Huge change for renters to be announced TOMORROW in major shake-up of tenant’s rights

[royw]

I see a rush of good LLs trying to remove dodgy tenants while they still can.
I have only used S21 once. Perhaps you could tell me why I should have to put up with permanent 1.5 months debt, place a tip, regularly being sworn at then the final straw was when he sat and watched water leaking into the flat below? All good reasons IMO but no eviction via any other route. Any other business can choose to exclude a disruptive client so why can't a LL?

[Turbine Terry]

i pick my tenants like i would pick a babysitter for my one and only golden child !! .

Even with the S21 as it is now this has always been my approach since learning the very hard way once (once was enough). So, any S21 changes will not impact me much and I have only used one once in over 20 years. I agree that in many cases 2 months notice is too short for an S21 and it cannot be nice living with the potential threat of having to find a new home at 2 months notice. I often reassure my tenants (verbally only, and only after I have wanded them and the house for any listening/recording devices) that I have no intentions of selling up and so their tenancy is pretty much secure for the long term.

If ability to remove problem tenants is lessened with any S21 changes then landlords will obviously become more picky who they accept as tenants. Non gold standard tenants will suffer even more than they are already. I currently have a property for let and I have had 48 enquiries over the last 4 weeks, and I have still not picked the tenant as non of them have yet ticked all my boxes. Admittedly, many of them would have turned out to be fine. But, as I have a reasonable number of properties I would rather have the house empty than take a risk as, along with getting the pre-tenancy admin correct, getting good tenants is the most important thing that a landlord needs to do IMO. If you have good tenants everything else falls into place and is simple, and dare I say it, almost a pleasure. Having good tenants would even make up for having messed up the pre-tenancy admin in many cases. I fully appreciate that not all landlords can afford to, or have the demand, to be so picky, so any S21 reforms will be very important to their business models. I am hoping for some sensible revisions that help good tenants feel more secure but still allows landlords to readily evict the nutters. I expect that is too much to expect though.

Not long before Charlie will tell us what may be instore for us. Reasonable chance nothing S21 specific will be mentioned but just more high level statements will be made, lacking in any detail, that panic people without assisting.

p.s. excellent piece by JPK above.

[jpkeates]

So, any S21 changes will not impact me much and I have only used one once in over 20 years. I agree that in many cases 2 months notice is too short for an S21 and it cannot be nice living with the potential threat of having to find a new home at 2 months notice. I often reassure my tenants (verbally only, and only after I have wanded them and the house for any listening/recording devices) that I have no intentions of selling up and so their tenancy is pretty much secure for the long term.

I agree with pretty much everything in this post (not just the bit I quoted).

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that landlords who know what they're doing are usually going to be OK (other than when something completely off the wall happens, like a plague or a huge financial crash - when anyone can be collateral damage).

Amateur landlords are, pretty much, in the hands of luck.
There are lots of decent tenants out there and a few dodgy ones, and who gets what is a matter of chance, with the more you work on selection the luckier you are.

[boletus]

"HMG will introduce legislation to strengthen the rights of tenants."

That was it.

Devil in the detail or kicking the can down the road/ into the long grass?

Scrapping 'no fault' evictions superficially sounds warm and fluffy but the realities and consequences aren't.

[jpkeates]

Devil in the detail or kicking the can down the road/ into the long grass?

Scrapping 'no fault' evictions superficially sounds warm and fluffy but the realities and consequences aren't.

It's the same Renter's Reform Bill as the one in the Queen's Speech from 2019.
Which hasn't moved anywhere since.

To be fair we've all been a bit otherwise engaged in trying not to die in the interim.

[nukecad]

The consensus here seems to be that most landlords don't use s21 much.

So they should have no problem with the removal of something that isn't being used anyway.

Except that it is being used; not to evict but as a "do as I say or I'll kick you out" threat by certain landlords.

Issuing a s21 has become a 'go-to' response for some to any problem even the slightest problem.
You see it on this forum quite a bit, this week issuing a s21 was suggested on a thread where the tenant had changed their payment date without asking the landlord, but it turns out that the tenant is actually now paying 2 weeks early.


