Levelling Up White Paper – S21 abolished – Landlord register – Decent homes standard

Levelling Up White Paper – S21 abolished – Landlord register – Decent homes standard

7:59 AM, 2nd February 2022, About 2 years ago 78

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Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions will further be abolished, ending the unfair situation where renters can be kicked out of their homes for no reason.

We will consult on introducing a landlords register, and will set out plans for a crackdown on rogue landlords – making sure fines and bans stop repeat offenders leaving renters in terrible conditions.

The government will announce a plan that for the first time ever, all homes in the Private Rented Sector will have to meet a minimum standard – the Decent Homes Standard.

The above are the key plans that affect landlords directly in the government’s flagship Levelling Up White Paper being promoted today by Secretary of State Michael Gove. Click here to read the full press release.

The government aim is that by 2030, renters will have a secure path to ownership with the number of first-time buyers increasing in all areas; and the government’s ambition is for the number of non-decent rented homes to have fallen by 50%, with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas.

Other plans for the housing market include:

The government will support 20 of our towns and city centres, starting off with Wolverhampton and Sheffield, undertaking ambitious, King’s Cross-style regeneration projects, transforming derelict urban sites into beautiful communities. This work will be spearheaded by Homes England, which will be repurposed to, in addition to its existing functions, regenerate towns and cities.

The ‘80/20 rule’ which leads to 80% of government funding for housing supply being directed at ‘maximum affordability areas’ – in practice, London and the South East – will be scrapped, with much of the £1.8 billion brownfield funding instead being diverted to transforming brownfield sites in the North and Midlands. The Metro Mayors will be allocated £120 million of this funding.

Home ownership will be boosted due to a new £1.5 billion Levelling Up Home Building Fund being launched, which will provide loans to SMEs and support the UK government’s wider regeneration agenda in areas that are a priority for levelling up.

The government will further commit to building more genuinely affordable social housing. A new Social Housing Regulation Bill will deliver upon the commitments the government made following the Grenfell tragedy in 2017.

The government will give local authorities the power to require landlords of empty shops to fill them if they have been left vacant for too long.

Michael Gove said: “The United Kingdom is an unparalleled success story. We have one of the world’s biggest and most dynamic economies. Ours is the world’s most spoken language. We have produced more Nobel Prize winners than any country other than America.

“But not everyone shares equally in the UK’s success. For decades, too many communities have been overlooked and undervalued. As some areas have flourished, others have been left in a cycle of decline. The UK has been like a jet firing on only one engine.

“Levelling Up and this White Paper is about ending this historic injustice and calling time on the postcode lottery.

“This will not be an easy task, and it won’t happen overnight, but our 12 new national levelling up missions will drive real change in towns and cities across the UK, so that where you live will no longer determine how far you can go.”

Party Minister Boris Johnson said: “From day one, the defining mission of this government has been to level up this country, to break the link between geography and destiny so that no matter where you live you have access to the same opportunities.

“The challenges we face have been embedded over generations and cannot be dug out overnight, but this White Paper is the next crucial step.

“It is a vision for the future that will see public spending on R&D increased in every part of the country; transport connectivity improving; faster broadband in every community; life expectancies rising; violent crime falling; schools improving; and private sector investment being unleashed.

“It is the most comprehensive, ambitious plan of its kind that this country has ever seen and it will ensure that the government continues to rise to the challenge and deliver for the people of the UK.”


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Comments

JB

10:56 AM, 6th February 2022, About 2 years ago

If nightmare tenants could be removed fast without the LL losing too much money then LL's would be more prepared to offer tenancies to less than prime tenants.

Smiffy

11:16 AM, 7th February 2022, About 2 years ago

Soon be time there was a legal challenge to the removal of taper relief, and also a way of using annual capital gains allowance. Our property values didn't go up in a year, so the gain shouldn't be taxed in one year.

Jane Tomlin

13:33 PM, 7th February 2022, About 2 years ago

I have had a reply from my MP:
As confirmed in the Levelling Up White Paper, the Government has committed to ending Section 21 evictions. A package of measures is due to be set out this spring which will reform the private rented sector. Reforms will be set out in a White Paper with a focus on ending Section 21 evictions and amending Section 8 to ensure that the process works better for landlords.

