Here’s to 2024 – a failing Renters (Reform) Bill or landlords voting with their feet?

Will landlords bail out in 2024 as the Renters (Reform) Bill gets closer or will we stick it out for our tenants?

I only ask because this is the time of year to come up with resolutions.

I’ve explained at length that the Bill effectively transfers the control of a rented property to the tenant.

Is that right? I say not but tenants, politicians and tenant groups will say that it is their home so yes, power should be transferred.

We also have the prospect of a General Election, and the smart money now says it will be in May.

Can’t believe Labour will win

I still can’t believe Labour will win if they don’t tell people what plans they have in store.

We already know what they think about the private rented sector, so it won’t be good for landlords.

Motormouth Angela Rayner has already claimed that section 21 notices will be abolished on day one of a Labour government.

That will create a very interesting situation when landlords kick back and say no, and then file eviction notices.

There will be so many that the courts will grind to a halt.

And tenants will be left wondering what they are going to do for a home.

Perhaps you as a tenant should have thought about that before believing the Labour lies and spin.

Shelter and Generation Rent who have been campaigning

But let’s give a big round of applause to the likes of Shelter and Generation Rent who have been campaigning for this.

They don’t actually provide homes so don’t appreciate how difficult and challenging a landlord’s life can be. And expensive.

And the ramifications of lots of tenants being made to look for a new home won’t impact them either.

They’ll stand on the touchlines complaining about how heartless we are.

Egged on, no doubt, by their cheerleaders in the media who also don’t understand how the PRS works.

There is, however, a silver lining on the horizon.

It involves when the General Election is held.

Renters (Reform) Bill will be enacted

If it is the autumn, then I think the PRS goose will be cooked, and the Renters (Reform) Bill will be enacted.

If Rishi pushes the button for May, then I don’t think the Bill will finish in this Parliamentary session – or the next one.

It could be wishful thinking, but I’d like to see the housing situation for landlords AND tenants improve in 2024.

I’d like to see the public see the sector in a positive light, appreciate more of what we do and help protect our service.

I could be fantasizing of course but any law that doesn’t account for the selfish antics of thoughtless tenants cannot possibly become law.

Perhaps common sense will prevail, and we will embrace the changes when they come.

Or, as I genuinely hope, the Bill gets kicked into touch OR we as a body of landlords deliver eviction notices on the same day.

How useful we have been

Election fever or not, that’s the only way we will get across to our critics just how useful we have been – and can continue to be.

Because the alternative of falling house prices and families living in tents as landlords vote with their feet will be just too ironic to enjoy.

Any co-ordinated action from landlords will see the government freezing rents and evictions – just to stabilise the housing sector.

Then we will know where we stand, and I hope the landlords who don’t seem too bothered by what could come with the Bill AND a Labour government might just wake from their stupor.

Time is running out in the face of political dogma for us to demand a seat at the negotiating table.

And, even worse, we are sleepwalking towards a PRS catastrophe that we didn’t create but will get the blame for.

People are optimistic when a New Year beckons

Let’s see what 2024 brings – most people are optimistic when a New Year beckons but not for landlords this time – things look bleak. Very bleak.

To help, here are my New Year’s resolutions for the PRS:

• For ALL landlords to stop charging below market rent
• The Renters (Reform) Bill MUST retain section 21
• Tell your local MP why they should bin the Renters (Reform) Bill
• Explain to everyone that the PRS is crucial for housing people
• Ask MPs and journalists where people will live when we leave
• Warn everyone we will not be criminalised
• Campaign to bring in the landlord register – but bin selective licensing
• STOP making landlords slaves to their tenants
• Ask how much rents will rise because the sky really is the limit!

The next 12 months are going to be incredibly difficult for landlords with a new law and biased scrutiny that paints us as bad people.

We aren’t obviously, and as I keep saying: The PRS will miss us when we are gone but I never thought the comment would ever become reality.

Until next time,

The Landlord Crusader

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