"While the Government’s action over recent years has driven improvements, we know there is more to be done. We are committed to robust and comprehensive changes to create a Private Rented Sector that meets the needs of the diverse tenants and landlords who live and work within it. We have a 12-point plan of action:
"1. We will deliver on our levelling up housing mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030 and require privately rented homes to meet the Decent Homes Standard for the first time. This will give renters safer, better value homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities.
"2. We will accelerate quality improvements in the areas that need it most. We will run pilot schemes with a selection of local councils to explore different ways of enforcing standards and work with landlords to speed up adoption of the Decent Homes Standard.
"3. We will deliver our manifesto commitment to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and deliver a simpler, more secure tenancy structure. A tenancy will only end if the tenant ends it or if the landlord has a valid ground for possession, empowering tenants to challenge poor practice and reducing costs associated with unexpected moves.
"4. We will reform grounds for possession to make sure that landlords have effective means to gain possession of their properties when necessary. We will expedite landlords’ ability to evict those who disrupt neighbourhoods through antisocial behaviour and introduce new grounds for persistent arrears and sale of the property.
"5. We will only allow increases to rent once per year, end the use of rent review clauses, and improve tenants’ ability to challenge excessive rent increases through the First Tier Tribunal to support people to manage their costs and to remain in their homes.
"6. We will strengthen tenants’ ability to hold their landlord to account and introduce a new single Ombudsman that all private landlords must join. This will provide fair, impartial, and binding resolution to many issues and be quicker, cheaper, and less adversarial than the court system. Alongside this, we will consider how we can bolster and expand existing rent repayment orders and enable tenants to be repaid rent for non-decent homes.
"7. We will work with the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) to target the areas where there are unacceptable delays in court proceedings. We will also strengthen mediation and alternative dispute resolution to enable landlords and tenants to work together to reduce the risk of issues escalating.
"8. We will introduce a new Property Portal to make sure that tenants, landlords and local councils have the information they need. The portal will provide a single ‘front door’ for landlords to understand their responsibilities, tenants will be able to access information about their landlord’s compliance, and local councils will have access to better data to crack down on criminal landlords. Subject to consultation with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), we also intend to incorporate some of the functionality of the Database of Rogue Landlords, mandating the entry of all eligible landlord offences and making them publicly visible.
"9. We will strengthen local councils’ enforcement powers and ability to crack down on criminal landlords by seeking to increase investigative powers and strengthening the fine regime for serious offences. We are also exploring a requirement for local councils to report on their housing enforcement activity and want to recognise those local councils that are doing a good job.
"10. We will legislate to make it illegal for landlords or agents to have blanket bans on renting to families with children or those in receipt of benefits and explore if similar action is needed for other vulnerable groups, such as prison leavers. We will improve support to landlords who let to people on benefits, which will reduce barriers for those on the lowest incomes.
"11. We will give tenants the right to request a pet in their property, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. We will also amend the Tenant Fees Act 2019 so that landlords can request that their tenants buy pet insurance.
"12. We will work with industry experts to monitor the development of innovative market-led solutions to passport deposits. This will help tenants who struggle to raise a second deposit to move around the PRS more easily and support tenants to save for ownership."
You can remind yourself of the full White Paper here.
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What a disaster.
Pet insurance eh- will it include or cover re doing the house back to its standard it was if the pet destroys it? Or does the LL pick up the tab. As we can’t increase the bond- which is a waste as that’s all stacked in tenants favour , anyways.
Looks worse than we have here in Wales, under the communists.
Here we go Boys & Girls 🆘🆘😱😱
More compulsory legislation on the way and guess who will pay for all this nonsense? UK woke politicians have a lot to answer for.
If the Government is only going to “target” the worst of the delays in the Court system, then this will all go horribly wrong!
A half-wit knows unless they “Eradicate” the current court delays BEFORE they make these changes - it just took me 13 months to get a court date for rent arrears - then landlords will leave the sector in large numbers - not least because a safe quarterly dividend from a plc REIT and the ability to buy/sell that share at any time, make BTL an inferior investment (if you are ever unlucky enough to get a problem tenant).
If that’s not a signal to head for the door nothing is
Most of what is in this is fluff - enforcement is the problem not legislation of standards, so apart from the loss of S21 & joining a scheme or two (more rent rises) nothing changes for me with the long term tenants I have. However I won't be re-renting my properties, just selling them when tenants leave.
13. You vill eat zee bugz
14. You vill give us your haas
14a b c d etc etc . You vill take ze medicine
"1. We will deliver on our levelling up housing mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030 and require privately rented homes to meet the Decent Homes Standard for the first time"
Lol...and reduce the number of decent rented homes by 3/4....
