A leading property disputes lawyer has highlighted significant problems ahead due to the government not properly resourcing the courts to deal with the influx of claims. 

The Renters Rights Bill is now in the House of Lords but Gary Scott, property dispute resolution partner with London law firm Spector Constant & Williams, predicts trouble ahead.

“The legislation will be a seismic change in how tenancies operate and a huge increase in regulation of landlords in the private rented sector. There is a massively increased role for regulation by local authorities and a hefty increase in the level of fines they can issue” he says.

“Landlords who inadvertently or deliberately breach regulations, can be fined up to £40,000 without a tribunal or court determination.

“The committee stages of the passage of this bill has made clear that the government has no intention of properly resourcing the courts and tribunal to deal with the inevitable influx of claims and additionally required court time in dealing with disputes over rent increases and possession.”

Scott says housing minister Matthew Pennycook said that the government would ‘continue to work with’ the courts and tribunals to ensure they have capacity, but refused to be drawn into a formal assessment of what increase in claims can be expected or a review as to how that increase will be dealt with and managed within the court or tribunal system. 

Scott continues: “The Minister instead relied on the unevidenced assumption that tenants would only resort to tribunals or courts as a last resort, rather than to secure a negotiating advantage or a delay in the implementation of a rent increase.

“The reality for court users, especially in County Courts in London and busy regional courts, is that the court is already struggling to deal with its existing workload, with applications and correspondence taking around 20 weeks to deal with. 

“Possession claims can take more than four or five months to get a possession order. A year or more can have passed without a landlord receiving rent before a non-paying tenant is evicted. Adding to that workload burden without funding modernisation or increasing capacity is inviting significant problems ahead.”