10:02 AM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago 25
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The government is set to tweak its Renters (Reform) Bill in England, aiming to address concerns from landlords while still delivering security for tenants.
Critics say the changes will create ‘a landlords charter’ but ministers are responding to criticism from Conservative MPs who say the Bill is too burdensome for landlords.
The revised proposals include a mandatory six-month tenancy period for renters, replacing the current system where they can leave with two months’ notice.
Levelling Up Minister Jacob Young defended the changes, and in a letter to Tory MPs said the changes ensure ‘landlords can rely on a letting period that covers costs’ and prevents short-term lets.
The chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, Ben Beadle, said: “Ministers now need to crack on to ensure the Bill can proceed with the scrutiny it deserves.
“All the rumour, speculation and off-the-record briefings about the future of the Bill has caused a huge amount of concern and uncertainty for tenants and responsible landlords.
“The Government has a mandate to end section 21 repossessions.
“Our focus has been on ensuring that the replacement system works, and is fair, to both tenants and responsible landlords. The changes being proposed would achieve this balance.”
Another key change involves delaying the ban on Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions which will be postponed until the justice secretary decides whether courts can deal with a rise in repossession claims.
The Bill, initially introduced last May, aimed to completely abolish no-fault evictions.
Under the revised plan, landlords could still evict tenants in specific situations, such as wanting to sell the property or needing it for themselves or close family.
The government is also considering exemptions to the six-month minimum tenancy, including situations involving tenant death, domestic abuse or serious property hazards.
Further proposals include reviewing council landlord licensing schemes to avoid duplication with a new property portal for landlord registration.
Also, students could face easier eviction at the end of their academic year, while tenants evicted under new grounds would be entitled to local council homelessness support.
One issue is the abolition of fixed-term contracts in favour of indefinite rolling tenancies.
While the government sees this as offering tenants greater security, critics argue it reduces predictability for landlords.
Shelter’s chief executive, Polly Neate, said the proposed changes are ‘cowardly’ and said the government would ‘rather betray renters than stand up to a minority of MPs hell-bent on browbeating them into watering down the Renters (Reform) Bill.’
The campaign manager at the Renters’ Reform Coalition, Tom Darling, said delaying the ban on Section 21 would not be in place until after the next general election.
He told the BBC: “The government’s flagship legislation to help renters is fast becoming a Landlord’s Charter.”
One Tory MP with concerns about the Bill, Anthony Mangnall, said he still wants more changes and added there are ‘outstanding issues such as fixed-term contracts’ that need fixing.
Matt Downie, the chief executive of Crisis, said: “The Renters (Reform) Bill’s purpose was to give much needed protection to renters, and it’s absolutely vital that it does so.
“Failing to immediately abolish Section 21 or ‘no-fault’ evictions โ the leading cause of homelessness in England โ won’t do that.”
Labour has said it would abolish Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions if it wins the next General Election.
Shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook said: “After years of delay, private renters have every right to be furious at the watering down of the vital protections the Tories promised them.”
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Paul Essex
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Sign Up9:39 AM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
So student landlords get to keep Section 21, any bets on this just covering PBSA?
Michael Booth
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Sign Up9:53 AM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
Well well shelter calling the goverment cowardly,why do they think the government are looking more closely at section 21 and other licensing schemes , have a guess shelter , not got it yet , look at the figures of landlords leaving the prs .
Vanessa Shenton
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Sign Up10:07 AM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
"Private renters have the right to be furious..." I find this strange given recent polls demonstrating most tenants have not even heard of the RRB! Could it be that the majority of tenants do not have a problem that these "pro tenant groups" suggest they have? Maybe these groups support those affected by "no fault described" evictions, many of whom are a landlords worst nightmare!! However, maybe many good tenants DO actually have cause to complain...their rents are going up, with these so called pro tenant groups forcing through counterintuitive legislation being a significant factor. Wake up, for goodness sake. Landlords are selling!!!
Cider Drinker
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Sign Up10:13 AM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ด๐ช๐น-๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ดโ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ.
The current system starts with a six months fixed term. We are not suggesting that tenants will need to give six months notice are we?
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ 21 ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด.
The government won the election with many promises. Most of these have been ignored.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐๐ข๐บ, ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ฐ-๐ง๐ข๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด.
Wrong! The Bill aimed to abolish Section 21 of the Housing Act. Section 8 has a number of no-fault options. Section 21 Notices are issued for undisclosed reasons.
โ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ โ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ 21 ๐๐ โ๐๐-๐๐๐ข๐๐กโ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ โ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐ โ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐๐ โ ๐ค๐๐โ๐ก ๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ก.โ
The leading causes of homelessness in England are too many people and too few houses. Stop fake asylum seekers.
krispy
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Sign Up10:26 AM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
Why are tenants rent payments not linked to their credit score.
They are for buying a phone or a pair of shoes with Klarna.
Canada are now looking at this option.
Luke P
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Sign Up10:37 AM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
Olโ Beadle just canโt wait to see it brought in, can heโฆ?
Jo Westlake
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Sign Up10:49 AM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
That "minority of MPs" represent hundreds of thousands of landlords.
Probably far more people than Shelter or Generation Rent claim to be campaigning for. They also represent large numbers of tenants and may have the mental capacity to understand that forcing through legislation landlords are totally opposed to will cause homelessness and sky high temporary housing bills which will bankrupt many Local Authorities. The other MPs are either ignoring their landlord constituents or are totally ignorant of the way the PRS works.
Surveys usually show over 80% of PRS tenants are happy with their home, landlords and overall renting experience. What is the point of messing up a system that is working for the vast majority of tenants?
Of the less than 20% who claim they're not happy, what is the reason? Is it something wrong with the property, or that they resent paying rent, or the landlord won't allow them to have a pet, or the landlord has threatened to evict them due to some form of ASB?
Reluctant Landlord
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Sign Up11:09 AM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Jo Westlake at 02/04/2024 - 10:49
...and of the 20% not happy there, there is ALREADY a system of complaint/redress in place. Report to LL, not joy then report to Council or go seek legal assistance (which will no doubt be funded by legal aid) Or hand in their notice.
SimonR
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Sign Up13:40 PM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
Reply to the comment left by krispy at 02/04/2024 - 10:26
Why are tenants rent payments not linked to their credit score." Sorry but you're going to have to explain this one too me. Are you saying the lower the score the lower/higher the rent if so how is that fair?
Grumpy Doug
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Sign Up14:05 PM, 2nd April 2024, About 6 months ago
Reply to the comment left by SimonR at 02/04/2024 - 13:40
If tenants register with Experian, their rent payments count towards their credit score. I encourage mine to do so as it will help them when it comes time to get a mortgage