0:02 AM, 11th October 2024, About a month ago 28
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Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook is warning that landlords will not be able to get around the Renters’ Rights Bill, and any landlord or letting agent caught discriminating against a tenant could be fined £7,000.
In an interview with The i newspaper, Mr Pennycook claims “landlords pitch renters against each other” in rental bidding wars and the Bill will end the practice once and for all.
He also says that landlord fears over the court backlog are ‘overstated’, and tenants complaining about a rent rise won’t be ‘hit by potential arrears’.
Mr Pennycook also admitted “there is no concrete date for when Section 21 will be abolished” but hopes it will happen by next year.
Mr Pennycook says the Renters’ Rights Bill “is not a reheated version of Renters’ Reform Bill” and goes further than the Conservative government’s bill.
Mr Pennycook says the decent homes standard will apply to the private rented sector for the first time and the Labour government will ban Section 21 no-fault evictions immediately rather than waiting for the courts to be ready.
Mr Pennycook also claims the Renters’ Rights Bill will stop rental bidding wars.
He said to The i newspaper: “We’ve looked at examples of where action has been taken in Australia and New Zealand to combat rental bidding wars.
“We’ve learnt from those models and there are provisions in the Bill to clamp down on rental bidding wars.
“Landlords are often in particularly hot rental markets pitching renters against each other playing them off to see who can bid up the highest amount of rent. We think that’s wrong and the practice has got to end the landlord should clearly state the amount of rent that they expect for the property and if that rent is offered by a tenant it should be accepted.”
Mr Pennycook admitted there is no date on when Section 21 will be abolished but hopes it will happen as soon as possible.
He told The I paper: “We don’t have a concrete date yet partly because we want to ensure that when we announce a date we’re very clear that we can stick to it.
“It’s our intention to abolish Section 21 no-fault evictions to overhaul the whole tenancy regime as soon as possible after Royal Assent. My target is by summer next year but we have to see how quickly the Bill progresses.”
Mr Pennycook adds he believes the concerns about the courts are “overstated”.
He said to The I paper: “We are not going to do what the previous government did which is tie reform to the private rented sector to a sort of subjective assessment of when the courts are ready. We do need to see court improvements and we recognise the concerns about significant pressure on Tribunals.
“However, if I’m honest, I think some of these concerns are a bit overstated. We’re not going to see a direct read-across from every Section 21 eviction to a Section 8 possession order. We’ll work with colleagues at the Ministry of Justice to ensure the courts are ready, but we won’t be making tenancy reform contingent on that.”
Mr Pennycook claims the Bill will ban rental discrimination and landlords and letting agents could face up to £7,000 fines if they discriminate against renters with children or tenants on benefits.
He said to The i paper: “In theory, those practices are already illegal but we do know that they occur.
“What we are trying to do in this Bill is to strengthen those provisions and clamp down on the abuse. For example, I’ve seen adverts that say people with benefits can not apply. There’s also the problem of intentional discrimination that can take place in person where it’s not advertised and a tenant views a property.
“We want to be able to fine landlords and letting agents that engage with these sorts of practices. Our clear message through the legislation is that these practices are unacceptable.”
Mr Pennycook says he will be making sure that new possession grounds for landlords won’t be abused.
He said to The i paper: “We are not going to allow those new possession grounds to be abused. In the Bill, we have tried to overhaul how those grounds could be abused and close those loopholes.
“For example, in the previous legislation when a landlord took back their property on one of these grounds to sell or to move back in they could re-let that property after three months now it will be 12 months.
“What we want to see by the changes we’ve made is that they are being used for genuine reasons rather than as a means to evict people by the back door.”
In the Renters’ Rights Bill, landlords will only be able to increase rent once a year and only to the market rate.
Mr Pennycook explains a tenant will be able to challenge a rent increase.
He told The i Paper: “If a tenant feels the rent increase is unreasonable they can take it to the Tribunal and the Tribunal will be able to adjudicate on whether the rent increase is reasonable or that for that particular market area.
“The Tribunal will not be able to award a rent that is higher than the landlords asking for and we’ve put in measures to ensure that when an unreasonable rent rise has been requested and the tenant has gone to Tribunal tenants can’t be hit by the potential arrears that might result if a Tribunal makes an award.”
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Jo Westlake
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Sign Up14:31 PM, 11th October 2024, About a month ago
What is discrimination?
A property and applicant are either right for eachother or they aren't.
I operate in an area that is supposed to be 96% white. My tenants are 25% international. Am I discriminating against the indigenous population?
Several of my tenants are on UC. Am I discriminating if I decide I have enough eggs in that basket? They mainly live in properties I can afford to let at LHA level rent and if I allowed other claimants to rent more expensive properties I would be condemning them to living in poverty.
