Renters rights

My DHs job moved to the other side of England so we rented our house and rented a house in Kent. 6 months later our landlord informed us he was going bankrupt and the house was being repossessed. We bought a house in Kent for 2 years and then sold it. Moved back to our old house and fortunately our short term tenants had now moved out. We were fortunate to put our home on a 6month rolling tenancy with an agent.
Will this new law stop all short term tenancy agreements?

icanhandthemback

Maybe the Council can stop telling tenants that they should stay until the eviction notice or they will make themselves homeless where there are good reasons for the recovery of the house. Personally, I think that is immoral.

That’s the routine tenants who want social housing, have to have an eviction order, if the leave voluntary they don’t have a chance.
Like it or not that’s the way it is.

I'm not a fan of some of what I hear about the proposed renters reform. For example, the right to have pets isn't simple, imagine living next door or on the next floor to a large dog which is left alone all day and barks constantly- apart from the noise it's heartbreaking to see animals kept in unsuitable places... And it can't be an absolute right as some leases prohibit pets full stop! My son is trying to buy a flat where he can keep his dog and many blocks don't allow it, it's written into the lease, so presumably this will also prevent people who are renting a flat in the block from owning pets as the flat owner would be breaking the terms of their lease by allowing it. Furthermore, I've lived in a flat with a really awful neighbour, noise, drugs, threats and insults at people using the communal space. Making it even harder to get rid of tenants like that will cause even more distress to people living near antisocial renters 😕 the police won't want to know as they are already too busy so what can a 'good' landlord with tenants like this do? Up until now no reason needs to be given so how would you now evidence antisocial behaviour that's just falling below that which is a clear criminal offence? Too much regulation and people walk away from owning rental property. I guess it'll all be bought up by big companies now and people, like us, who spent a few years working abroad and let our homes while we were away will no longer be able to do so. I don't think being harder on landlords who let good property fairly will increase availability of homes for people needing to rent.

I don't agree with allowing pets at all . I have two 19 year old cats, and the damage they have done to my furniture and furnishings in the last two years is distressing, but it is my carpet, my curtains and my furniture. A landlord should not be expected to tolerate this, and my cats are house trained, sadly becoming senile.
Many pets are not house trained and some owners don't care. I have a relative who has four cats in a one bedroomed flat and understandably, she is threatened with eviction because of the dirt and the smell.

even people who are recognised as being homeless by the council are not given much help, unless they have young children or are disabled.
then they might get one room in a distant motel.
with children in the one room, leaning on the bed to do homework, and having to get 3 buses to school.
they can't change schools as they don't have a permanent address in the area . . .
other people sofa-surf where possible and spend time on all-night buses.
i know such a one. it is so dispiriting.

Maybe the Council can stop telling tenants that they should stay until the eviction notice or they will make themselves homeless where there are good reasons for the recovery of the house. Personally, I think that is immoral.

In Scotland where no fault evictions stopped a few years ago there are exemptions if the landlord or a family member is going to occupy the property. Same conditions may be adopted in England. Not sure I agree about pets though. If a house with garden perhaps but a flat for cat or dog no, and how many?

We had to issue a section 21 notice to tenants in 2020. It was my sister's house and she had been in a nursing home since a catastrophic stroke in 2015. My daughters had PoA but the nursing home fees were wiping out her savings and it was clear that we would have to sell the house. We gave him eighteen months' notice and explained why but he was in complete denial and would not look for anywhere else. It was all in the middle of the pandemic and lockdowns and we felt we could do nothing else to get him out. The nursing home went without being paid for over a year, we had to pay to get a judgement and he told many lies in his deposition. We got him out in July 21 and sold the house in February 22. She died in June 22. Not all "no fault evictions" are by vicious landlords of excellent tenants. I wonder what it would have been like under the new rules.

We want to continue renting out our property. We have a nice family in it who have been there for several years.
However, if rules introduced by this government become too onerous, we might have forced to sell up.
It has to be a balancing act, looking after both parties, but I fear that too many landlords will feel it’s just not worth the hassle.

There are far more disreputable tenants unfortunately, than landlords.

What about landlord's right over their own properties!!

