Labour – Renters’ Rights Bill, Part Two

Following on from detailing some of the ways Landlords will be affected by the bill there has been a great furore centred on “Section 21 is no fault eviction” in fact no one wants to lose good tenants, why would they? S21 was brought in to give owners the legal right to reclaim their property at the end of a tenancy, when tenants were in default, rent etc. As usual the truth has been twisted.

Listed below are some of the ways in which this RRB will now affect the owner being able to reclaim ownership of their property.

Section 21 Evictions will be abolished, so the paper based “no-fault” eviction will no longer apply. You will need a valid reason to regain possession of your property, such as serious rent arrears, anti-social behaviour, selling the property or moving in yourself.

Under the bill there is an extended list of specific grounds on which tenants can be evicted. As far as rent arrears is concerned (ground 10), the mandatory threshold for eviction increases from 2 to 3 months’ arrears and the notice period increases from 2 weeks to 4 weeks.

Ground 11, persistent arrears, ground 12 breach of tenancy and ground 13, deterioration of property may assist your case, but there’s no guarantee a judge would agree to grant a possession order. You may also be criticised for being unaware of the internal condition by failing to instigate a property inspection schedule.

In future, when the bill becomes law, you will need exemplary evidence to convince a judge that an eviction is necessary using Section 8 instead of Section 13 of the Housing Act 1988, as amended. The cost of going to court (court fees) and legal representation, if you use a solicitor or eviction specialist, will mitigate against acting unless your case is clear cut.

The other concern is the amount of time you will be held in a queue if the courts become even more overloaded than they are at present – that has yet to be discovered after the new rules apply.

In your case one month’s rent arrears is unlikely to be considered serious enough to constitute a good reason for eviction under the new rules, whereas now, before the new rules apply, Section 21 will permit you to remove the tenant with some degree of certainty.

Periodic Tenancies – Fixed-term tenancies will be replaced with periodic ones, meaning tenants can stay indefinitely unless there is a legal reason to evict. The tenant will be empowered to leave giving just two months’ notice, while you will be confined to using specific grounds for eviction, should you require possession. If the tenant refuses to leave you will have to convince a judge that there is a valid reason to issue a possession order.

Re-letting Restrictions – If you use ground 1, re-occupation by the landlord or his family, or 1A, sale of the dwelling house, you cannot let the property again for at least 12 months. This means you’ll need to be certain that you or your close relatives are occupying or about your decision to sell the property, before making the decision to go to court.

The govt insist the bill will have no effect on the amount of privately owned property available to rent, this is as unbelievable as the rest of the Starmer bullshit.
 

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