He’s absolutely crackers!

Author: Giles Peaker

"Ahead of the government introducing the bill for emergency Coronavirus related measures later this week, Labour have published a draft bit of legislation which addresses the position of (most) renters where they fail to pay rent due to effects of the coronavirus, with the aim of the Govt incorporating it.

The draft legislation is here. (Full disclosure, I had a bit of a hand in this, together with Justin Bates of Landmark Chambers who did by far the biggest part of it.)
The effect would be that for assured, assured shorthold, secure or Rent Act tenants, where there was failure to pay contractual rent that was in any way related to the effects of the coronavirus during a designated period, this would not count as rent lawfully due for the purposes of the relevant rent arrears grounds of possession.
This would not stop the money being owed to the landlord eventually (although there is also an embargo period on when the landlord could start to seek it by a money claim), but it would mean those specific arrears would not count for rent arrears possession claims, now or in the future.
Where the tenancy may be subject to a section 21 notice, this draft does not stop potential service and proceedings under s.21, as it is impossible to establish the reasons for a section 21 (and some uses of it may be for such things as recovering an abandoned property).
However, what happens with possession claims in general, including section 21 based claims, over the next weeks and months, we will have to see. If the courts close (and the Grenfell Inquiry was suspended today - 16 March) then things may grind to a halt in the meantime anyway."

Reply to the comment left by Neil Patterson at 18/03/2020 - 09:10
And therein lies another problem.

Lots of mine & UC HB tenants, if they fall behind £10, it takes them a year to catch this up. They have no idea about life for the vulnerable.
They publicise helping them, but this will harm them long term in that Landlords will sell even more & remaining Landlords will be having a field days, supply & demand & put their rents up.

I think we should have a bit of compassion, no? And not leave ourselves so short of cash that replacing a boiler puts us in difficulties. Sorry......

well that mad man Corbyn can pay me then !Landlord bashing again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will sue him !

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 18/03/2020 - 09:17
Just had a friend repost this idiot's post on fb. Please lobby free rent for all tenants as all homeowners are getting a mortgage holiday. Don't normally comment on fb but had to explain in this instance, that the landlord was still going to have to pay the mortgage and that this would cause repossessions which would make tenants homeless. More landlords would exit the system which would push up rents further. Doesn't help the landlord or the tenant. Also if landlord weathers the storm then they won't be paying out on maintenance or upgrades, which in turn doesn't help local businesses. If people are struggling then give them the money to pay their landlord, who in turn pays the mortgage lender, who also maintains the property and buys supplies locally and uses local tradesmen. It could save thousands of local businesses from going bust. Instead Corbyn wants a bunch of homeless tenants. The pay the tenant option would cost less in the long run.

Its difficult and uncharted times, however I also wonder how much compassion BTL lenders will have for landlords who's tenants cant pay rent due to being laid off work as a result of Coronavirus?

Reply to the comment left by Sue Bird at 18/03/2020 - 09:24
I have plenty of compassion.
I wish to sell most of my houses & am only keeping them for the long standing tenants of 20+ years.
And a lot are paying 20% below market rent.

If I put 6 £1400 boilers in every year.
And 6 x £4000 kitchens in every year.
And 6 x bathroom refurbishments every year £12000.
20 composite doors in every year £14,000.
Approx £1500 repairs per house per year on average.

Where does this money come from if no rent in?

In fact, let's look at the extra charges we've had last few years, I may do another post on this one day.

This is my text I am gonna' have to start sending some of my tenants in the next year or two who are paying far too low a rent which doesn't cover all the recent attacks. And lots of mine are paying 20% below normal market rent. I'll look after people as much as I can, but Govt & councils are making it impossible for Landlords to do cheap deals for tenants.

Advance Properties has made the decision to bring your rents more in to line with what costs Landlords have had increased upon them. For years, if you didn’t know, we have tried to look after you with small rent increases, but if you didn’t know, your rent is much cheaper than what the market commands in these times of onerous legislation. Please look & you will see.

Rental Property has gone through a very testing time since 2018 & the Government & Councils implementing all sorts of costs & charges & Legislation on ALL Landlords, to try & get at the minority bad ones. This however has increased costs massively on the good landlords & tenants that didn’t have a problem before.

We now have to do Fitness tests on new rentals £150.
Electrical Installation Condition reports organisation & implementation £300+.
Selective Licensing £890 just for one house.
Legionnaires checks £70.
EPC’s £80.
Data protection checks £40.
Carbon Monoxide detectors & smoke detectors, when wired, £300.
Getting registered with Information Commission officer £40.
Floorplans, Inventories £90.
Landlord has to criminal check himself & has to prove he has Right to live in UK
Increased staffing admin behind the scenes.
As you’ve seen, checks/inspections on your houses now with smoke alarms-Should be much more detailed checks.
Consultant & Legal fees to keep pace with legislation & staff training.
Letting Agent costs for new tenancies & house swaps £70pm.
All the above is extra costs we din’t have when many of u moved in.

Landlords are selling in their hundreds due to the increase in costs & the burden of ever increasing legislation.
Landlords are being fined when they get something slightly wrong.

As a company, we are really struggling to keep abreast with these constant legislation attacks, so much so, some of u know all new ones/swaps, we are having to place with Letting Agent.

The biggest changes are Selective Licensing & Universal Credit. Costs an absolute fortune in time & money to keep on top of it.

There are many Landlords out there who aren’t compliant, who are becoming unstuck every week.

We have no intention of selling on you & want you for the long term.
For us to continue & keep your property compliant, we cannot keep your rents as low as they are. So please excuse us for having to increase your rent to somewhat nearer normal levels.
Too cheap a rent & eventually that Landlord can go bust, it is the constant increase in charges by Govt & Councils that has forced this on us & you.

I am poised to give notice to all of my tenants. I am sure a deal is likely to be done giving payment holidays to tenants, which would be fine and reasonable to do in the current situation, assuming there was support for landlords. The fact is, there is no support for landlords, and in fact we are taxed disproportionately via Section 24, we are bashed by the media, and accused of sexual discrimination by some charities in order to use a loophole in the law. All of this and the majority still provide good quality housing with service levels on maintenance that are first class. Its simply not going to be viable any more...

The way to help tenants during the epidemic is to ensure that housing benefit can quickly be paid to those who see their income falling off a cliff. Otherwise landlords can't pay their bills either.
I also believe the eviction threat is exaggerated. Two big sources of tenant supply - people from overseas and students - will shrink as people are stuck in their home countries or choose to leave UK because no job here so why stay. And Universities could be closed for months, so students then not looking for accommodation. And then you wouldn't want a new tenant who was equally insecure financially as your current one, so you'd want to be very choosy. Put simply, the tenant supply pool will dwindle.
So, even if you are completely lacking in sympathy for your tenants - and the great majority of landlords will be sympathetic in genuine and verifiable cases - then cold commercial logic suggests it will generally be much better to work with existing tenants to ride out the storm than trying to evict.
My problem with any law trying to curtail eviction during the crisis is that it will be very hard to separate legitimate and illegitimate cases. Many entirely appropriate evictions which are completely unrelated to Covid would also stop.
At the heart of this is the usual lie that landlords are all rolling in cash and can afford to keep a roof over people's heads for free while still repairing, maintaining, paying tax, bills, electrical certificates etc etc.

It's a difficult situation. Many landlords would struggle or be forced to sell up if this happened. On the other hand, for those who can afford to and don't want to lose good tenants, it's a compassionate response. We don't live in a fair or equal society.