I’ve had good and bad tenants in the past, when they leave usually you have to redecorate recarpet etc, not a problem if they’ve been there for a few years, some can trash the place in 6 months. The only one that got booted out was a Jehovas Witness who was growing cannabis in the bathroom - takes all kinds I guess.

I dont use an agent or advertise, I ask around there is always someone local looking it’s cheap at £500 pcm inclusive, no extras only council tax. Recently I’ve had single men, currently one has moved his girlfriend in that’s fine, when she is working they will move on no doubt.

I suspect that the vast majority of rogue landlords are those who don’t go through a letting agent, but let the property themselves, often ‘under the radar’ to illegal immigrants, cramming as many as possible into the property.
These landlords won’t be bothered by the new legislation as the immigrant tenants wouldn’t want to risk reporting their living conditions to the authorities for fear of being deported, (although of course under this government that would be highly unlikely.)

The vast majority of people like us who rent out property, go through an agent, abide by the rules, keep the house properly maintained and hope and pray for decent tenants who will respect the property and look after it.

It’s a minefield, we once let out some single occupancy rooms above a business.
It was a nightmare from beginning to end, we certainly never made any money, there was lots of damage. Because we were always available, I found myself as taxi driver, social worker, and all around shoulder to cry on.
They were for the most part nice enough people, but incapable of managing.
Eventually we worked with a local company housing their graduate workers on short term leases, that was fine, but really, we’d had enough.
The other side, my daughter and family once rented a house. The landlord had just the one property, and he treated them really well, anything going wrong, he dealt with immediately, even bought the children Christmas presents.
Good and bad on both sides. But I really think a landlord should be able to choose whether or not to allow pets.

Smileless2012

Not so great if you have a property in the UK that you rent out and work and live abroad, retire and want to live in the property you own in the UK.

Not so great if you're in a job that provides accommodation, and the property you bought for retirement has a tenant who you're unable to evict. Where do you live? I suppose you'll have to hope that there'll be sufficient rental accommodation available, not owned by disreputable landlords so you can rent.

“No fault” doesn’t mean that you can never reclaim your property. If you want to sell the property for eg then you can give notice. I reluctantly agreed to let out a house that my father and I own and the estate agent confirmed that there are a number of legitimate reasons to give notice to tenants.

fluttERBY123

Does anyone have an answer to this?Let's assume:-
There are x number of homes in the country. Some are owner occupied and some are rented. All are occupied. Big panic and the landlords sell up. Who to? If so who moves in? Someone who was previously renting? Renters have nowhere to rent? First time buyers can't afford a mortgage? My question is what happens to the homes renters sell and who do they sell to?¹

Good point. Maybe they remain in the rental area.
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that all property is expensive - whether to rent or buy and many will be outpriced for ever.

There are quite a lot of rented properties in the area I live - some seem to have good landlords and have happily lived there for a few years - other landlords not so good. The trend now is the houses that are going up for sale seem to be turning into HMO's. Where I live they are mainly 2 bedroomed terraced houses - most of them have noticed saying room to let and there's now another on my street is ready -

Does anyone have an answer to this?Let's assume:-
There are x number of homes in the country. Some are owner occupied and some are rented. All are occupied. Big panic and the landlords sell up. Who to? If so who moves in? Someone who was previously renting? Renters have nowhere to rent? First time buyers can't afford a mortgage? My question is what happens to the homes renters sell and who do they sell to?¹

Our flat has specific terms in the lease which forbid short term lets, to avoid aggravation to other people in the block. Unless you own a freehold house this is likely to be the case, as even "share of freehold" flats usually have leases.
Several small houses close to our last home were sold as buy to lets and the result was very noisy weekends due to airbnb lettings to stag and hen nights, not at all fair to neighbours in a residential area.

I’m glad we were never able to afford to buy a property to let out. I wouldn’t want to have these new rules pushed upon us. If I did own such a property, I’d think now was the time to sell it, before these rules become law.

(Sorry about the typos)

Boz

One likes to be fair, but some of the ideas to protect the renter are worrying; allowed a pet? From a goldfish to a baby lion - the mind boggles.
You will need to go to the courts to prove anti-social behaviour or get your rent arrears.
All too complicated; no wonder people are reluctant to rent their property and after all this, guess what, people will still be unable to meet the high cost of renting because landlords will put up their prices to cover all the aggravation.