Is it discrimination if I decide not to rent a room in a graduate professional HMO to someone who is 6 months pregnant (knowing they will be breaching occupancy numbers as soon as the baby is born)? Not to mention completely changing the dynamic of the household.
Yvonne Francis
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Sign Up16:38 PM, 11th October 2024, About a month ago
Reply to the comment left by Steve Rose at 11/10/2024 - 11:23
Hi Steve
I wasn't thinking that guarantors were banned. It's just that if the first person or group (as in my situation) came along, and could not give me a parental guarantee, would I be obliged to accept them? Yes I agree, to quote you, 'The chance of you or I being the subject of such a test case is negligible'. I'm sure there will be lots of Landlords who will run under the radar but it's the principle and the gradual erosion of individual rights I object to.
PH
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Sign Up17:33 PM, 11th October 2024, About a month ago
Reply to the comment left by Paul Essex at 11/10/2024 - 10:30
When my tenant leaves I'm selling. I may even sell before that so no discrimination from me either, aren't I a good boy !
PH
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Sign Up17:40 PM, 11th October 2024, About a month ago
Reply to the comment left by Yvonne Francis at 11/10/2024 - 11:03
You let to whoever you want to. You have the list of potential tenants and you do due diligence in deciding who you choose and if that happens to eliminate DSS, pregnant women (or men these days), kids with kids with their 101 Dalmatians in tow then so be it. This process of elimination has been going on for centuries and it will continue to do so.
Darren Sullivan
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Sign Up22:10 PM, 11th October 2024, About a month ago
I’m sorry to disappoint you sir but in my experience it is the tenants that initiate bidding wars not landlords.
Ray Lancaster
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Sign Up8:30 AM, 12th October 2024, About a month ago
Many mortgage companies and insurance companies insist on working professional tenants. How are they going to address this and the existing terms and conditions on insurance policies and mortgages that are already in force?
Also evicting a tenant to sell a property, I had a tenant after giving them notice to leave in April this year as I wanted to sell.
The market has gone flat, I have reduced it , still not sold, but am thinking of re letting it again until the market picks up as interest rates hopefully start to fall a little, as the cost of the mortgage, utility bills, full council tax are hitting me hard with no rent coming in.
To say you can’t rent it for at least 12 months after last tenant moved out is ludicrous as things change, and it’s my business not the government’s. It should be no more than 4 months at the most.
Brain dead government with absolute no business sense at all.
Why do they want to see landlords suffer a bigger black hole than the so called governments one!
PH
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Sign Up9:27 AM, 12th October 2024, About a month ago
Reply to the comment left by Ray Lancaster at 12/10/2024 - 08:30
It's all about ' control ', nothing more. They couldn't care less about tenants and LL it's quite obvious.
Dylan Morris
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Sign Up12:41 PM, 12th October 2024, About a month ago
Mortgage lenders discriminate all the time. They won’t lend to somebody just arrived in the country. Somebody on benefits. Somebody with insufficient income. Somebody too old. Somebody self employed for only a short time. Somebody with a dodgy credit record. It’s not discrimination Mr Pennycock it’s what used to be called making a choice.
Jessie Jones
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Sign Up20:16 PM, 13th October 2024, About a month ago
"and if that rent is offered by a tenant it should be accepted.”
What a naive statement. It's not just about the amount. What when an applicant offers full asking price but they want to take it in two months time, and another one offers full asking price but they can move in tomorrow? Or applicants that want it for 10 years, vs those that want it for a month?
I just put one on the market and had 5 out of 5 viewers want it. I didn't chose based on a bidding war, I chose on the basis of the one who I felt I could work with.
Those agents / landlords who do favour bidding wars over quality tenants will no doubt just advertise at a higher rent and reduce it (daily) like a Dutch auction until they get a taker.
And of course, once some agents start to advertise higher rents, it will soon cascade. So congratulations Pennycook, rents are about to soar even further !
Stella
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Sign Up13:53 PM, 14th October 2024, About a month ago
I advertised a 4 bed HMO in the summer and got nearly100 applicants and I am sure that I am not alone.
Pennycook said during the 2nd reading of the bill that he was not worried about landlords leaving the market because BTR would take over from them.
While he might be hoping this will happen and while he is waiting for his new 1.5 million homes to be built which might happen sometime in the future how does he plan to house the population who want to rent somewhere now??
His answer is to Stifle the PRS by making it much harder for people to find a property.
Introducing rent controls by the back door.
Bringing back what appears to be the old regulated tenancies where it will be virtually impossible to get the property back.
On the other hand tenants can occupy the property today and in two months time move out.
They can fall into rent arrears for as long as 4 months before we can take action.
They can have their rent assessed by the FTT who can reduce the rent but not increase it and I could go on.
This is why as soon as my good tenants leave I am selling.