants re on HB and in arrears this might be easier to deal with the Council as the HB is sent from them. Reporting that the HB is not being paid to the LL by the tenant might cause the T more problems…as the council will know about this while the eviction is progressing. They are hardly likely to be very sympathetic if the T then comes back to them for help..

The Council are not landlords friends. Their statutory duty is with tenants. Any contact between landlords and this service can and will be used against them.

Call Before You Serve, otherwise known as Kick the Can As Far Down the Road.

the reality is if you as the LL are going to evict there IS usually always a good reason.

Councils seem to naively think that a tenancy can always be saved.

This is not the case.

If arrears are and issue they may return and if the council have helped pay once they are hardly likely to do again.

If T damage or asbo is an issue, this cannot be resolved with Council assistance/interference/delaying tactics.

Councils, like the government want to be seen to be ‘helping’ the LL, (read that as trying to stop more coming to them for housing they do not have and costing money they haven’t got!) but the reality the LL is evicting because it is probably already go the point of no return.

Council gona help landlords also 🤣 really .

TBFair. I have found our local council (less than 1 hr from MK) to be keen to help if approached informally.
The PRS team have in the past reached out to Ts, when I have let them know what will happen if arrears are not paid.
I however am very sceptical of any ‘formal” scheme.

My portfolio is in MK. I am a trained counsellor and also skilled in conflict resolution. I’ve done hundreds of face to face meetings between people in conflict and listened to both sides and brought about a collaborative solution on many occasions . To do that I cannot have a vested interest in the outcome for either party I`m involved with as that is clearly a conflict of interest . The council is an interested party so it’s a conflict of interest. If you are going offer a mediation service you need to engage an independent qualified mediator
I have done a significant amount of LHA / UC in the past 25years . I`ve attended numerous council LL`s meetings during that time , partaken in LL`s workshops and sat on an advisory group for a while and also met with the Housing Chief on 2 occasions to try to make it a far better 3 way conversation between myself, the tenant and the council.
It has been a spectacular failure. The council thinks they are right all the time. They get it wrong all the time . They are arrogant . They dont listen. They dont truly engage . They have a pre planned agenda. They are not transparent. They actively encourage tenants to stay put until the bailiffs come . They have none of the LL`s interests at heart. They routinely suspended or canceled LHA back in the day but didn’t tell me . I only found out on the 4 week pay day when the rent didnt come in and then the battle to recover it began. I may be 3 weeks behind the curve at that point as my needs were simply ignored .
Just one example: They used to pay LHA directly to me as the tenant was a vulnerable recovering alcoholic .On transition to UC no one informed me it was transitioned and they just cut the LHA one day. The tenant begged for it to be paid to me directly at the Jobcentre interview as she knew her weaknesses. They refused to oblige. They didn’t call me and ask me for an opinion/ reference even though she had been with me for 2 years and it had worked well The result are knowing that tenant for only 5 mins they paid it to her and she got £600 into her bank account and I got nothing , She went on a bender and ended up in A&E having her stomach pumped out and almost died. The council were unapologetic and were incapable of acknowledging their failure in this matter which almost contributed to her death
I have countless other similar anecdotes which demonstrate the council’s total ineptitude. I conclude they are the worst people to try to mediate between myself and the tenant. They have not got the people skills or the specialist training to do that. Myself and my tenants have zero trust in their ability to get stuff right . They are so non neutral which is a prerequisite for acting as a mediator. They are part of the massive problem in the PRS and in exacerbating the homelessness situation . Until they recognise that at their induction training courses and invite people like me to come and give a LL`s perspective then they will continue down the same head in the sand blind alley
Another example ( before I leave you in peace ) . I wanted to sell a 2 bed flat once with an LHA tenant in . MK Council agreed to buy it . But they said serve a sec 21 and evict the tenant and make them homeless. Then we will be able to house another homeless person . So they wanted to uproot the entire life of my settled tenant with kids in the local school, her local doctor around the corner . Her strong family support structure was on the same estate . They said it would be ok as they would put her in a homeless hostel in Dunstable 10 miles away .
Their bizzare unfeeling, uncaring logic still stuns me every day
I won’t be using their confidential service as it’s not a service and it won’t be confidential.
I have a mountain of GDPR breaches by them ……but that’s for another day!
The Lions Rugby is just about to start
Thank you for listening