Yes, we have a small flat that we bought to let and the last thing we want is to have it stinking of cat pee or wet dog when we need to let it again. Do they expect us to buy new carpets every time?
Our flat is really only suitable for a single person, are they going to make us rent it to a couple? We had this forced upon us once when a tenant moved his girlfriend in and they moved out shortly afterwards as it is simply too small.
I suppose that we will still be allowed to take up references, or will we have to let it to the first comer, regardless of financial status or suitability as a tenant?
The net result of all this will be coninuous challenges when a letting agent declines to rent to somebody unsuitable, for whatever reason.
People are forgetting that not all landlords are evil, we've been letting our flat since 2012 and our tenants have stayed for some time and been happy. We've only put our rent up once in that time, and that by a relatively small amount.
We have no objection to a tenant on benefits, our current tenant is an elderly man on Pension Credits who is by all accounts very happy there.
If we were to sell the flat (which is in a very popular tourist city) when he eventually leaves it is more than likely that it would be sold as a second home to somebody rich enough to carry the costs, which we are not.

Magsymoo
If you let out a property and wish to sell or move into it yourself you can still do that. This legislation is aimed at preventing landlords evicting tenants so that they can hike up rent. If a tenant doesn’t pay the rent or is causing problems then they are not a ‘no fault’ tenant and so are not protected.

icanhandthemback
Whilst tenants need protection, so do Landlords. The law needs to come down heavily on rogue landlords, not penalise the good ones.

Both very good points. I’ve had little to do with rented properties, but my niece was given a no fault eviction because the Landlord wanted to move a family member into it.
The house was soon for rent again at a higher cost.
On the other hand one of my sisters is fighting to evict her tenant because she had made alterations to the house to suit the tenants and now there is no other property suitable for the tenant’s disabled daughter.
If they’d pay the rent, she’d have no problem, but they don’t.

Cossy

Boz

One likes to be fair, but some of the ideas to protect the renter are worrying; allowed a pet? From a goldfish to a baby lion - the mind boggles.
You will need to go to the courts to prove anti-social behaviour or get your rent arrears.
All too complicated; no wonder people are reluctant to rent their property and after all this, guess what, people will still be unable to meet the high cost of renting because landlords will put up their prices to cover all the aggravation.

One always had to go to court to get rent arrears or anti social behaviour.

In terms of pets, that’s easy, take a slightly higher damage deposit AND ask the tenant to take out contents insurance which specifically covers damage done by pets.

Private renters, in many cases, pay way over the top in rent and need protection, just as landowners do too.

Cossy, you are not allowed to take a slightly higher damage deposit or make any demands about tenants and their pets. It is a difficult choice for a Landlord to make, well it was when they had one. Tenants cannot take out insurance for the Landlord's carpets, wallpaper, etc.
I have always liked to think about the property I rent as someone's home so I have always given due consideration to the request for pets. However, I have been left with a flea infestation so bad that you couldn't step into the house without being covered in an instant. As the tenant had significant rent arrears, there was no deposit to pay for it. Another tenant had asked for a cat, we agreed. 3 cats later in an upstairs cat, they had clawed the wallpaper off the walls and piddled all over the brand new carpets.
Whilst tenants need protection, so do Landlords. The law needs to come down heavily on rogue landlords, not penalise the good ones.

As usual on GN lots of misrepresentation of the facts of this legislative change and lots of unnecessary doom mongering. If you let out a property and wish to sell or move into it yourself you can still do that. This legislation is aimed at preventing landlords evicting tenants so that they can hike up rent. If a tenant doesn’t pay the rent or is causing problems then they are not a ‘no fault’ tenant and so are not protected.
A good move for our new government would be to massively increase the building of new social housing and stopping the right to buy. Too many former council houses have ended up in the hands of landlords whose rents far exceed those of social houses.

Well of course you can manage your property let yourself and there's nothing wrong with that as long as you don't turn a blind eye. I prefer to use a letting agent because I want everything done by the book as to the renewal of safety inspections and certificates required re. electricity, no gas in my block, but smoke alarms etc.