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0:03 AM, 3rd November 2023, About 7 months ago 73
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Angela Rayner has promised to abolish Section 21 straight away if Labour wins the next general election.
In an interview with LBC, the Shadow Housing Secretary answered questions from worried landlords about the removal of Section 21.
Ms Rayner argued that “no-fault evictions are causing misery for people”.
One landlord told the Shadow Housing Secretary that he houses vulnerable people in his properties and the removal of Section 21 will frighten many landlords.
He said: “I specialize in taking homeless people and people from charities who are ex-drug addicts. I take these people on the condition that they get one chance, they can’t mess it up.
“If Section 21 was abolished I would not be able to take these vulnerable people because I could not get rid of them.”
The landlord emphasised the critical role Section 21 played in his ability to help house vulnerable people.
“I have had instances where I have had to use Section 21 because I’ve had an ex drunk who’s been homeless and after five or six months he’s gone back on booze and I’ve had to go through that process. What happens if I can’t do that anymore?
“I wouldn’t be able to take the risk and take people who are homeless or ex drug addicts from charities and that’s all I specialize in. I ask you will you abolish Section 21?”
Ms Rayner told the landlord that no-fault evictions would be abolished immediately under a Labour government.
“Yes, we would abolish Section 21. I’m being honest with you and I gave you a straight answer. I know that the court system is in a mess at the moment and that needs sorting out.
“There’s so many good landlords out there and they’re frustrated by the current situation and the work you are doing is really important.
“However, on balance, Section 21 is causing misery for a lot of people because it is used to turf people out without any explanation or excuse.”
She added: “We need to make sure there’s a fair balance between renters and landlords and being honest with you I think at the moment it’s much too much towards landlords as opposed to tenants.”
Elsewhere in the interview, one landlord told Ms Rayner scrapping Section 21 would cause chaos in landlords trying to gain back possession of their property.
He said: “Most landlords don’t have an issue renting to any tenant that looks after the property and pays the rent.
“However, if it all goes wrong and the landlord wants their property back, they don’t want to wait nine months and they don’t want to have to spend several thousand pounds.
Ms Rayner interrupted and asked: “Is that why you think so many of these Section 21 notices are implemented and imposed on people at the moment because they are significantly used?”
The landlord argued back saying most landlords don’t issue a Section 21 without a valid reason.
He said: “The main reason a landlord will use Section 21 is because they want a tenant out for a reason.
“The tenant might be in breach of the lease or they are causing a disturbance. Section 8 is going to stop all that and therefore landlords will flee the market or the ones that are in the market won’t let to tenants on lower incomes.
“At the end of the day, a landlord has to know that they can get their property back quickly and efficiently.”
The full video can be seen here
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Landlords are 'being pushed out of' the PRS 
Seething Landlord
0:36 AM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 04/11/2023 - 21:56
I do not know what your references to genuine landlords are intended to imply but have noticed that some seem to think that all genuine landlords have the same mindset and perception of reality and resort to questioning whether contributors are really landlords if they do not subscribe to the required groupthink.
You have not explained where you think the additional 73,000 households in 2021/2022 are living if there has been the net reduction in PRS properties that you claim.
I have seen no evidence that landlords are leaving in droves and not being replaced. In any event, if a landlord leaves it does not mean that their properties have disappeared from the PRS. Nor does the CGT data mean that those who have sold are no longer landlords, particularly as the figures show that most only sold one property.
Whether life for landlords under a Labour government will be better or worse than what we have at the moment remains to be seen - the last 13 years have hardly been landlord friendly and many have only survived the past few years due to fixed term mortgages with low interest rates. Any exodus of landlords so far is probably due mainly to a combination of S24 and the problems with re-mortgaging as the fixed terms come to an end, particularly if there is a high LTV, but that is just my opinion.
Monty Bodkin
7:44 AM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
From the Financial Times;
https://www.ft.com/content/04bf39bf-121e-4bf7-b875-8ad867eda064
"The number of UK homes available to rent has dropped to a 14-year low"
Seething Landlord
9:15 AM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 05/11/2023 - 07:44
The article goes on to say "In June, 241,000 homes were available in the private rented sector, compared with 370,000 in June 2019 — a fall of over one-third (35 per cent) ....A related factor driving these shortages is greater inertia among existing tenants, who fear giving up a letting only to face higher costs elsewhere"
It only deals with the number of vacant properties available to rent but does not mention an overall reduction in the size of the PRS, which would be an obvious explanation if it were true. They do however say that "data has yet to show a large-scale exodus of landlords from the market," which is the point that I have been making. QED.
Monty Bodkin
11:06 AM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 05/11/2023 - 09:15
35% fewer rental properties might be enough for even Rayner to pause and reconsider.
Practical reality over political dogma.
Seething Landlord
13:33 PM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 05/11/2023 - 11:06Have you actually read the article? Everybody knows that there is a shortage of property in all sectors.
The 35% reduction refers to the number of vacant properties available to rent and nothing else.
Crouchender
14:03 PM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 05/11/2023 - 13:33
We can argue there ''load of LLs'' or LLs exodus.
The plain and simple fact is rents are going up. The incoming Labour government will see this as well as the rent rises that are coming in the next 12months.
They will blame tories and when in power will literally freeze the LL market by OTT CGT of 50% minimum overnight as they can via an 'emergency cost of living' budget (carry over from COVID legislation).
Whether they deny it or not they will freeze/ cap rents / evictions ban for at least 12months ( ie you can't sell unless the tenant leaves).
Now for someone like me I am preparing for these scenarios as most of my rents are up 10% this year and will go up another 10% next year otherwise I wont be able to remortgage or pass any affordability tests.
Have Labour or even the SNP thought about how mortgaged LLs will cope when valuers 'cap' their valuations for mortgages due to rent freeze/caps in place. Mortgaged LLs are finished UNLESS
your bassline rent rises dramatically over the next year and your new mortgage lender accepts 'passing' rent (rent you actually get via AST) and not by valuers 'market rent' figures.
You may think this is rather dramatic but this can all be easily predicted so prepare now.
Seething Landlord
14:19 PM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Crouchender at 05/11/2023 - 14:03
Just to take one of your points, highly leveraged landlords are finished anyway due to S24 coupled with the current level of interest rates. Rents will never rise above what people can afford to pay.
Your predictions may or may not prove correct but in the meantime I do not disagree with your advice which is essentially to prepare for the worst, to which I would add "and hope for the best."
Crouchender
14:25 PM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 05/11/2023 - 14:19
Yes S24 is a killer blow for >50% LTV LLs. No government will reverse that. It took at least 10 years before the Rep of Ireland reversed their S24 recently because their PRS is in a very bad way.
Monty Bodkin
18:32 PM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 05/11/2023 - 13:33
"Everybody knows that there is a shortage of property"
Angela Rayner and her supporters clearly don't;
"Well, landlords, you know, we've got a countless amount of landlords"
Seething Landlord
22:52 PM, 5th November 2023, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 05/11/2023 - 18:32
I see that you have moved away from trying to justify your misrepresentation of the FT article, which I again remind you says that "data has yet to show a large-scale exodus of landlords from the market,".
Why do you think that Angela Rayner does not know that there is a shortage of property? Have you ever heard or read anything to that effect? Saying that there are plenty of landlords, which she might live to regret, is quite different from saying that there are plenty of properties.