Delighted as Revenge Eviction Bill is defeated

Landlord Action also got a couple of well deserved mentions during the debate.
Well done for coming up with some credible realistic figures.

Well said Paul
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I am extremely disappointed that tis bill did not go through.
I agree there are a number of good landlords out there, however on a daily basis I see tenants living in appalling condition, no heating, doors that don’t lock giving the property no security, leaking roofs… I could go on… yet these tenants cant afford to just up sticks and move as they are already living hand to mouth and they are too scared of being evicted to complain.
Most recently I had a tenant who it would seem hasn’t had a CP12 carried out by the landlord for over 4 yrs.. this tenant doesn’t want to be evicted so has not given me authority to report this issue.
This bill or regulation of the industry in some form is urgently needed…
Surprisingly, the private rental sector is not there just for landlords, tenants need to have an equal playing field too

Reply to the comment left by "Julie Ford" at "01/12/2014 - 08:57":

You seem to be missing the point though Julie. As it was drafted, the bill was wide open to abuse because a tenant on the brink of eviction would only have to report a fictitious problem or damage something to get another 8 months rent free as well as costing a landlord more money.

Thankfully most MP's saw common sense and turned their backs on this bill. Those who didn't simply revealed how gullible they are when it comes to buying into propaganda based lobbying.
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Sorry Mark, i haven't missed the point at all, if fact I follow this Bill very closely, so, you maybe interested in the Published Bill following its 2nd reading, which does stop tenants from reporting fictitious problem or damage and prevents a landlord from serving a S21 AFTER disrepair has been reported. No as a tenants retaliation to a S21!
Its a shame you feel that tenants who report disrepair are simply doing it to gain a rent free period... on the contrary.. the tenants i deal with sadly have very unscrupulous landlords, who despite the tenants paying rent in full and on time every month to not attend to these uninhabitable homes, and tenants are reluctant to report it or complain because they are scared of eviction.

Please try and understand that although this site clearly contains landlords who abide by the law, yourself included, there are many out there who don’t and it is these landlords the Bill was aimed at.

If a landlord is conducting his rental business correctly then he should have no fear of this Bill..

The main issue to the Bill not going through, in my opinion, was due to the fact that most of the MPs are landlords and didn’t bother to read what the Bill was actually about before turning up on Friday and voting… which was very evident when hearing their repetitive and drawn out arguments against, ignorance and turning a blind eye to what is actually happening to tenants is no excuse to celebrate the refusal of a long awaited and much needed change to the antiquated regulations we have now

So maybe worth a read?

http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/2014/11/stop-retaliating/

Reply to the comment left by "Julie Ford" at "01/12/2014 - 12:43":

Tenant moves in, starts complainig a out little things immediately, stops paying rent, defeated bill would have protected them. Same thing happens as soon as landlord begins to turn up the heat on arrears. ASB, etc.

You are entitled to your opinion but I am shocked by it and stand by my earlier comments.
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Yes, Mark. You are absolutely right. The Bill was stupid, ill-conceived and wide open to abuse. It was like a Tenants From Hell Charter. Over the years we have already regularly lost 5 or 6 months rent from some of these awful serial defaulters (and it would have been a lot more if we didn't act as swiftly as possible, issue the notices, wait for court dates, have the judge grant them longer and then arrange the bailiffs). This Bill would have been a gift from heaven for these criminals.
At the risk of repeating myself ad nauseum, I have no idea what Julie is talking about. In nearly 20 years as a landlord I have never come across the phenomenon of revenge or retaliatory eviction for reporting a repair (why on earth would we do that?), except in the sense that when tenants do not pay the rent we 'retaliate' by serving them their notice in an attempt to minimise the amount of hundreds or thousands they then steal from us, in the form of unpaid rent.

