The chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association says the devil is in the detail when it comes to the government’s rental sector reform proposals - but that they must win over the support of landlords.
Ben Beadle says: “Whilst headline commitments to strengthening possession grounds, speedier court processes and mediation are helpful, the detail to follow must retain the confidence of responsible landlords, as well as improving tenants’ rights.
“We will be analysing the Government’s plans carefully to ensure they meet this test. A failure to do so will exacerbate the housing crisis at a time when renters are struggling to find the homes they need.
“The eventual legislation needs to recognise that government actions have led to a shortage of supply in the sector at a time of record demand. It is causing landlords to leave the sector and driving up rents when people can least afford it.”
At first sight today’s proposals by government look like a massive swing of power towards tenants.
It will ban Section 21 evictions and extend the Decent Homes Standard to the sector.
It will also end what it calls “arbitrary rent review clauses, give tenants stronger powers to challenge poor practice, unjustified rent increases and enable them to be repaid rent for non-decent homes.”
It will be illegal for landlords or agents to have blanket bans on renting to families with children or those in receipt of benefits.
And it will make it easier for tenants to have pets, a right which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse.
All tenants are to be moved onto a single system of periodic tenancies, which in the government’s words mean “they can leave poor quality housing without remaining liable for the rent or move more easily when their circumstances change.”
A tenancy will only end if a tenant ends or a landlord has a valid reason, defined in law.
There will be a doubling of notice periods for rent increases and tenants will have stronger powers to challenge them if they are unjustified.
The government says it is also “giving councils stronger powers to tackle the worst offenders, backed by enforcement pilots, and increasing fines for serious offences.”
There will also be a new Private Renters’ Ombudsman to enable disputes between private renters and landlords to be settled quickly, at low cost, and without going to court.
What the government calls “responsible landlords” will be able to gain possession of their properties efficiently from anti-social tenants “and can sell their properties when they need to.”
There will be a new property portal that will “provide a single front door to help landlords to understand, and comply with, their responsibilities as well as giving councils and tenants the information they need to tackle rogue operators.”
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You will eat zee bugs and give us your house keez
Things are getting so ridiculous now you have to 😂
Another weak response from the NRLA, look at Propertmark's response, which is far more robust and in support of landlords.
If Propertymark opened their membership to Landlords, it would exceed the NRLA's members ( who would jump ship )
I'm not a member of the NRLA, I am however a very long term member of Eastern Landlords Association who like the NRLA seem to be a total waste of time now, where are you ?
I am an accredited member of the NRLA. You get discount on training course as well as having access to all the forms. That is really about it. I was watching breakfast TV this morning. A representative of the NRLA against one from Shelter. He was so poor, in putting our side across, beyond belief. When asked why landlord need S21, his response was something like if you need to get rid of a bad tenant in an HMO with six other people....The best answer would have been, the Section 8 root is cumbersome and lengthy. Most landlords whose tenants are in arrears, without a glimmer of hope of recovering their money, go down section 21 root. Rather than going down S8 root where the tenant all of sudden coughs in the court room and claims damp and disrepair to clog the system with a false counter claim.
I am also not a member of the NRLA as they don't seem to have done a thing for the landlords That I can recall, perhaps someone other Than NRLA can remind me.
But I've left The PRS now, never to return so will the lost one out please close the door and turn off the lights. Thanks Jack
What is the actual point of the NRLA? I'm a member but all I use them for is for a few template forms and I receive a useless and uninspiring quarterly magazine. They dont seem to do any actual lobbying for us aside from throw out a few soundbites.
The government has it in for the small private landlord, we all, every single one of us has to make the decision whether to stay or go…. I am for going due to my stage in life, retirement looming, I am pig sick of all the legislation and vitriol, I simply don’t need it anymore…. My properties are mortgage free and what I get after CGT will see me until I am 150 years old 👍🏻. If all this nonsense had not happened I may have stayed, but life really is too short. I will sell the first in a couple of years and go on from there every year.
I'm in a very similar situation to you Simon, a fit and healthy nearly 69 yr old who still enjoys work, until very recently I just wanted to carry on, even to buy another one, the cash is there , I think I'll carry on until 2025, then as they come vacant I will have to think long and hard which way to jump, and that's looking more and more likely that I'll be jumping ship, maybe just keep a couple.
I used to be a member of the fsb , they were useless I assume this organisation are similar
Like a charity they seem to exist purely to feather their own nests while pretending to oppose the establishment
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