I am aware that understandably, a lot
of concerns have been raised about the Government White Paper. I have not read
the 83 page version however want to share some views. This is the biggest
change to lettings since 1988, so I make no apologies for a long update. Some
of the press coverage has been disturbing with most headlines distilled down to
‘Landlords forced to allow pets.’ The claim is it will redress the balance
between landlords and 4.4 million tenants in the private rented sector
(PRS). It will be a major reset of power between tenants and landlords
This pretty much mirrors what
happened in Scotland, and that all worked out ok despite the fears. Also, this isn’t the finished legislation. It will go to
committees & working groups before being batted between the House of
Commons & House of Lords for amendments. Finally,
it remains very short on detail. I have made some notes on the key points
below. These are opinions based upon what I know so far.
|
Abolition of section 21:
|
|
All
tenancies will likely be periodic from the start, leaving tenants free
to give notice and exit. Landlords will be able to evict tenants with
legal cause under new Section 8 grounds. Those grounds are to be added
to. The detail of the actual legislation will be key and, as yet we
don’t know what it is. Landlords will also be able to move into their
properties or move their family members in.
|
|
|
|
|
Blanket bans:
|
|
You will
not be able to ban renting to families with children or those on
benefits. I am on record as saying any discrimination is wrong. Sadly,
this will lead to private landlords adopting the same approach as some
social landlords and simply telling tenants that their income before
benefits is too low and that they cannot afford the property. The fact
is, where a landlord has a choice of tenants, they will clearly opt for
the one who suits them best.
|
|
|
|
|
Rent review:
|
|
This lacks
any real detail however it seems that the principle of s13 (form 4) may
well apply to all rent reviews giving a tenant an opportunity to
appeal. Our rent review clause is not an arbitrary one, and rather a
demonstrable mechanism.
|
|
|
|
|
Pets:
|
|
Ignore the
Daily Mail claiming landlords will be forced to accept pets. This is
untrue. Our ASTs cover this, and the proposal is unworkable. For
example, what if dogs are prohibited in the headlease where you have a
leasehold property ? A landlord only needs to consider a request
and give a reason to decline the same. What is a valid
reason?
|
|
|
|
|
A private-renter's Ombudsman:
|
|
This is
good news for us. Will landlords want to be open to redress or ask us
to take on that burden? This will include rent repayment orders for
landlords who don’t undertake repairs or meet the decent homes standard
|
|
|
|
|
Decent homes standard:
|
|
It is long
overdue to apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private sector. It’s
a ‘low bar’ and frankly very few of our properties won’t meet this
standard.
|
|
|
|
|
Landlord Portal:
|
|
|
Government
says this is not a landlord register and rather you have to register
for the portal – it could be an advice portal for landlords but with
some information from the register of rogue landlords and agents
included.
|
|
|
|
|
Recovering possession:
|
|
There is
to be new powers to recover possession from ant-social tenants and
grounds on rent arrears are to be improved. Bailiff resources are to be
improved and there is to be a drive to list initial hearings sooner in
ASB cases.
|
|
|
|
|
Deposits:
|
|
Don’t expect ‘lifetime’ deposits any time soon as no one has yet
come up with a workable plan. Ultimately, someone will have to fund or
insure it. It remains a vote winning soundbite devoid of any
substance.
|
|
|
|
|
Other matters:
|
|
There will
be a new ground for possession for landlords who want to sell. It is
not clear how landlords can prove this. In Scotland a third of
landlords are accused of fibbing about their plans to sell or simply
make little effort to do so. Landlords may simply have to list
properties for sale and then have them sit in limbo for weeks while
seeking possession and, even then, they could just withdraw the
properties from sale once the tenant vacates.
It is
important to note that students are included and so, as it stands, the
student let market will face significant changes. Landlords will not be
certain that students will vacate and that they will be able to go
ahead with new tenancies. Therefore, they are unlikely to execute
tenancies in advance and instead, leave them in abeyance until they can
be sure that they will get possession. Where there is a group of
students sharing and one drops out, they may also seek to give notice
potentially leaving all the student group without accommodation.
Depending
on how the legislation is written two months may be the statutory
notice period or it may be a minimum notice period with tenants
having to give longer notice if they pay rent in advance. Some
landlords and agents may move to quarterly payment just to gain a
longer notice period. We also don’t know how this will work with joint
tenants. Currently, in a fixed term tenancy all tenants must give
notice together but in a periodic tenancy only one tenant needs to give
notice.
|
|
|
|
|
In summary
|
|
The White
Paper is little more than a list of proposals which will be subject to
scrutiny and amendments. For this reason, we will not be amending
anything until the legislation is released & scrutinised. As
always there will be benefits and opportunities. I suspect
tenancies will become longer for one.
As always I will keep you informed, Best Wishes, Chan
|
|
|
|
Yours Sincerely
Chan
Khangura BA (Hons) DipRLM MARLA MNAEA
Proprietor
& Managing Director Whitegates
Estate Agents Huddersfield & Brighouse
Owner Whitworths Managing Agents
Owner Easy Lettings Northwest
Owner Linden Lettings
https://huddersfieldproperty.blogspot.com/