Nothing to remain in BTL for now then. My moneys going elsewhere and hopefully out of the U.K. altogether.
Minority populism and a gullible and inept Gov have ruined a great housing sector.
So reading that we all have to join another scheme which means yet more cost and let them have an American Bully which you will never get them out. Also you have no choice on who you rent to but they have got be one of the many feckless with a handful of kids.
Only let with rent guarantee insurance. Tenants will have to pass the insurance companies T&C's to be accepted.
Ah yes a new name ‘The Dumbo Bill’ yes a shake up that meets the diverse robust comprehensive changes of Tenants and landlords to meet the needs of the PRS, just what we need landlords actually got a mention they want to meet our needs by Bankrupting up.
More powers for Councils but to have all powers already backed up by Courts & Tribunal’s with ability to fine landlords Hundreds of Thousands of £’s, Re-payment Orders, Confiscation Orders etc what more power could they possibly need.
They could use Parliamentary time for an Alternative White Paper for London Councils and the Mayor’s Office to learn how to sweep leaves, avoid them rotting down silting up drains & gully pots causing ponding and potholes saturation of roads weakened the sub-structure / surface crumbling away.
They could have a Requirement for Mayor’s Office & Council’s to learn about the difference of Asphalt mixes and not be putting down poor quality mixes that’s crumbling away after 4 years instead of 40.
It might be better than sitting on their backside collecting extortion money for ULEZ.
Item 5 is rent control by the ‘back door’.
Item 1. I live in a very decent ‘technically non decent’ Victorian home as do millions of other home owners. Now perfectly good older housing to rent is being targeted. That’ll help with rental shortage! Lol.
Item 3. Unacceptable, this is a ‘ short walk’ to Gov sanctioned sequestration, Labour will finish the job.
Item 10. Huge unacceptable erosion of an owners control over his/her private asset, I won’t be forced to accept dodgy high risk tenants for anyone.
Item 4. Landlords are not professional social workers, this is wholly a matter for local authorities, the police Courts and law makers. None of which are currently even remotely effective.
Item 11. Unacceptable. More erosion of control, I will make the judgement about pets, no one else.
Item 12. Already a ruined concept, fraught with crass judgement unfairness and tripwires in the county court system. Scarcely worth the bother these days. Better off with a guarantor.
Doubtless the less than esteemed Ben Beadle will ‘warmly welcome’ this catalogue of c…p!
Well said. Sadly your last sentence is all so true too. Every piece of doggy *** that comes out of Westminster is welcomed by Beadle.
We have issued all our current tenants with notice as we are not renewing any further contracts. It is already really difficult for for them to move forward and secure new housing. Rents have shot up so much and most of mine are not even being given viewings as their income is too low. So tenants have gone to the local Nottingham council to be re housed. This in turn means it will be a court route to evict which is a total travesty, coupled with stress and costs on all sides as they will need to be homeless before they are a priority and the council are advising this in letters to them stating this. It will take me at least 4 plus months to regain access to sell. I stated this process last year and so far have only off loaded 10% of our stock. Its going to be a long path to be out and free of all this red tape. I will never be a PRS sector landlord again, and after 20 years of being so I'm gutted it's come to this for us and our tenants. But we will rebuild a new business in time. But probably not within the UK.
I am in the same position. I read the Gove's Brown Paper and immediately instructed solicitors. After their first botched S21 issued in August we reissued in Nov. I've had to do the court process and now await bailiffs at the end of the month. All so unfair and unnecessary.
I don't think the UK is really a safe place to do business anymore. Certainly not property. Even Wera Hobhouse (Lib Dem) wants a law where employees can sue their employer if a customer hurts their feelings.
I'm putting my money outside the UK.
I have the same problem. Issued S21 as I hoped to sell, which the tenants ignored as they quite rightly said they cannot find another property to move to. Only 2 properties in their price range in the area and competition is fierce.. I have just slammed the rent up instead rather than spend over 12 months going through the court process. I'm pretty sure the council told them to sit tight.
On the other hand, I had one to let in a different higher price range and the agent was inundated and eventually filtered them down to a choice of 10 for me to pick out the best.
Councils always tell them to stay put.
Just out of interest, why aren't you selling them with tenants in situ?
A lot of the btl investments we are looking at are mostly all full and it doesn't seem to put anyone off as they are all selling. Just curious.
