Letting agents voice concerns over Renters Reform Bill

Letting agents voice concerns over Renters Reform Bill

0:01 AM, 14th June 2023, About 11 months ago 4

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Half of letting agents say the abolition of Section 21 evictions is their biggest worry, according to a new survey.

A survey of 690 letting agents by Goodlord reveals the concerns among letting agents about the Renters’ Reform Bill.

The majority of agents are also concerned about the move to periodic tenancies and the bill’s potential impact on student lets.

51% of agents don’t understand what the reforms would mean for student lets

More than half (52%) of agents said they needed more help & guidance over the move to periodic tenancies. Agents highlighted a lack of clarity as to what the changes will mean in practice.

The survey reveals 51% of agents don’t understand what the reforms would mean for student lets, with only 17% of letting agents, including those specialising in student lets, stating that they understood what the impact would be.

Student properties typically end in line with the academic year when the properties are taken up by a new group of students.

A ban on fixed-term tenancies will see student landlords facing huge uncertainty as they won’t be able to guarantee there is accommodation for the incoming student group.

Oliver Sherlock, director of insurance, at Goodlord, said: “For some areas, such as the Bill’s possibly unintended impact on student tenancies, we hope that the government factors this into the final text of the legislation. In the meantime, it’s clear the industry must start to get to grips with the details of the bill and make meaningful preparations now to ensure their businesses are well prepared for change.”

Changes to Section 8

The survey also reveals 20% of agents are concerned about the changes to Section 8. Letting agents are left feeling unsure whether the changes to Section 8 will be robust enough.

Landlords and letting agents are concerned about how they will be able to recover property in instances such as non-payment of rent or anti-social behaviour.

Mr Sherlock said there remains huge uncertainity around the Renters Reform Bill: “Whilst we have now seen the first version of this Bill, it doesn’t mean the industry has full clarity- far from it.

“These findings show that a lot of concerns and unanswered questions remain for agents and their landlords when it comes to the sweeping changes this legislation will enact.”


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Comments

Judith Wordsworth

10:14 AM, 14th June 2023, About 11 months ago

The government doesn’t understand what the end of fixed term rentals will mean to students and council tax.

Most student HMOs are mixed years. Full time Students get council tax exemption. But if one student stays on in the property after leaving/ or finishing their course then ALL the students have to pay council tax as the property is no longer 100% student accommodation.

Of course letting agents are worried. They look to lose a huge amount of income as more and more landlords sell up and vacate the PRS.

Peter S

11:09 AM, 14th June 2023, About 11 months ago

The government ( MGove) doesn’t understand ANYTHING about the PRS.
Sorry but no one is going to tell me who I can and cannot put into my properties ( Pets, , children, ) and for how long. I would go to prison to defend my right to run my properties ( in a professional manner) according to my wishes.

Barbaracus

12:37 PM, 14th June 2023, About 11 months ago

Sign this petition to get some movement against the renters reform bill in it's current state

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/638746

markyboy

22:25 PM, 14th June 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 14/06/2023 - 10:14
What actually happens with CT is, 1x tenant is non student, or otherwise liable for CT, and they get a 25% discount.
More than 1x tenant and no discount, payable by all non students.

Any student who's still registered on full time course with exemption certificate will be ignored for CT.
As most large student HMOs are quite big, and in a highish CT band they tend to be expensive for a single payer

Of course the TA needs to clarify that it excludes CT.

This is how I run my student tenancies, joint tenancy, exclude CT, but I do collect their exemption certs issued from their uni and send these with front page of AST to CT office on their behalf as they forget.

I've found my smaller student properties with a lower band are more likely to suffer from an overstay, esp where TA runs from Sept to Sept for international MSc/PhD students who have 3/6 month additional time on their visa so they want a base to travel from for an extra 2 months.

If they are free to overstay as long as they want, then it's likely that none of my student properties will be available for the start of the next academic year.

I did find last year that there was a big choice of students staying in Airbnb and couch surfing who wanted a property I had available in Oct. Very messy situation for the students.

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