10:39 AM, 19th April 2024, About 8 months ago 37
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Dear tenants everywhere, I hope all is well and for the majority of you who don’t know about the Renters (Reform) Bill, that life continues to be sweet. For the few renters who are aware of the upcoming law, you need to know about a growing misunderstanding among politicians, the media and homelessness campaigners about tenant evictions that’s causing more harm than good.
You see, you might be under the impression that it will become more difficult to evict you because Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions will be abolished, but like the crazy notion many of you enjoyed in lockdown who thought a ‘rent freeze’ was a ‘we don’t have to pay rent’, there’s a shock coming your way.
Because I’m predicting that not only will evictions continue, but they will increase. Crazy, eh? Let me explain.
We have seen two illustrations of the basic misunderstanding of what evictions are this week: idiot protestors outside Michael Gove’s home trying to hand him an eviction notice (it’s a grace-and-favour home so he’ll likely be marched out of it later this year, anyway).
And we have my old friends at Shelter claiming that one million tenants have been evicted for no fault since the Renters (Reform) Bill was first mooted in 2019.
Its chief executive, Polly Neate, was on Sky News claiming that tenants being served a Section 21 notice are ‘being tipped into homelessness’.
It is time, I think, to unravel the misconceptions about tenant evictions in the UK – and renters and campaigners aren’t going to like it.
Firstly, the notion that Section 21, or ‘no fault’ evictions, are for no fault is a deliberate misconception. As landlords, we know this isn’t true. They should be called ‘no reason given’.
Tenants are not asked to leave a property without good reason – it doesn’t make sense for a landlord to evict a tenant if there are no issues, or if they just want to sell.
That’s because evictions cost landlords money in lost rent, property maintenance and legal fees associated with re-letting.
A Section 21 notice often saves having to get into tit-for-tat arguments with tenants who may not realise the problems they cause to a property. (Whoa, hold on Landlord Crusader – don’t dare imply that some tenants deserve to be evicted….).
The term ‘no-fault’ eviction has unfortunately fed into the anti-landlord narrative that has been ramped up by certain campaign groups.
It’s now a buzzword for the media – who really should know better.
Not being impartial in the coverage of Section 21 means there’s a skewed perception of landlords and the eviction process.
Shelter’s claim that nearly one million tenants have been evicted under the Section 21 process doesn’t hold up for me.
The poll they used asked for opinions and experiences.
It didn’t, noticeably, ask landlords for their opinions about evictions in the UK.
But if everyone took a step back and understood there are around 4.6 million private tenants in the UK and 90+% haven’t been evicted for any reason, means what?
It means we are focusing on a tiny issue and using this to blame the ills of renting on ALL landlords.
It also means that landlords want to keep tenants – and the real issue for evictions might be tenants themselves not paying rent, causing anti-social behaviour or damaging their rented property.
And the other big issue is that there is a massive problem with the fearmongering from organisations like Shelter.
I’ve said this before but while we are talking about a tenant’s home, we are really talking about a landlord’s property.
And the moves afoot will see the removal of a landlord’s rights over his/her own property – and the tenant’s rights surpassing them.
How is it fair that a tenant can make demands and essentially become a tenant for life when it is the landlord who has worked hard and saved up to invest?
It doesn’t make sense.
It’s time to change the narrative and shed light on the realities of tenant evictions in the UK.
So, when will we see the likes of Shelter with its millions of pounds of turnover every year (and millions sitting in the bank) start renting out property?
That’s probably too much like hard work when corporate donors are lining up and media poodles get their sound bites.
Because renting out property is a stressful occupation.
We have sacrificed and worked towards creating wealth for our retirement to be told that this is a disgraceful thing to do.
We didn’t create the housing crisis, we didn’t push interest rates up, we didn’t create tenant demand with uncontrolled immigration, and it wasn’t us that didn’t build enough homes.
But we did create a huge part of the housing sector offering quality homes to those who can’t afford to buy or get a council house.
I appreciate you won’t always know that it’s a thankless task being a landlord, but I didn’t realise until this week how poorly we are portrayed. Everyone it appears, literally, hates us.
And as the Renters (Reform) Bill makes its glacial progress to becoming law, I’m sure we will be in for a rocky ride.
Still no organisation stands up for us. No one asks for our thoughts on ever more regulations.
We really are the whipping boys and girls of the housing sector. We don’t deserve property rights or a voice in the media.
We only deserve bad-mouthing and stiffer laws.
If private landlords really are that bad, why doesn’t the government announce it will nationalise the sector and buy us out?
Surely, that’s a win-win?
Or would a handy media issue to distract from the real housing problems in this country be eradicated, leaving the stone-cold truth for everyone to see?
Landlords aren’t the bad guys, and neither are most of the tenants.
It’s the mealy-mouthed politicians, landlord-hating campaign groups and spineless media mouthpieces who have whipped up a fake news controversy.
And at the end of it, when the Bill becomes law, tenants everywhere will find that landlords are selling up to avoid losing control of their property – because no one understands the difference between ‘no-fault’ and ‘no reason given’.