Tanith, mainly because properties sell better and for more money with vacant procession, also landlords like to find and check out their own tenants, not inheriting other landlord's problem tenants, 30 yrs ago when I first started as a landlord I did buy some tenanted properties and regretted it, I then had to get rid of those rogue tenants that I had inherited
The reason for not selling with tenants is financial. It has been estimated that selling a property with a tenant under a temporary tenancy agreement, like an assured shorthold or periodic tenancy, could devalue your property by 20 - 25%. However, selling a property with a sitting tenant under a tenancy agreement like an assured tenancy, could devalue your property by about 40%.
I chose who I rent to, maybe I'll end up in court for doing so, then so be it
Never rent to anyone who doesn’t have a homeowner working guarantor
"We will deliver on our levelling up housing mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030"....
(small print) ....Unfortunately for tenants there will also be half the number of properties available as we will continue our mission to push more landlords out of the market.
Enough is enough this has to stop!
Thanks for clarification "legislate to make it illegal for landlords or agents to have blanket bans on renting to families with children"
So, would this apply to the family of 4, with a pet, who tried in vain to rent a 2 bed flat? No, it'll still be landlords at fault.
Yet, contrary to what they hope to achieve, the reality being with thanks to even further anti landlord rhetoric, like this, 3 lovely families, 13 persons in total, need to find other accomodation, this a direct result of likes of blinkered Mr Gove's truly astonishing work in sqewing tenant to landlord powers 🤣
This, already a crises made much worse by 1997 Governments open door policies, then further exacerbated by all ludicrous unnecessary red tape in vote grabbing policies since, that have done nothing but help drive landlords out and reasons to why rent has jumped up, very peculiar how they, and their buddies in shelter and genrent et al. cannot see this!
F00k them all, the wise ones have/will leave and laugh out loud when likes of BTR doesn't even touch what is needed, because governmens will not build close to the housing needed, happy days.
All incompetent loonies...
Great comment.
Good luck with 10 and 11, all my mortgages stipulate no HB/Refugees etc plus my leaseholds (which Gov have promised to reform in this Parliament) state no pets.
Unreasonable refusal is easily defended by landlords for a multitude of reasons. I refused a dog recently as the tenant is at work 10 hours a day, but you have 20 or so to choose from. The landlord didnt want to a dog full stop for all the reasons we know, but we just picked a reason that suited the circumstances.
Renters Reform Bill ? seems closer to a Tory Party suicide note
I cant wait to see the pet insurance small print. Has government consulted the industry? Is the premium going to cover an end of tenancy full deep professional clean including steam cleaning of carpets and defumigation to make sure carpets/soft furnishings are returned to be hypoallergenic as they were at the start of the tenancy?
No of course not. This is the ‘insurance industry’.
Is there a deadline date for S21s yet?
No
Is there a deadline date for S21s yet?
Having finally got in to one of our houses yesterday, to find it smelling like an animal house at the zoo, multiple tanks full of reptiles, a Guinea pig cage stinking and, on going back with a letter this morning, the dog which had been hidden last night, there is no way I will be going with pets allowed. We currently have enough choice of tenants that we don't need to. This house has gone to first on the list to sell and a section 8 is now being added to the section 21 already in place.
Tanith, my friend the answer is very simple.
I would not buy a property we Tenants insitu.
Vacant only I am not buying historical problems it might be the very reason they are selling.
Anyway it’s bad practice I’ll get enough grief starting with a clean slate without them telling me about before.
As well I might want to do some up dating that cannot be done with Tenants in Place, contrary to what the feather head no nothing Regulator’s think, they haven’t a clue about anything only collect extortion money .
One of my current tenants (the Nigerians) kept bringing up how the last tenant “had problems” several times. She never met them. The old battle axe who would not have liked my tenants at all was feeding her vague negative information to stir up trouble.
The empty heads in Westminster have no clue and want people to stay in homes whilst all sorts of extensive and disruptive works are carried out. Builders know occupied properties are a PITA. Tenanted and it’s PITA x ?
i have read each point carefully - re ban on refusing to rent to families etc so they made it illegal to ban renting to DSS - how did that work out for them with 40 or 50 or more applicants per property. So a Landlord will accept applicants claiming DSS and then choose someone employed with a good income and guarantor - DUH
A lot of this is basically unenforceable and grandstanding - I guess the problem is if our vetting fails and we get a bad tenant we will really suffer. So LL will be very very choosy and if you are a benefits claimant, on PIP or have a CCJ good luck with that
Banks statements and facebook are effective ways of determining someones lifestyle and if they have pets or children..........
My major concern would be the terms on which it was mandatory to reclaim your house - I have spent 20 years sacrificing and working my a*s off to achieve a small portfolio and if selling or having a relative move in is not a mandatory reason then I am out as it is essentially an assured tenancy and a number of lovely tenants will be homeless. I would not leave my security in the hands of some lefty judge. I suspect many of my fellow LL will feel the same.....
