Renters Reform Bill worse than feared

Renters Reform Bill worse than feared

10:26 AM, 18th May 2023, About 11 months ago 65

Text Size

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”.


Share This Article


Comments

Julesgflawyer

9:51 AM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 26/05/2023 - 09:47
That's actually pretty clear. Lets see if it survives amendment in Parliament.

JB

9:57 AM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

Clear as mud to me!

Let's hope if tenant is behind Jan & Feb thats one occasion. Feb and March is the 2nd occasion. March and April is the 3rd occasion

Or if they're behind one month and the next month's rent is a day late, that would be one occasion of having 2 months rent unpaid.

Seething Landlord

10:03 AM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by JB at 26/05/2023 - 09:57It's a separate occasion if, for at least one day in between, the arrears have reduced to less than 2 months.

JB

10:09 AM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

“persistently and deliberately evading their responsibility to pay their rent”.

Of course being DELIBERATELY in arrears opens up a whole other bag of worms

Seething Landlord

10:12 AM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by JB at 26/05/2023 - 10:09
“persistently and deliberately evading their responsibility to pay their rent”.

Where did you find that wording?

Gromit

10:16 AM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by JB at 26/05/2023 - 09:57
..and if they pay you 1p in rent they get another months 'grace'.

JB

10:30 AM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 26/05/2023 - 10:12
In Ian's article

JB

10:32 AM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 26/05/2023 - 10:16
..or if you're 2 months rent in arrears for years, that's only ONE occasion!

Beaver

12:47 PM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 26/05/2023 - 09:47
I have had a situation where a tenant who I know had an income >£70K didn't pay and I didn't know until my agent notified me that the tenant hadn't paid. I discovered that the reason the tenant did that was that he was paying private school fees. One of my accounts went into overdraft as a consequence and my thoughts of course were "...I am not your bank."

The next time that happened (on exactly the month the school fees were due) because the agent had told him he had to communicate I was notified that the rent would be late. The rent was then paid a couple of weeks late and the next month was paid on time. That wasn't a big problem because the tenant communicated.

I have had a situation where a lower income tenant consistently paid perhaps 50-60% of the rent late and did this for months but was never more than two months late. I spent weeks and weeks chasing them for money because if I didn't chase I didn't get paid. This tenant was a pain in the a**e and when he and his wife left I found that they had also damaged the property and tried to hide the damage.

I think if you have a long-term tenant e.g. 5 years+ who has been late on 3 occasions but otherwise always paid on time and in full it wouldn't be reasonable to automatically evict. So I get the idea of that three year time interval if the wording of the bill says "within". Because of course "within" could be 3 separate occasions within six months and you can take action.

However, I would also like something to be added to the bill to the effect that if the rent is late for at least a day on at least three separate occasions and the tenant consistently does not state in writing when the rent will be paid on time and in full then that is also automatic grounds for possession.

That's reasonable. The tenant needs to communicate. If there's a problem, the tenant needs to say when the rent will be paid. If the tenant is going away travelling and won't be around to pay the rent then the tenant needs to pay the rent in advance. If there's a problem the tenant needs write, email or text and ask for an acknowledgement of receipt of that communication.

Landlords are not social services and they are not the tenant's bank.

Seething Landlord

14:42 PM, 26th May 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by JB at 26/05/2023 - 10:30
I see that he was quoting a statement made by Michael Gove rather than the proposed legislation. In the end all that matters is what the Bill actually says rather than what politicians think it says.

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now