Tenants, you have my utmost sympathy because of this campaign your rents will increase, and choice will fall as landlords leave and no government – especially a Labour one – will have what it takes to build the homes we need.
Until next time,
The Landlord Crusader
Andrew Strevens
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Sign Up10:53 AM, 20th April 2024, About 8 months ago
A little sobriety here. I have been a letting agent for 25+ years (and a landlord and I have been a private tenant twice) and might I suggest we are all in this together.
Good landlords should enjoy having their mortgages paid and their properties well looked after by good tenants who, in turn, should be able to rely on their landlord to provide accommodation that is fit for purpose as a response to the rent being paid on time.
Anything else is a distraction. I agree that those with vested interest on both sides should have their views heard and that government should make its rules to the betterment of the sector as a whole. As with all things there will be winners and losers. The principle here is that landlords and tenants should benefit equally from the PRS. Tenants should be able to rely on not being abused or unfairly evicted by their landlord and very much vice versa. It is right that tenants should enjoy some security of tenure if they abide by the terms of their tenancy. It is their home and the bosom of their family in most cases.
A far bigger issue here is the optics. Landlords are leaving and not being replaced so currently I spend my days sorting through many applications for fewer properties and simply turning down 80% of those who are kind enough to apply.
My loud voice here is to do something about the optics and encourage people to invest as landlords. It remains a great thing to do and I find it rewarding. My mortgages are paid, I have rental insurance against non payment and I enjoy 100% of the capital growth (notwithstanding CGT if I ever sell).
Let's all work together to make the PRS continue to be the real solution to the housing crisis that it has been for 20+ years. After all, where else are people going to live?
Oh and if the government wants a housing tsar, I'm their man 😂
Andrew Strevens
Accommodation Provider
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Sign Up11:40 AM, 20th April 2024, About 8 months ago
Let me write out the future for you .... This is an incredibly good article and the comments are even better. Journalists and politicians please all read this and you have all the perspectives from a tenant and landlord perspective ! Let me in addition to the very valid comments some of which I was about to write myself, give my prediction of what will happen in the future - regardless of this Rent Reform and banning of S21 (which I agree entirely will make things worse, not better). I'm an economist and strategist and researcher for decades already. The approach by the government, fuelled by a vocal minority of tenants on social media, combined with any political party having no downside but lots of upside demonising and further burdening landlords, will lead to the future which is: a large fund like Blackrock will end up properties from exiting small landlords, then it will become clear how much the current large army of tiny landlords do for their tenants, which is always overlooked and not written about as it does not grab headlines as it is very boring. For a large insitutional fund like Blackrock to give the same service as small landlords, the employees they will have to hire to deal with that in both an administrative, legal and property maintenance sense - will show the real, very high price of these services currently given by small landlords that work 18/7 for tenants. To have not a huge amount of small landlords providing private rented property, but a large institutional player, will drive up rents beyond everyone's belief. And the large players will be able to pressure the government into being more realistic and kinder to Landlords - where currently the situation is the opposite - the government can push tiny landlords about as much as they like because all the tiny landlords cannot defend themselves against that - apart from the fact they are too busy working their socks off for tenants (and there are more bad tenants than there are bad landlords - read that again please). There is only one solution for landlords - who can only express their thoughts and concerns on forums like these at the moment, but not much more than that. And that one solution is a landlord organisation that is as well organized as a trade union. The NRLA which the government rules effectively force you to sign up to is entirely useless and pathetic, incompetent, unable and unfit !! If all small landlords could unite in a strong trade union style organisation - then the government would have to listen and so finally listen. My further comments in telegram style 1) inflation has risen more than rents - journalists do not understand the compounded effects of inflation but love totally incorrect headlines that hurt landlords 2) journalists - rents are not rising because of the aforementioned but you keep writing they are but at the same time have no memory of mere years ago - covid hit and zero help for landlords - and BBC media and politicians hurting landlords by broadcasting "mortgage holidays for landlords" which tenants interpreted as "landlords don't have to pay mortgages - so we're not going to pay rent!!" directly hurting a silent majority of landlords whilst they still had to pay mortgages and if they had a temporary reprieve to delay their interest payments this came at a commercial penalty - it was not a holiday at all so why call it that misleadingly 3) the only solution is: the government needs to allow more houses to be built - but won't do that - and if it would - there would not be enough builders 4) every single year, net migration is 700 thousand - 1% of the entire population of the UK - a city the size of Liverpool or Southampton - and the houses are simply not there. If Suella Braverman speaks these truths she is cancelled. Hotels are now being emptied of asylum seekers and the government is paying a fortune to Serco who are offering crooked deals to small landlords to get houses they need to evict their normal tenants from - but like the Blackrock example above, Serco unlike Blackrock will not buy houses from landlords but rent them and beware landlords, if you read the agreement with Serco you will never sign it as it shifts all the risks to you small landlord and you will get back a wrecked property and a huge loss given to you whilst big Serco makes a massive margin as they always do with deals with a government that is entirely incompetent making any deal with Capita or Serco or anyone and will overpay massively, as the civil servants trying to negotiate and write a contract with Serco are incompetent business wise compared to the professional lawyers Serco put on this; and these civil servants do not care as it is not their own money at stake. 