I guess when they publish the detail on Monday that will be D day to decide if or not many tenants will get that S21 Notice to Quit.
The rules are only likely to become more onerous for Landlords as Governments try to transfer ownership from Landlords to first time buyers/tenants.
I have not found S21 straight forward and using a solicitor. I don’t want to change to anything. S21 is tried and tested. I won’t trust anything they propose.
Being a LL is set to get worse after whatever comes out next week and is implemented. Labour is coming 💩
Landlords generally are not stupid and nor are they lacking in foresight. They will act to avoid the value of their assets being decimated. That point seems to have been missed by those devising the legislation.
It is not fun being a landlord; it is responsible, difficult and one frequently finds oneself in very unfair situations. Landlords have to balance all the risks that they encounter against the benefits that they gain from property ownership. Anything which significantly reduces the benefit - the loss of control of the asset; the reduction in capital value of the asset; or a reduction in the return from the asset may mean that it becomes preferable to dispose of it.
The loss of control of the asset is the most important from the perspective of the landlord, as, it is in effect, the same as a loss of ownership.
Agree Ellie. It’s why I want to sell up. It’s just sequestration of property. The authorities want to take full control with the tenants. As Foley often says it’s the landlord who put it all together with their own money. These politicians and tenants have no stake in our properties. Who are they to control them?
I think you are right Nick. From a business perspective, selling is preferable to having a tenant with an indefinite periodic tenancy in which a right to buy at a discount could be added at some point - in the not too distant future, perhaps.
I don't know whether there are other options for us. We will have to see the proposed legislation and what happens to it as it goes through Parliament.
Totally agree, I too have worked my a** off and gone without to create a small portfolio....I've just issued section 21 to my two most valuable houses as I cannot bear to think about not being able to sell them when I want the money. (Both have been snapped up) Please don't feel guilty....have any of your tenants worked as hard as you or made the sacrifices you have??? I doubt it. Sell up now before the price crash!!!! Like you, I'm waiting to hear how easy it will be to get possession to sell...I might keep a couple then , but honestly I'm pretty scared to leave my hard earned money and kids inheritance in the hands of these nutters, or worse Labour. Good luck
I have read this Article on The Renter’s Reform Bill with a an eye out to see how its going help the main player in all this, the Owner, the Landlord who put his money where his mouth is and risks financial ruin plus already the target of Government Anti-landlords Legislation with Rent Re-Payment Orders, Confiscation Orders, 2015 De-Regulation Act, Criminalisation Bill,Unfair licensing Schemes a huge money take for Councils & Internet Platforms, ok let’s see how they Mr Gove & Co are going to help us the providers of the accommodation.
(1) We will..
(2) We will…
(3) We will…
(4) We will…
(5) We will…
(5) We will…
(6) We will…
(7) We will…
(8) We will…
(9) We will…
(10) We will…
(11) We will…
(12) We will…
That’s 12 changes they forgot us, nothing there to help Landlords.
Mr Michael Gove are you completely inept and its taken you years since 2019 to come up with this comprehensive injustice.
🙋♂️.Yes he is inept! He’s a Labour secret operative working covertly to implement their policies.
Mr Gove , Ask yourself a few questions.
Why is there a shortage of rental Property ?
Why are there 50 plus applicants for a rental property in some arears ( All the areas I work In)
Why have 70,000 Landlords sold up in the last year.
Why would anyone want to invest in the private rented sector under these conditions.
Why is a Tory Government driving out the small landlords
The reason AST was introduced in the 1980 was to encourage the Public invest in the PRS and provide houses for people and families to rent.
Your Government decided to drive small landlords out in 2016 .
Isn't labour going to have a big problem in 2 yrs time when the s... really hit the fan
Hey guys, we are currently looking at investing our house sale money in a block of freehold flats for our future/pension and I'm really stressing about the proposed reforms.
My husband doesn't read anything about it and has the attitude that it will all be OK and just thinks I'm being scared off by nonsense. 🙄
So can I ask what is the worst thing that can happen from the actual proposed reform that means renting is no longer viable?
Ie the not having control of ones property - is that just hearsay from. Labour and another rent groups that hate private landlords?
I only have my parents nightmare experience of their rental house and how hard it was to get a tenant out even with a section 21. Ended up in court and issuing a section 8 which did the trick but still had about 6 months rent arrears unpaid. Etc etc.
Mostly due to bad agents as they messed up.
I got over that aspect and decided it was still worth doing but on this group I'm seeing a massive exodus of landlords selling up so...
