Gove urged to act at last over abandoned tenancies...

Housing Secretary Michael Gove is being lobbied to take urgent action over the growing problem of abandoned tenancies.

Propertymark chief executive Nathan Emerson has written to Gove on behalf of a housing sector coalition including agents and landlords.

The first reading of the Renters Reform Bill in May left many property professionals concerned about the issue of abandonment of tenancies.

An abandoned property can increase landlord overheads such as insurance costs and problems like ensuring tenant possessions are safeguarded.

In addition, any abandoned property can become a target for anti-social behaviour and vandalism.

Propertymark says that because a legal tenancy is still in place, and tenants can return to the property at any point, it cannot be relet or occupied by anyone else.

Under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, if a landlord believes their property has been abandoned, they must make efforts to contact the tenant for one month, after which they can end the tenancy.

Propertymark says this kind approach should be enacted across the UK because it recognises that a landlord is very unlikely to take back possession of a property unless they are certain it has been abandoned.

The Housing Coalition’s letter recommends the that Gove should consider including similar Wales-type provisions in the Renters Reform Bill.

A statement from the trade body says: “Unlocking these properties currently stuck in limbo would help maximise the number of homes available for rent, reduce the risks associated with unoccupied properties and give greater security to landlords.”

An alternative proposal, it says, would be to bring into force the provisions on abandonment Under Part 3 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016. These would allow private landlords to recover possession of abandoned residential properties more easily, but they have not yet been enacted.

The Housing Coalition is made up of membership organisations for property agents and landlords, trade press, plus other housing and legal professionals and campaigns for improvements in the private rented sector.

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Jo Westlake
14 August 2023 08:14 AM

What has this proposal got to do with joint tenancies?
If someone leaves a joint tenancy the choices are either the whole tenancy ends, the remaining tenants each pay more rent to cover the share the former housemate paid or they ask for permission to assign the former housemates share of the tenancy to someone else.
If you choose to use joint tenancies the property hasn't been abandoned if only one or two tenants leave.
If you choose to run the HMO with individual tenancy agreements it is entirely possible an individual room may be abandoned, in which case this proposal is very welcome.

In most cases it would be aimed at self contained properties occupied by one family or a single person. With single tenants it can be tricky to know if they have abandoned a property, become hospitalised, been jailed or died.

Ellie Edwards
14 August 2023 09:14 AM

I think Michael's point is that there is more than one meaning of abandonment - and that the removal of the right to serve a Section 21 notice in the Renters Reform Bill is the issue.

During the Covid period I let a 3 bed flat to 3 people on a single fixed term tenancy - at the end of the fixed term, one was going abroad to work, one was completing on the purchase of a flat, but one wanted to stay on. I hadn't served a Section 21 notice because of the Covid legislation. Because I couldn't serve a Section 21 notice the remaining tenant didn't ask me if he could find new tenants; he just set out to find new tenants to take over from those who were leaving. I was sympathetic to the fact that he wanted to stay, but not sympathetic to the fact that the people he found at the last minute to take over from the leaving tenants couldn't get references from anywhere. There was then a big problem and one that wouldn't have arisen if I had been able to serve a Section 21 notice.