Landlords aren’t waiting for Section 21 abolition to evict tenants – claim

I have been telling my tenants my intention to sell the property because of this bill. They moved out before I had to issue the s21. But this bill is the driver for me selling up

It doesn't claim these are illegal evictions, paying tenants to leave is sadly more cost effective than the legal process. In fact even illegal evictions are more cost effective if tenants are no longer paying rent - unless physical violence is involved.

Surely most section 21 evictions never reach court so wouldn't be shown on MOJ figures, meaning eviction numbers are much higher

The EPC certificate is one part of the equation.
Supposedly the goal is to help " save the planet" by getting our ageing housing stock to EPC band C so that tenants use less energy.
At the same time we are told that the country has to have a growing economy and needs to become a leader in AI.
To become a leader in AI we need data centres and these require nuclear power stations as we only have 1.4% capacity over peak demand.
Each of these nuclear power stations needs 15 years to be built or 3 Parliaments.
Small nuclear power stations like the ones built by Rolls Royce need 3 years to build and we currently need 3 years to build each one.
On that basis we lack the money to build 3 big ones or all 20 small ones at once.
Thus on the basis of available money we cannot finance the power we need without fracking and oil from the North Sea and therefore cannot effect growth or build the 1.5 million houses promised by the Labour Party within a Parliament.
EPC CERTIFICATES
These can be issued easily enough because there are enough EPC assessors.
Bringing the 90% of UK housing stock at Band D or below up to band C by 2030 cannot be done and it cannot be done for privately owned tenanted property.
There are several reasons for this:
A) There is a shortage of heat pump engineers to install heat pumps of any description and not enough of these people are in training to emerge to do the work between now and 2030
B)There is a shortage of 250,000 construction workers to make changes to the privately owned tenanted properties and insufficient workers available to do the same for local councils many of which are bankrupt
C)A typical 3 bedroomed semi detached house in Hertfordshire would require £25000 gbp to be spent on bringing it up to EPC band C from band D .
D)80% of people with current accounts in the UK have less than £500 gbp in them at any one time ( Source: GE Capital surveys of 1990 and 2017).
Thus for many landlords the regulations are unaffordable and uneconomic.
E)Then there is the issue of whether Labour will be in office in 2029 which is doubtful

Dear Mr Pennycook

Are you still denying that PRS landlords are leaving the sector?

I don't understand this article. There is a lot of certainty in the PRS. I'm certain that the PRS will crumble to it's knees in a very short time span so if I was a tenant I'd be very careful on my conduct and have plans in place for alternative accommodation. Can't get any more certain than that.

The PRS accounts for almost one in five homes in England.

This will fall due to the well publicised campaign against private landlords.

I don’t gamble but I’d guess the number will fall to one in ten within ten years. Maybe less.

It will be predominantly the highest quality private rentals that remain. The poorer housing stock will disappear from the PRS.

Those who can just about afford a mortgage will buy the poorest quality housing, made available by landlords quitting. The complaints of damp and mould will come from these owner-occupiers.

It is no point in putting sensible arguments about this and that.
This is a Labour Government, You are a Property Owner and a Landlord. They want to force you out so they can Tax You.

Reply to the comment left by Freda Blogs at 17/02/2025 - 11:53
Pennycook will deny any knowledge of landlords leaving the PRS. He would be gone. He is too stubborn to admit the truth. They just want to make unfair laws.
The tenant will say it is the law that I can stay on.
Another set of tenants have been given a notice. There are 2 flatmates. The one I saw has stated they like to stay on and £50 increased rent. That is a laugh. She has only increased her rent by £50 in the last 3 years, but piled on £200 for her changing flat mate. In the same building you could get one bedroom flat for about that rent. She has broke some items, which I want her to pay for from the deposit. I have had some work done over there. Given them almost 4 months notice. They have free swimming pool, all the leisure facilities. The service charges have gone up y 11 to 15 each year,making over 40% extra and her rent over 3 years gone up by 10%.
She wants to stay longer. I shall also send them notice to increase rent to bring in line with the market rent if they stay any longer, which will be £600 extra.

Reply to the comment left by John Gelmini at 17/02/2025 - 11:41
Soon as Ed Miliband announced the EPC changes again, he instantly made dozens of thousands homeless.