Q. How do you know a Lawyer is talking utter rubbish and is telling untruths?
A. (they are talking)
What utter drivel this whole subject is and is yet another attack by leftie groups who feign emotive diatribe to support their shabby we existence's and businesses using the plight of the tenant to drive home their self interested twaddle. I have 35 properties and have for years dealt with the victim trained tenant, coached by local authorities, shelter, CAB, lawyers et al to screw the landlord for everything they can as they all know we are virtually defenceless to these predatory practices and not a soul in any regulatory body or the govt has the balls to stand up and say enough! The landlord is not what this rabble aforementioned will have us all believe they are. Revenge evictions my bum. I have never ever hear of anything of the like and I know hundreds of landlords and on with 800 properties and they all want the same thing. Rent on time and their places kept in good condition. So little Miss lawyer girl get off your lame campaign horse and apply some objectivity to the reality of the situation. (you won't because of self interest) I just lost £7070 in rent and £13,000 in vandalism to a property in Twickenham, and the council coached the tenant to stay there and accused me of renting out a substandard property that the tenant (who they placed in there) had vandalised my flat. How long does it take you to earn £20,000 and what colour is your eye patch? You haven't a clue what you are talking about. I have had 10"s of these disgusting people, councils and I can get a penny back as its a biased unbalanced system much like the morons who inhabit and support it. Never again will a social tenant inhabit one of my properties.

The bill as written would have been a real problem, as we all know that some tenants make up problems and/or damage property themselves.

Revenge Eviction clearly is not common, but they are also not unknown and there is a growing resentment towards all landlords due to the actions of a few landlords. Sooner or later such a bill will be past unless we come up with something better.

I would much rather there be a requirement to register a S21 notice (for a charge, say £100) when you issue it, and then it to be illegal to re-let the property until it has been inspected (at the landlords cost). That way a tenant has nothing to gain by lying, but a landlord cannot use a S21 to replace a complaining tenant with one that will put up with disrepair.

It would be easy for there to be a public database of properties requiring inspection, so allowing letting agents and tenants (+ RightMove) to check, along with a large fine and an order banning someone from being a landlord for life for the 2nd offence.

As Paul says, we never heard of the so-called phenomenon of 'revenge evictions' until it was invented by Shelter about 18 months ago as a ploy in their senseless attack on landlords. I think we should keep reiterating the fact that if their unfounded statistic of 200,000 'revenge evictions' taking place last year (I'd be surprised if there had been 200) were true, that this would constitute 2% of the renting population, and so it is not an issue for 98% of renters - although as I say, it is probably more like 0.01% of cases where there was any connection between eviction and a legitimate repair being necessary.
All this smoke and mirrors is such a waste of everybody's time. If Shelter wants to use the money donated to it by people who think they are providing shelter to the homeless when they are doing nothing of the kind, then why don't they have a go at Social Housing providers and councils where the level of tenant satisfaction is far lower? We have had tenants move out of council housing and move into our houses which have had a similar rent but are in far better condition and they know that we repair and improve the houses regularly... I don't know. What's going to be next? What next thing will they waste thousands and thousands of donated money on in what seems to be a very personal attack on landlords? As I read somewhere else, you'd think they'd want to work constructively with private landlords since their raison d'etre should be building good relationships with housing providers in order to help the homeless. Something is very wrong in that organisation. They've gone up a blind alley and someone there needs to give them a good shake-up. One interesting thing would be to see their accounts and see how much money they wasted on this stupid campaign. If this were published in the newspapers maybe the donations would stop coming and people could give their money to genuine organisations who provide shelter to people who need it. I would be very happy to donate to any organisation like that. I have already provided lots of rent-free accommodation of course, but I'd like to provide it for the deserving, rather than the type I've been forced into paying for, who prefer to spend the rent money up the club, on drink and fags, the latest mobile 'phones, expensive Sky packages and take-aways! And I am not stereotyping - I am describing the lifestyles of the people who have cheated me out of thousands of pounds. Decent people don't behave in this way; hence I am not describing hard-working people who don't have a lot of money and are struggling to get by - these people pay the rent.
Oh, I've just seen your comment coming in Ian. Please don't ask for more regulation...