It's that aspect of s21 being used as a threat (and even when not stated the threat is still there) that seems to be the problem, and the source of the overblown exaggerated media reporting.

[doobrey]

So they should have no problem with the removal of something that isn't being used anyway.

Seatbelts.

[DoricPixie]

Issuing a s21 has become a 'go-to' response for some to any problem even the slightest problem.
You see it on this forum quite a bit, this week issuing a s21 was suggested on a thread where the tenant had changed their payment date without asking the landlord, but it turns out that the tenant is actually now paying 2 weeks early.

That was my suggestion as the same tenant had previously been in arrears and uncommunicative. I wrongly assumed the landlord had started a thread about the date change because the tenant was paying late. It didn't occur to me that a landlord would have a problem with a tenant paying early.

[BTL_Landlord]

I think any reasonable landlord will always be content with legislation that is genuinely balanced in terms of rights between those of the landlord and the tenant. Part of the concern, certainly here in Scotland, is the perception of an increasing imbalance in favour of tenants. For example the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill current working its way through (Scottish) parliament. This has the potential to change mandatory grounds for eviction (e.g. landlord selling up, arrears) to discretionary grounds. Of course, this doesn't equate to no evictions ever being granted, however it could be a bitter pill for reasonable landlords to swallow if the FTT was essentially saying 'no' to a seemingly reasonable request for eviction, especially with mortgage payments and so on.

I myself have an issue at present with tenants and arrears. They are a young couple with 3 very young children. If it gets to the stage where I'm approaching FTT for eviction (which is looking ever more likely) I won't be surprised if they turn the request down in favour of working out a repayment plan with said tenants. SG say 'no reasonable landlord wants to see a tenant homeless' which is of course true, however at th risk of using a cliche, landlords are not charities.

It all comes back to the balance thing I referred to earlier.

[tatemono]

I see a rush of good LLs trying to remove dodgy tenants while they still can.
I have only used S21 once. Perhaps you could tell me why I should have to put up with permanent 1.5 months debt, place a tip, regularly being sworn at then the final straw was when he sat and watched water leaking into the flat below? All good reasons IMO but no eviction via any other route. Any other business can choose to exclude a disruptive client so why can't a LL?

Because they're not a client, they're someone who needs a roof over their head like we all do.

Your opening statement has me wondering how you'd define a "good LL" if they're the kind of LL who would let to a "dodgy" tenant in the first place, let alone only be motivated by a fairly historic change in legislation to do anything to rectify the fact that they've got such a tenant in their property.

[AndrewDod]

Because they're not a client, they're someone who needs a roof over their head like we all do.

Your opening statement has me wondering how you'd define a "good LL" if they're the kind of LL who would let to a "dodgy" tenant in the first place, let alone only be motivated by a fairly historic change in legislation to do anything to rectify the fact that they've got such a tenant in their property.

That needs a hell of a lot of parsing to see if it makes an iota of sense. At the moment is doesn't seem to do so.

[boletus]

I see a rush of good LLs trying to remove dodgy tenants while they still can.

Well done Mystic Meg;

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property...makes-illegal/

'I evicted my tenant before the Government makes it illegal'

(I see it as more of a gradual melting away.)

[DPT57]

To return to the topic, are we going to see a surge in ASBO tenants? Is there any evidence from Scotland?

[scampicat]

Anyone here ever chucked anyone out for no reason?

I have never chucked anyone out at all!


(But may have to evict my lovely tenants if the grounds for eviction such as selling up become discretionary).

[boletus]

Issuing a s21 has become a 'go-to' response for some to any problem even the slightest problem.
You see it on this forum quite a bit, this week issuing a s21 was suggested on a thread where the tenant had changed their payment date without asking the landlord, but it turns out that the tenant is actually now paying 2 weeks early.
It's that aspect of s21 being used as a threat (and even when not stated the threat is still there) that seems to be the problem

I'll see your nebulous misinterpreted anecdote and raise you three probable brought forward evictions;

https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/fo...onger-use-this