Lib Dem conference agenda calls for abolition of Section 21

I would urge all landlords to respond to the Government consultation (albeit "consultation" probably means: "We have already made up our minds but will do this exercise to pretend we are listening") on s21 https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/a-new-deal-for-renting-resetting-the-balance-of-rights-and-responsibilities-between-landlords-and-tenants
Please point out the unintended consequences of abolishing s21 which include:
Decent landlords will leave the sector, reducing supply and pushing up rents
Rogue landlords may move in and buy from the decent ones
More tenants in arrears will get CCJs for debt and will become even less attractive to landlords, whether private or public sector
Anti-social tenants who terrorise the neighbours but pay the rent will have a field day. They will be almost impossible for a landlord to evict because of the problems of (a) establishing the behaviour and (b) getting the victims to testify. If the thug and the bully are to “have their day in court”, the interests of the innocent and the vulnerable neighbours will inevitably be relegated or sacrificed.
Unless the court system is overhauled and vastly improved it will become even more clogged up than at present. Cases under section 8 take longer than under s21. Landlords are also likely to use several grounds for possession to improve their chances. Tenants will defend themselves against accusations. Rather like divorcing couples the parties will be incentivised to throw as much mud as possible at each other.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 16/09/2019 - 10:54
Thanks Ian

I have filled it in, making the following comments:

The abolition of section 21 will cause hundreds of thousands of landlords to sell their properties. Contrary to the claims of the organisation that calls itself Generation Rent, a large proportion of these will not be bought by landlords or by renters. The number of tenants evicted will exceed the number of renters who buy. Supply will go down, so rents will go up.

https://www.property118.com/generation-rent-tries-hoodwink-policymakers/

https://www.property118.com/generation-rents-dream-based-fallacious-theorem-trustee/

As landlords flee the market and rents rise, the poorer members of society will not be able to rent anything and will be put in "temporary" accommodation at considerable expense.

Councils will be even more overwhelmed than they are now.

They will select young professionals who only stay a few years and avoid families, the very group that the abolition of Section 21 is supposed to give peace of mind to, so as not to create lifetime tenancies which caused the private rented sector to atrophy in the last century.

Reply to the comment left by Appalled Landlord at 16/09/2019 - 15:00
Thank you very much AL for sharing your thoughts with us.
Regarding your statement "Councils will be even more overwhelmed than they are now.": I am not sure how it would work - please advise if my understanding is not correct.
Currently TTs - if they receive S21 - are entitled to ask Council for accommodation, as they were made homeless. However if S8 has been served, Council is under no obligation to provide any alternative housing, as TT made themselves intentionally homeless.
If that indeed is correct - abolishment of S21 is in the vital interest of Councils, as they are not going to have to provide housing to anyone, as everyone evicted will be effectively subject to S8 and court case. Therefore the council waiting list is going to go down in much shorter time.
I can see newspaper headlines in a few years: Homelessness and waiting lists did go down considerably since introducing ban on S21...
Or - in your opinion - the situation is going to look differently?

Reply to the comment left by Whiteskifreak Surrey at 16/09/2019 - 15:10
"Homelessness and waiting lists did go down considerably since introducing ban on S21..."
The evicted tenants will be homeless. Surely the headline will be: Homelessness up massively but Councils not required to help!

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 16/09/2019 - 15:29
Thanks, I meant the homelessness as registered on council waiting lists.
TBH I am notcsure how it works, though.

Reply to the comment left by Whiteskifreak Surrey at 16/09/2019 - 15:10
Hi WS

I mean that the announcement of legislation to abolish Section 21 and create lifetime tenancies will prompt an acceleration in the exodus of landlords from the PRS. This will cause a further reduction in supply and increase rents. The poorest tenants will be made homeless. This has already happened because of Section 24, and councils cannot cope. Abolition of S 21 will aggravate the problem.

I was referring to what will happen before ASTs are replaced by assured tenancies, not what will happen when tenants are evicted from the latter.

“Mark Platt, a member of Generation Rent and a Liberal Democrat activist, claimed: “Section 21 makes many private renters second-class citizens, forced to endure circumstances that compromise their health or risk their safety, because they are poor or low-waged, or can’t get a foot on the property ladder.
Mr Platt was responsible for bringing forward the Section 21 motion at this year’s Liberal Democrat autumn conference, having campaigned for the scrappage of no-fault evictions for a number of years.
Mr Platt concluded that the move to scrap Section 21 wouldn’t fix what he called the UK’s broken homes infrastructure, before adding: “but it will be a great start towards ensuring that private renters can have homes as safe and secure as those who are fortunate to own theirs.””
https://www.propertynotify.co.uk/news/liberal-democrats-in-favour-of-scrapping-section-21/

I agree, Mr Platt, the move to scrap Section 21 will not fix the homes infrastructure - it will make it a lot worse as private landlords flee the market, reducing supply and increasing rents.

The link in the above excerpt leads to an article by the activist himself. Below his article is the following comment which I hope Mr Platt has read and learned from:

“I am old enough to recall when renting in London involved taking on a holiday let (max six months) as the landlord was frightened of tenants becoming sitting tenants and not being able to raise the rent, etc. In the current system, the tenants can give a month’s notice and the landlord two months notice to quit, which does not seem that unreasonable… good tenants who don’t wreck the property and pay their rent on time tend to be allowed to stay for a long time whereas the two month rule is usually applied to people who cause problems (not always, agreed). Changing the system, or Labour’s idea of allowing tenants to buy the property at a large discount, will result in BTL disappearing from the market and tenants being in real trouble.”
https://www.libdemvoice.org/reforming-private-renting-making-it-fairer-for-all-is-within-our-grasp-62048.html

Tenants being in real trouble. That is what Generation Rent has been campaigning for.