Landlords have nothing to fear from the Renters’ Rights Bill – Pennycook
10:21 AM, 11th September 2024, 2 years ago
20
Landlords shouldn’t fear the new Renters’ Rights Bill being introduced to Parliament, the housing minister Matthew Pennycook says.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he insists that ‘change is long overdue’.
He says that the Section 21 means that ‘millions’ of tenants ‘could be uprooted from their home with little notice and minimal justification’.
He also says that a ‘significant minority’ of renters ‘are forced to live in substandard properties’ – and they are too scared to complain.
Rights of responsible landlords
Mr Pennycook goes on: “But the Bill also recognises the rights of the majority of responsible landlords who provide quality homes to their tenants. They should know they have nothing to fear from our reforms.
“The Bill provides landlords with robust grounds for possession where there are personal reasons for wanting to take their property back, whether that be needing to sell their property or wanting to move their family members in.
“Landlords will also be able to review rents once a year, in line with the market price, with protections for tenants to challenge those increases at tribunal if they are unreasonable.”
He adds: “We know that not all tenants behave as they should – and it’s right that landlords should not have to shoulder the costs of tenants who refuse to pay their rent or put up with antisocial behaviour that makes their neighbours’ lives a misery.”
‘Labour Government is determined to succeed’
Mr Pennycook writes: “This Labour Government is determined to succeed where its predecessor failed and address the insecurity and injustice that far too many renters experience by fundamentally overhauling the regulation of the private rented sector and improving the quality of housing in it.
“The case for reform is as watertight as they come. Private rentals are currently the least affordable, poorest quality, and most insecure form of housing that exists.
“The sector is letting down responsible tenants and failing the majority of good landlords who provide a decent service to their tenants but suffer from the reputational damage caused by a disreputable minority that exploit the current system.”
Relationship between landlords and tenants
The housing minister goes on to say that the private rented sector has ‘changed beyond recognition’ since the last law for the relationship between landlords and tenants in 1988.
He adds: “The Government is moving quickly to reform the sector because tenants have waited long enough for the rights and protections they deserve and because landlords need the certainty they were denied by the previous government’s chaotic handling of its legislation.
“Our Renters’ Rights Bill will level decisively the playing field between landlord and tenant and ensure that their interests are balanced.
“It will transform the experience of private renting for tenants, giving them much greater security and stability so they can stay in their homes for longer, build lives in their communities, and avoid the risk of homelessness.”
Tags:
daily telegraph, Labour Government housing reforms, Landlord rights under new rental laws, Landlords, Matthew Pennycook Housing Minister, parliament, renters rights bill, Section 21 Eviction Changes, Tenant protections in private renting, tenants
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Member Since May 2022 - Comments: 89
10:18 AM, 12th September 2024, About 2 years ago
I am delighted Pennycook has made this statement because it does at least confirm my fears that, he and his colleagues. have absolutely no understanding of the PRS and neither do they appreciate or wish to understand the problems and issues facing landlords.
Member Since January 2016 - Comments: 472
11:01 AM, 12th September 2024, About 2 years ago
I caught a bit of Mr Pennycook being interviewed on LBC yesterday. Seems he’s looking to professionalise the BTL industry and he qualified that as more ‘build to rent’ professional landlords.
Either it won’t happen as the council will be trying to specify ‘affordable’ home percentages or if it does happen it’ll be the usual suspects that give a bad service and are untouchable because they are too big.
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 754
11:10 AM, 12th September 2024, About 2 years ago
I just looked up Pennycook on WIkipaedia. Seems he is MP for Greenwich & Woolwich; quite an impressive CV, and he seems quite a smart guy.
Interestingly he is quoted in October 2018 regarding newly qualified teachers leaving the profession: “The crisis in teacher retention in London did not begin the day before yesterday, yet this Tory government still has no coherent plan to address the problem and no appetite to get to grips with the underlying drivers – workload, stagnant pay, rising living costs and a lack of genuinely affordable housing to rent and buy – that lie behind this worrying trend.”
To me, there are parallels with the current housing crisis – wouldn’t it be helpful if he applied some of the same principles and logic to realise that the present situation is of long standing and the proposed Renters Bill is not even going to be the sticking plaster he imagines, but is instead going to make things a lot worse…
Member Since December 2015 - Comments: 292
11:12 AM, 12th September 2024, About 2 years ago
Even with section 24 revoked it will not be a business any sane person would want to stay in. The odds are against us. Shelter (who shelters sweet f… all ) have done a blindingly good job. Polly’s tactics will probably get her a life peerage. And the tenants will applaud! The red queen will be hailed as the tenants saviour. Reeves will be a saint!
Member Since August 2013 - Comments: 35
12:01 PM, 12th September 2024, About 2 years ago
With Section 21 gone, the unintended consequences of trying to prove anti-social behavior as a reason, would be seriously not good and potentially expensive!
My ex-tenant (on single parent benefits) denied to the council that her boyfriend lived with her, was verbally abusive to the neighbours, had noisy visitors late at night and parked her car blocking the pavement… They accepted her story. I would have had to pay for a private detective to gather all the evidence… And meanwhile the neighbours living in fear for coming foreword! This is not uncommon behaviour in the UK!
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3508 - Articles: 5
12:06 PM, 12th September 2024, About 2 years ago
on a positive note….all the tenants that voted for these clowns may not be able to vote for them again.
You can’t put ‘shop doorway’ or ‘third tent on the left’ as an address needed for electoral roll purposes as far as I know….
Member Since May 2017 - Comments: 763
12:25 PM, 12th September 2024, About 2 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander – Founder of Property118 at 11/09/2024 – 10:54
Perfectly said Mark!
Its all a load of Poppycock!
Member Since March 2024 - Comments: 281
12:57 PM, 12th September 2024, About 2 years ago
Playing devil’s advocate and as a landlord since 1990 who is reasonably clued up on the formation of damp and mould in properties from the perspective of sorting out occurrences and having many examples to relate how it is the tenants use of a particular property that is key – it seems I would be able to take out a tenancy (after outbidding all other applicants by paying the full ask of the rent which will obviously now be pitched well above the actual market rate due to the new legislation) and give my 2 months notice day one – allowing me time to create a mouldy home without leaving any trace of how it was done and calling in one of the many no win no fee outfits who will be all over the new legislation.
Without a tenants register to record details of those treating the PRS like AirB&B lite at best – I could then repeat the process in a different area.
I don’t expect any politician to have any real world nous about the implications of their naive decisions (look at Reeves and the ridiculous haste to remove WFP from the 2 million less well off pensioners who will be at serious risk of illness or worse in the coming months rather than a considered and fair change in the rules) – but I would expect the head of NRLA to have a bit more to say rather than doing an impression of the nodding Insurance company dog.
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3508 - Articles: 5
2:41 PM, 12th September 2024, About 2 years ago
actually the headline on the post is probably right. Its tenants who should be fearing this coming to fruition!
The power still ultimately lies with the LL as to whether they offer a tenancy (or not) at the end of the day.
The more concerning and restrictive the rules are a tenancy is given will ultimately determine what is willing to be offered.
Less rentals or the same amount but higher rents?
It’s never going to be the case that there will be MORE properties to rent as a result of these plans, so the idea can only be to keep existing tenants where they are…indefinitely?
Perhaps it really does need tenants themselves to experience what this will mean, before the situation is turned back on its head?
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 1013
8:18 AM, 14th September 2024, About 2 years ago
When a politician says “you have nothing to fear” then be afraid, very afraid !