Renters Reform Bill worse than feared

Renters Reform Bill worse than feared

10:26 AM, 18th May 2023, About 10 months ago 65

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It is only a Bill and has just been published but the Renters’ Reform Bill appears at first sight worse than many have feared. All tenancies are to become periodic, meaning landlords will have no security of income and student landlords in particular will find the tenants will not pay for the summer holidays.

One massive change is that currently section 21 notices cannot be served if the tenancy deposit has not been properly protected with an authorised scheme and the prescribed information given unless and until the deposit is returned to the tenant. That rule did not apply to Section 8 notices. Now it is proposed that except in cases of antisocial behaviour: “ the court may make an order for possession … only if the tenancy deposit is being held in accordance with an authorised scheme.”

The tenant must also have been given the Prescribed Information in the required form. So even if the ground for eviction is rent arrears, damage to the property or that the landlord wants the property back to live in himself, he may fail if the deposit paperwork is not in order.

When landlords eventually get to court tenants will be able to ambush them with a technical defence because, for example, the wrong clause number was referred to in the Prescribed Information or there was some other minor error. The safest course will be to return the deposit to the tenant which is really to add insult to injury and it will be a bold landlord who seeks a section 8 eviction without professional help. So much for Mr Gove’s statement today about being able to evict more quickly tenants who are “persistently and deliberately evading their responsibility to pay their rent”.


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Comments

Seething Landlord

12:03 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Yvonne Francis at 19/05/2023 - 11:41
I think you will find that the exception only applies to purpose built student accommodation.

Tom McGrath

12:16 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

I predict that there will be a tsunami of landlords exiting the market, as this bill effectively nationalises the private rental sector by taking control of the property away from the owner and handing it to the tenant.

It will of course take millions of properties off the market, because once esconced in a property, tenants will be very difficult and costly to remove, and those properties will be unavailable to the wider market. Rents will rise stratospherically as fewer and fewer properties are available. The consequence: a rent freeze.

Taxation, inflation, legislation--who'd be a landlord? I've made an enquiry to a portfolio sales site.

Beaver

12:19 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Tom McGrath at 19/05/2023 - 12:16
Certainly nobody could afford to invest their savings in property if they were to run a high risk of losing control of their investment or making a loss on that investment. You'd be better off putting your money in the bank.

Simon M

12:28 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

Q: "Who defines what is minor?"
A: Precedent and the judge.

The repercussion outweighs the impact of the error - hence the judge.

Reluctant Landlord

12:41 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Tom McGrath at 19/05/2023 - 12:16
let me know which company you are looking at please....

JB

13:45 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

THE TENANTS WILL PAY

THE TENANTS WILL PAY

Whenever a landlord loses out, the rent goes up. Just like when someone shoplifts from Tesco we all pay for their losses.

Yvonne Francis

15:44 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 19/05/2023 - 12:03
No, I think you are wrong. Just think about it: students staying on campas long after (even years) their course has ended!

The problem with what I propose is if houses from the PRS leased to a University would count as their accommodation. The manager from Brooks ensured me they would as they let on certain criteria, and they had already taken legal advice. However, I wait with some uncertainty.

Seething Landlord

17:06 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Yvonne Francis at 19/05/2023 - 15:44
Probably best to check what it says in the Bill and the explanatory notes but I am virtually certain that it makes it clear that fixed term tenancies will only be allowed for purpose built student accommodation, which is also what it said in the White Paper.

However, the NRLA have been lobbying hard on this point and it may be that it will change as the Bill progresses.

Yvonne Francis

17:52 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 19/05/2023 - 17:06
University Accommodation are PBSA's be they build in my city in about the 12th Century!

Seething Landlord

18:24 PM, 19th May 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Yvonne Francis at 19/05/2023 - 17:52
As I said before, you need to check the precise wording of the Bill. It might include a definition of purpose built student accommodation.

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