Polly Neate – “It’s appalling that every seven minutes another private renter is slapped with a no-fault eviction notice”

According to the” English Private Landlord Survey 2018 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government”: “The most common reasons for evicting, asking a tenant to leave or not renewing a tenancy were due to rent arrears (58%) or due to the tenant not caring for the property (45%).”
Most evictions use Section 21 as it is a mandatory ground and not subject to the discretion of a judge. So how is banning section 21 going to solve the problems of rent arrears and property damage? It won’t. Evictions will continue as normal except they will be more difficult and costly for the landlord. Many landlords after a costly and lengthy eviction process may well decide to sell up, especially in the light of the further landlord bashing proposals coming down the line. Some landlords may decide to sell up as properties become naturally empty. Others may look at the writing on the wall, evict even good tenants to get out now rather than try to extricate themselves later.

Every seven minutes is the equivalent of 75,000pa (out of 11m private renters)...or, 0.68% of tenancies. Looking at this alternatively, 99.32% of private tenants DID NOT receive a so-called 'no fault' Notice in the past 12 months...

It looks like everything's just fine to me!

An article appeared on msn.com and I posted a reply in defence of our landlords. Co.pletely typical of shelter, as if landlords dream up ways of sabotaging known tenants and income for the unknown future tenants.

"Losing a private tenancy is the second biggest cause of homelessness in England". Well at least it's down from No 1 in 2017: https://england.shelter.org.uk/media/press_release/eviction_from_a_private_tenancy_accounts_for_78_of_the_rise_in_homelessness_since_2011
The statement is a bit like saying the biggest cause of unemployment is getting sacked. It overlooks the reasons for the dismissal. Shelter overlook the reasons for s21 notices being served - e.g. non-payment of rent, anti-social behaviour, landlords wanting to sell or wanting property back for a family member.

The threat of S21 being withdrawn is why I am serving notice now. Keeping property maintained and tenants happy is hard work on top of additional tax and the risk of huge fines for making a tiny mistake. Shelter will not be happy until LL give over their properties to tenants to live in free of charge making the LL's bankrupt.

If you want to help the poor, don't be one of them. I bet Polly Neate would not give up her huge salary to pay for a house to have a tenant not pay rent or cause massage damage, but she expects LL's to.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 27/04/2022 - 14:57
But Ian, Shelter doesn't use the term Section 21, they invariably refer to it as a "no fault eviction notice" to suggest that recipients of such a notice are entirely innocent and its service is always undeserved. This careful use of language is on a par with their choice of "Shelter" for their title which implants in the minds of the general public the impression that they provide shelter for the homeless..

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 27/04/2022 - 14:31
Well done Luke but we must never let the facts get in the way of an attention grabbing headline. Shelter are past masters in the art of spin and know full well that the bulk of their audience will never take the trouble to analyse the data as you have done.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 27/04/2022 - 15:25
Playing Devil's Advocate here. 75,000 s21 notices does not mean only 75,000 tenants are affected as many tenancies will have two or more people as tenants. We don't want to give out wrong information. 200 a day is a lot but we want people to look at the reasons, e.g. arrears, anti-social behaviour.

Shelter's statistics overlook that a proportion of tenants require a s21 notice to get re-housed. Serve them a s8 (fault eviction) and they won't be re-housed as they will be treated as intentionally homeless.

I am about to proceed to the next stage on the 2nd s21 I have issued in 26 years as a landlord with a number of tenants.
Frankly the tenants are duff. They have paid erratically over 10 years, currently owe about £5000 in accumulated arrears and treat the house literally like a dustbin. I issued a s21 and will write off the arrears because I wanted to at least give them a chance of moving on. They are also now paying £400 pcm below market rent (once I have cleaned up after them), but obviously raising the rent would have been futile.
If s21 is abolished I guess I would have to either very clearly state the real reasons or, worse, be stuck with them forever.

"Losing a private tenancy" says Mrs Neate, "is the second biggest cause of homelessness in England"

So what is the FIRST, Mrs Neate.... and why aren't you and Shelter banging that drum for all it's worth???

The lack of social housing - that's the No 1!!!

Shelter says: "You can’t solve homelessness without homes. Across the country, there is a chronic shortage of social housing because, for decades, successive governments have failed to build enough. This has left millions of people and countless communities without access to secure, long-term homes with rent they can afford".