I recognise that landlords have concerns about the effectiveness of the Section 8 process for evictions. As part of its package to reform the rented sector, the Government has set out to amend Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 to ensure that landlords may end tenancies with confidence where there are legitimate grounds for doing so. Improvements to court processes will also be explored to ensure that disputes are resolved quickly and smoothly.

Legitimate grounds?

Darren Peters

13:45 PM, 7th February 2022, About 2 years ago

The govt could address landlord concerns by amending Section 8 first and watching as S21 evictions withered on the vine.

JB

14:32 PM, 7th February 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Darren Peters at 07/02/2022 - 13:45
Hear! Hear!

Paul Essex

16:09 PM, 7th February 2022, About 2 years ago

I will be concerned about the level of proof required for ASB in future. I fear it may actually require a police prosection before judges will support the LL rather than giving the 'mis-understood tenant' another chance!

I had neighbours complaining to me but they refused to involve the police.

Councils in selective areas seem to have the right to fine us under those circumstances.

Reluctant Landlord

17:33 PM, 7th February 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Jane Tomlin at 07/02/2022 - 13:33
Legitimate grounds....anything we think that will be impossible for you to challenge ...

Pixie Props

18:11 PM, 7th February 2022, About 2 years ago

Gove’s levelling up fairy tales are all bull and will not amount to anything positive for PRS. We all know he is not averse to a bit of treachery. The levelling up he needs to concentrate on is getting the Local Authority, Housing Associations and Charities, properties (which are a disgrace) up to PRS standards and quality.

That should go a long way to him achieving his Decent Homes Standard. What does decent mean in his world? Why do these organisations choose or allow their properties to decline so badly, we have all seen the horror TV stories where tenants suffer health damaging conditions. I know a Mears Group employee who was sent to sort the stained ceiling in a LA flat. When he investigated he found extensive Dry-rot fungus. He phoned his works manager who insisted he board it up and decorate it, and not to let the tenant know. The employee had a massive row back at the office, but, was told to do as he was told without question. Trouble is some innocent poor sod might buy a flat in that block!

Around my area there are LA blocks that have the obligatory stained walls where pipes, boilers, bath, toilets are allowed to discharge water over long periods. I see gutters that have so much grass (maybe part of the Green agenda eh?) growing in them, and this is over lengthy periods of lacking maintenance. To think, I have a contractor before each winter clean gutters and down pipes and report on any roof issues all for £50 per property.

So, after reading Gove’s plans for the future it is clear the PRS are being targeted as a thing of the past. Yes, we suffer from the wrong complexion and the wrong connection. Unlike the Banks, Pension companies who will replace us over time.

Gove needs to realise we are not the Rackmans and don’t deserve targeting with Iranian type sanctions and daft regulations. The introduction of Section 21 allowed decent PRS folk to offer good homes and accumulate funds to retire. As we can see removing it is helping shut the down PRS once and for all. I still predict they will introduce Rent Regulations at some point. That will be the icing on the cake for them.

Personally after 20 years of supplying quality homes at affordable rents to long stay tenants, it no longer stacks up for me and I have joined the throng exiting the mad house. As a dinosaur let’s see how the Green Wokeflakes improve the situation.

However, I been lucky enough to find a buyer to relieve me of my last three BTL’s, eagerly snapped up as they were top quality buys at a sensible price. They will remain as rentals but, nowhere near the price I was getting. Suck it up Gove!

Reluctant Landlord

12:48 PM, 8th February 2022, About 2 years ago

it does make you think that there is only one way out of this madness - and that ultimately CGT is the price to be paid.

Whiteskifreak Surrey

16:47 PM, 8th February 2022, About 2 years ago

Due to expected removal of S21 almost all family houses in our area are converted to Student Houses. The number of student landlords must have tripled. In the meantime normal families / tenants cannot get a rental. some of those are really desperate
I am not surprised. The students will finish the Uni and they will go sooner or later The others might not - ever. And there will be no lawful grounds to remove them until landlords want to sell...
Unintended consequences perhaps?

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