Possible extension to ban on evictions

Hmm, Government is asking tenants & landlords to come to an agreement. What if the tenant is not paying at all and does not want to pay? Is the government going to reimburse the landlords for all the lost rent?

No surprise is it, this will probably be in place forever. Easy way out for this lame government and effectively kills off Section 21 and Section 8 in one swipe.

Reply to the comment left by Jaye at 05/05/2020 - 09:16
My email to Landlord Action:

Can someone explain about the mediation assistance because this appears to be a onesided hoax whereby landlords are forced to pay £540 to facilitate a delaying tactic.

I have read that this is a "telephone" mediation service which will "force landlords to talk more to their tenants". Most landlords must grovel to their tenants as it stands when the tenants default on the rent or behave in a threatening manner.

Due to the tenant's protection already in place and a landlord's lack of power to appropriately retort to abuse at the outset, how can such mediation change the behaviour of the offensive tenant?

All of the small time landlords i know are extremely generous and fair as it is, because we have no choice but to offer concessions in order to promote fair treatment from a tenant.

If we landlords need mediation services it is because the TENANT themselves have breached an agreement - usually over a very long period whereby we have already grovelled and been tolerant, and we are ultimately stuck with the process of awaiting a lenthy time for legal resolution. How can a voice over the telephone, who has never witnessed the direct abuse we landlords may be tolerating, guide us mature landlords who have already experienced fear of violence to our properties and loss of rents?

Clearly, mediation would arise only if a tenant breaks the agreement. Why has the Landlord to pay the entire mediation fee? Mediation comes about because of a tenant's actions. In normal mediation, both parties must pay up front. Mediation implies equal agreement and fairness. It is normally for couples who have shared assets. Both of them must pay the mediator.

It seems very clear that the proposed landlord mediation is simply a delaying tactic for the tenant to be housed free for an extended period, at great cost to the landlord.

I believe a tenant cannot be ultimately forced by a Civil judge to pay his arrears or for property damaged by him. So, unless the tenant is, at the least, forced to share the mediation fee, or face some kind of forceably imposed compromise, this system will be a joke where the tenant can simply walk away leaving landlords even more distraught than previously.

Finally, secured deposits are only a maximum of five or six weeks yet a tenant wont even get to court for 5 or 6 months as it stands.

Help!

So just another £540 and another delay before the landlord gets the property back. Plus some jobs for the mediation boys

More Landlords packing up as soon as they can then.

Gees, they say:
“The Government has been urging landlords and tenants to come to agreements and they are working to ensure pre-action protocol is in place, which will put the onus on tenants and landlords to negotiate and reach an agreement, rather than go to court. This means that there will be an emphasis on mediation, such as that recently launched by the Property Redress Scheme, or landlords working in good faith with tenants to agree a payment agreement.”

Why do we think we've come to court then? Do they think we like spending £1000's on the Legal process which is against us?

Helps solve the governments homelessness problem + nice juicy £30,000 fines for anything a LL does wrong, lovely! After all the usual outgoings I earn £45 'per week', just had a repair man in who earned twice that for just '1 hour' ! We invest £1000s to earn £45 pw when a screwdriver cost about £2 to earn twice that! Silly me!

I have an existing pre-covid CCJ against a past non-paying tenant. Obviously as a landlord I have 6 years to enforce this judgement of over GBP13 000 but I have been stymied by the unseemly haste to enact Covid legislation for the protection of tenants rights over mine.
Will the UK government permit an extension to the CCJ enforcement period to correlate with the impasse they have created in debt collection during the covid lockdown.

What good will mediation be with the Tenant if they are in Breach of Contract and not just arrears?
If a further delay happens beyond 25 June, is the Government going to urge Councils to relax their HMO Licensing rules when tenants such as ours started off as a single family household, had an argument with their adult children and moved in sub-tenants which has come out now because they have lost their jobs and claimed benefits?
Article 4 in my area prevents getting Planning to have a mini HMO even though the Council will issue Licenses in the full knowledge it's likely to lead to an enforcement order - mediation with the Council is needed in my current situation, not with the tenants and sadly, I don't see that ever happening!
Another Landlord is very likely to bite the dust!

CAN WE SUE THE GOVERNMENT? If they can pay for furlough, why can they pay for the unpaid rent during the covid period?

in my case the government and courts can 'urge mediation; as much as it likes, it's a big fat no from me. In my case eviction is the goal (all served and completed before lockdown) due to tenant arrears and breach of her TA, not to mention the damage caused to my property while she has been living there. (all documented, photographed etc). The chance for her to redeem her ways has ceased and I have chosen (at more expense to me) to take the legal route, and this is the route I expect it to follow. I appreciate the Court is trying to reduce court time as a huge backlog of cases will be on the cards when 'normality' returns, but there is total injustice to state that my decision to take the legal route was taken lightly - it was the final straw, so to try and palm me off now to lesson the court load is not on. I'm sorry - this lady is not for turning!