So do get on with it Mrs Neate! Let's see you lobbying the government for a change - if not, why not??? Successive government failures.... are not and have never been the fault of the PRS. We are part of the solution to a housing market that successive governments have turned their back on.

FACT according to SHELTER: The No 1 perpetrators of homelessness don't care about providing homes - and haven't done for a very long time. SO WHY BASH THE ONLY PROVISION THERE IS FOR THOSE UNABLE TO BUY THEIR OWN HOMES, MRS NEATE???

Still on the subject of Homelessness No 1.....

Shelter says that "Unexpected life events" are often the cause.

A relationship breakdown, losing a job, or physical or mental health problems might disrupt your life. And without a stable home or a fair welfare system to support you through tough times, an unexpected life event can be all it takes for the pressure to pile up and for you to lose your home.

Sorry to point out the obvious, Mrs Neate, but these 'unexpected life events' are indiscriminate of whether you are a homeowner, a landlord, or a tenant of any sort. Without a 'fair welfare sector' why should it fall to private landlords to bale out successive governments' shortcomings when a tenant in the PRS can't pay their rent due to an unexpected life event? This isn't - and never was - the function of the PRS!

Let it be known that private landlords frequently turn down what should be our perfect tenant base. There just aren't enough of our private homes available to house the family break-ups of the 50 year olds who've had to sell their own places and start again in the private rented sector with teenage/young adult children too young to flee the nest. Every advert for a private rented family home brings out an abundance of distress stories that our market just cannot serve - due to NOT ENOUGH availability, Mrs Neate.

Shelter quote this example: When Sarah's mother died unexpectedly, she and her children were evicted from her mother's social home and became homeless.

So, this happens in the social sector, too? Now why are the PRS not surprised? Mrs Neate - if you believe Sarah was hard done by - you know what to do: have a pop at the housing associations and tell them what they should be doing about it!!

Here's a REALITY CHECK for you, Mrs Neate..... private landlords are not immune from 'unexpected life events' either. When the unexpected happens to us, we might just have to liquidate our asset to move forward in our own lives. If that means selling our rented property, that's what we have to do. The unexpected life events of landlords are what causes the majority of landlords to sell up - contrary to what you flippantly refer to as acting on a 'whim'.

By definitition, a whim: is described as a sudden, passing and often fanciful idea; impulsive or irrational thought. Mrs Neate, do you seriously believe that landlords in receipt of rent from tenants of good standing would just decide to sell up because they have nothing better to do?

As for unexpected life events, I see Shelter also quote this:

"Shandor and his son Billy were evicted after their landlord died" (No, surely not? Private landlords live forever don't they???)

"Not only did I lose a good friend I was just thinking ‘What happens now, where am I going to sleep? Where am I going to shower? Where am I going to cook? Where’s my son going to go'…."

Thanks for this last quote, Mrs Neate. 'Not only did I lose a good friend.......' is a reference to the kind and friendly, albeit sadly deceased landlord of Shandor. Not exactly the Shelter-driven stereotype of a greedy landlord who acts on a whim, is it?

Mrs Neate, is it an absolute shame that the quoted landlord died. Sorry about that! As previously stated, landlords are just as affected by unexpected life events in the same way as anyone else in society.

Most private landlords want to retire at some point of their choosing which is no more so than anyone else wanting to retire from their world of work. The effect of a landlord retiring means a change of circumstances and is most likely to cause the sale of tenanted property. Tenants are given a Section 21 Notice so that the house can be sold and the said notice identifies that this is not due to any fault of the tenant.

This is the summary for you, Mrs Neate: your time would be better spent addressing the No 1 cause of homelessness in England. Success in your pursuit of the government to accept its responsibilities for adequate social housing and a fair welfare state would leave the private rented sector to do what it does best and what it was set up to do.

By barking up the wrong tree big time, you're driving an exodus of landlords from the only housing market there is! Experienced private landlords who might have stayed in the market for longer now have plenty of reasons to quit sooner.

Mrs Neate: as stated, private landlords are not immortal. While you clearly know what the consequences are when a private landlord dies, why are you still driving us to an early grave??

https://england.shelter.org.uk/support_us/campaigns/what_causes_homelessness