I have a similar situation. S21 has been far from straight forward. My agent who claims to be all 'heart' but has no heart messed up on tenant fees. Took a holding deposit on a card - fine. Got permission to use this and the balance of another payment for the first month's rent. Missed some pence in the first payment so overcharged on the second. This led to unequal set of payments which is in contravention of the Tenant Fees Act. They Insisted they had to refund back to the card. So they messed up and lock you in. Luckily I paid the tenant for a mould surveyor (an ex criminal who's been inside for violence). He was an idiot but to preserve relations I paid his £80 visit charge. Best thing I could have done. I got my solicitor to refund it electronically. Agent doesn't know :)
Also they didn't tick the box on the deposit paperwork referring to the clause where money can be retained. They refused. Needed a kick up the backside to do it. My solicitor was surprised and has other clients with bad experiences....
So S21 is supposed to be great. I issued in end of Nov, and without a hearing I still don't have them out until bailiffs at the end of the month. 5 months!!! Lots of money too on the solicitor.
Whatever comes will be worse. They want us to go to court to get the house back. So long wait, lots of money and no rent? + damage?
Too many trip wires for landlords now. Whatever is coming will be much worse. Once they make some changes to get rid of S21 they can continue making it even harder once you are waiting in a LONG QUEUE to get your property back. If ever....
I don't trust these Marxist Tories. Labour even less. They may be in in 2 years so worse is to come....
Are you a cash buyer ? If you aren't don't do it
Tani
You refer to your parents experience and now regulations are getting worse. Why buy someone else's problems?
To be honest, they weren't the best at keeping on top of things and had crap agents. They didn't want to deal with it where as we would have no qualms about swapping agents if they didn't do their job properly so I don't want that to scare is off alone.
We need a passive income and have money to invest and generally property is regarded as the best long term option.
I want to know with new proposed reforms, what is the one definate thing that people are jumping ship because of
Tani
Britain is littered with council estates that have been trashed by their tenants, resulting in demolition, rebuild or both. So these properties were a bad investment.
Generally Edwin I would agree where council estates are concerned, however there are exceptions, I do have 1 ex council house ( Hartsease Norwich) built 1953 and most there are now privately owned , not a bad area.
@Nick - yes the issue my parents had was the original agents closed down and another took over and they should have refunded the deposit then requested it ahain... But they didnt.
She was a social tenant and had advice from some bureau re the deposit issue (which they wouldn't have even known about) so hence she got her deposit back even though she owes thousands in arrears.
However, I thought part of the reform bill included a better system for landlords to deal with problem tenants? Without it going to court? Noone seems to be discussing this part of the proposed Bill.
Sounds terrible. My overpayment would never have been apparent until wanting to serve a S21. I got a terrible basic table of transaction. "Move in monies" to / from etc. You have to drag it out of these property agents. "WTF went on?" I basically had to say. Took about a dozen emails of non-straight answers. Everything is blamed on 'their system'. I don't give a F about their system. Tell me financially exactly where I am with this tenant!!! In then end I had to work it out myself....
Apparently in Gove's White Paper if there are persistent arrears it's ground for possession. Currently they can be over, but pay it off before to get under 2 months so escape. Also list out spurious repairs to bring down the debt is another strategy.
Read the White Paper. It's 80 or so pages. I only did the first 40 for the 'comedy horror' value. It's like Shelter wrote it. It's SO ONE SIDED. It says landlords will have to apologise to tenants. No mention of the other way around.
They want an Ombudsman for disputes. To avoid courts. Some lazy lefty semi-retired civil servant... Who will win EVERY ARGUMENT?
@ Andrew townsend
Yes re cash. Why? We want to eventually get a mortgage on it but not at the current rates. Obviously.
Our other temporary option is to buy an existing block of holiday flats with owners accommodation - thereby providing us with a roof and the ability to rent out the apartments which will already have planning.
And then wait and see what the rental reform does. Lol. More work in that option but I can always get someone else to run it...
Well, personally if I were in your shoes I would only consider buying with cash at present, but that's just my view
@ Andrew - ah I thought you meant that buying with cash is a bad thing. Lol!
Yes cash only for now
There are other countries where you have some rights why oh why would you consider investing your hard earned money here
Go invest in a democracy where you can feel safe ,and not constantly living in fear of the next attack
This is how I feel. I feel genuinely scared to invest in Britain.
Look at the Defective Premises Act due to all the cladding / Grenfell issues. They RETROSPECTIVELY changed legislation from 6 to 30 years liability. Who the F do these politicians think they are? Moving the goal posts...
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