Our Last Newsround for March and its been a week full of headline housing news.
We start with the government announcements in preparing for the Renters Reform Bill
More powers to evict anti-social tenants
The government has listened to concerns over the abolishing of Section 21 and has announced this week that landlords will be given more powers to evict anti-social tenants who have not paid their rent, who terrorise neighbours and use violent or threatening behaviour to fellow HMO tenants.
This new initiative will come under the Government’s new ‘Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan’ which will see a wide range of initiatives cracking down on anti-social behaviour, as well as being able to evict unruly tenants there will also be bigger fines graffitti and littering, revitalising green areas and re-opening empty shops.
Ben Beadle from NRLA says
Whilst we will study the detail of the Government’s plans carefully, we welcome its commitment to strengthen the ability of landlords to evict unruly tenants.
Propertymark has also welcomed the government’s announcement to give landlords more powers to evict bad tenants. It has run a long campaign to see a better balance between protecting tenants from unfair evictions whilst giving landlords the correct path to evict tenants in anti social circumstances.
It also points out that the current court system cannot cope with the sheer capacity and is calling for a dedicated housing court.
Timothy Douglas, Head of policy and campaigns says
It is encouraging to see the UK government acknowledge that there is an issue with anti-social behaviour within communities and after calling for reform we are pleased to see the action plan include measures to speed up the eviction process and support landlords and agents to gather evidence.
Given the lack of capacity in the existing court system, we reiterate our call for a dedicated housing court to ensure better access to justice for landlords and tenants. A key element is ensuring that tenant behaviour can be better evidenced in court and the cases of most concern are prioritised.
True scale of anti-social behaviour revealed
The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have carried out a survey which reveals that anti-social behaviour by neighbours is ‘particularly stressful’.
It has found that over one in four social housing residents have been affected by anti-social behaviour in the past year, which equates to one million households across the sector. The report states that
One in three landlords who have ended a tenancy report that they did so because their tenant engaged in antisocial behaviour. Nuisance, criminal and abusive behaviour which impacts people at home is both disrespectful and unacceptable.
It goes onto to say
Through our reforms for renters, we will make grounds for possession – the legal reasons a landlord can evict a tenant – faster and far easier to prove. This will mean landlords can take immediate action – rather than giving two months’ notice and waiting for the end of a fixed term, as they currently need to when relying on Section 21.
Measures will include
- Tenancies to include clauses banning anti-social behaviour
- Notice period of two weeks
- Anti-social behaviour easier to prove in court
- A Short-term let database
- ‘Closure Powers’ by police to be extended
Although solicitor David Smith has commented on LinkedIn:
This is a baffling story as the eviction of private tenants for ASB involves a notice period of no days at all. There is a one-month notice period (not 4 weeks) where a tenant is convicted of a serious offence which frequently is connected to ASB. The government needs to stop with the confusing teased stories and just publish its reform bill
Renters Reform Act date in doubt
It seems that the government housing ministers themselves are not in agreement as to when the new Renters Reform Bill will be introduced. Rachel Maclean said it would happen by the autumn, however, Michael Gove pledged last weekend that it would be introduced in two months’ time. He said
We’re bringing forward reforms a little later this year – in a couple of months’ time actually – to see how the private rental sector can be better regulated.
The reforms were originally expected in June or July of this year, having been announced in the Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper last year.
A Bill can take up to a year to be passed, so even if it was put forward by this September, the legislation would happen in September 2024 or later. Mix in with that a general election and a new labour government, it could completely derail it.
Fact: Small Portfolio landlords are quitting
The bank of England this week has now backed the NRLA’s previous findings that small buy-to-let landlords are leaving the market.
Ben Beadle, the NRLA CEO, previously stated that it was ludicrous to have a tax system which actively discourages landlords from investing, at a time when demand currently far outstrips supply.
A Guardian article had heavily disputed Ben Beadles’ claim but now a Commons committee has agreed that Ben Beadle did not mislead MP’s when giving evidence about the falling supply of rental properties.
The Bank of England’s summary of business conditions in the first quarter of this year has indeed found that rental housing supply is still contracting while demand continues to grow, which has not helped inflation. Tenant groups are still saying that this is an exaggeration, the London Renters Union is on record for saying
It’s outrageous that the landlord lobby has pushed this false narrative to scare government away from protecting renters when the truth is that private profiteering in our housing system is still on the rise.
However, inews claims that thousands of private landlords with buy-t-let mortgages are currently in arrears, due mainly to the fact that benefit payments have not kept pace with cost of living increases. If these landlords are forced to leave the sector for financial reasons, this is going to impact badly on the poorest in society. Who else is going to house them?
Green Party slams Right to Buy Scheme
Carla Denyer of the Green Party has spoken out, saying the governments Right to Buy Scheme is nothing more than ‘slum landlord’s charter’ and it is the cause of lack of social housing and investment, and it has to go. She says
One of the many problems with Right to Buy is that it reduces the amount of social housing in this country. It’s much lower than it used to be. And partly that’s because councils do not receive enough funding to either build new or buy new council houses to make up for the ones that are sold off. It is reducing social housing by stealth by the Conservatives, and I’m actually quite disappointed to hear that Labour support it as well.
The scheme allows tenants to buy their council house at up to a 70% discount of the market price depending on how long they have lived there.
As many as 1.6m council homes were sold off under the Right to Buy when it was first introduced by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980’s. This scheme has been blamed for the decline in social housing availability. Scotland and Wales have scrapped the Right to Buy scheme in recent years.
Snippet
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Five figure fine for landlord illegally altering buildings
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App that helps tenants fix their own leaks launches service for landlords
Here’s the price landlords pay for Liz Truss and inflation
BREAKING: Landlord’s to be given three more years to reach EPC Minimum
Up to 25% of us don’t have a passport and that’s a problem for landlords, says ID firm
Cash-starved councils targeting tenants in HMO tax raid, warns big landlord
Newsround will be back next week.