5) I am a landlord of decades - like many other landlords responding in this thread - I have never used S21 to get rid of a good, rentpaying tenant - only had to use it once in 20 years for a big problem tenant 6) I love 95% of my tenants, I provide eco friendly high EPC homes, solar, ash, etc no expense spared and they reward me by staying many years in a warm house with low bills 7) other people wrote the same - I too only once was in court and was shocked being a lawyer and economist by training how the judge was absolutely corrupt - I had emails from the tenant agreeing to stay for a few more months where I was helping them to tailor the end of their tenancy to match when their new house could be moved into. Of course they went early and did not pay, leaving me with a void, no notice and the judge said by "letting them leave, you varied their agreement" - varying the agreement requires my agreement which I never gave. When I stated that, the judge said "well, you let them leave did you not ?" I responded "what did you want me to do - lock them into the house ?" and the judge said "well, you let them leave without putting up any resistance". That taught me that a landlord cannot rely on justice - of course landlords do not write about that as landlords know they are weak already. A tenant just has to throw a coin in the washing maching to wreck it .... they can poke a screwdriver through the roof and create leaks .... they have all the power in England in the tenant-landlord relationship but this is never expressed and I should not do this here either as it shows how weak landlords are and how quickly and easily they can financially die from bad tenants. And you're a landlord so you must be rich, so you can do your work for tenants, work hard, give everything you make away in taxes, then for doing all that as a free slave for society, you will get vilified and spat on by the media fuelling this hate, then we will put rent controls in (but not mortgage controls) and then we will expropriate you as if in a communist state, then we will charge capital gains tax at that moment, then you die and we charge 40% inheritance tax. Meanwhile 10 million people of our 60 million population do not work by now, and are now on benefits that taxpayers have to pay 100 billion for. With social media - they have the control as they have time to sit on facebook all day long to manipulate weak politicians who are also addicted to tech as that has given them insight in how to get votes so wrong effects are now quickly reinforcing everything leading to our children having a massive problem of a failing state which will fall apart. Add 100k illegal male military age migrants with entirely different values, (which are not allowed to work) than the Eastern European hard workers that came in and built houses and lifted up our economy to accelerate the downfall. the UK needs to leave the two party system paralyzing it immediately but we all know in the UK nothing will ever change - until it suddenly falls apart into chaos and civil war - to everyones surprise.
NewYorkie
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Sign Up11:41 AM, 20th April 2024, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Lisa008 at 20/04/2024 - 08:12
The birthrate for western women is declining rapidly, which means there soon won't be enough [indigenous] people working and paying taxes to cover the needs of the State. Illegal migration and the benefits bill is out of control, with no sign of it reducing. Indeed, Labour will see it increasing as they welcome yet more to our gold-encrusted shores in the misguided belief that immigration is the answer to our declining birthrate. Only one problem. While those from countries such as India, Philippines, Hong Kong etc... want to work and integrate, there's a whole sub-society which refuses to integrate but insists on imposing it's own culture on everyone else, while being handed every benefit going, including prioritised social housing.
NewYorkie
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Sign Up11:51 AM, 20th April 2024, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Accommodation Provider at 20/04/2024 - 11:40
We are all thinking it because we see the effects on our income and property. I believe it will come to a head during this next Labour Parliament, because they have clueless politicians in their front bench, who will continue to end over backwards for their union paymasters, those who live their lives on benefits, minorities, and illegal migrants. And when it does all kick-off, they will overreact.
TJP
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Sign Up12:10 PM, 20th April 2024, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Slooky at 20/04/2024 - 08:17
Why indeed, especially considering how biased the judiciary against landlords.
Cider Drinker
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Sign Up18:56 PM, 20th April 2024, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Andrew Strevens at 20/04/2024 - 10:53
I’m a landlord and nothing winds me up more than someone saying that a tenant pays my mortgage.
I only have one one mortgage out of a number of properties. I paid cash for the rest.
The one with a mortgage costs me £3k in interest this latest tax year. I owe the same today as I did last year. A new boiler and other maintenance, repairs and insurances will see me breaking even on this property - if I’m lucky.
Tenants are not paying my mortgage. They are paying for a safe home that I manage for them.
JamesB
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Sign Up9:59 AM, 22nd April 2024, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 20/04/2024 - 18:56
"nothing winds me up more than someone saying that a tenant pays my mortgage."
I thought the same. Eg I let a house worth 650k for 2000pcm.(Actual real life figures). As I have prioritised paying off mortages for 30 years, I have no mortgage on it. However I do have other mortgages that I coud pay off. 650k at 5% = £32500pa. Because of s24 I would need to be getting roughly £40k a year rent. not £24k just to pay my notional interest and that ignores all the other costs.