Renters Reform Bill a ‘hand grenade’ for student let sector

Unbelievable. Illustrates a complete lack of Government understanding and research into a market that already functions well for both students and landlords. Students are well protected by HMO licenses with regards to safety and quality of properties. If the same exemption is not granted to HMOs as has been to the PBSA then I will be withdrawing my HMO, along with many more landlords, and the sector will collapse. Students will bear the brunt of this misguided policy change, chasing fewer available rentals and consequently suffering rent increases. Generally PBSA is more expensive to rent. There have been no rent increases on my student HMO for the past few years despite having to fund ever increasing compliance legislation. It makes me wonder if the government wants to phase out private HMOs in favour of a corporate take over of the student accommodation market. I hope NRLA and Unipol will influence the government to see sense and do the right thing. Private landlords have made a valuable and much needed investment into this sector over the years, to disrupt this business model to the point of non viability is a kick in the teeth. KH

“It makes me wonder if the government wants to phase out private HMOs in favour of a corporate take over of the student accommodation market.”

No need to wonder, it’s crystal clear what the government is doing, it wants to phase out all private HMOs, and private landlords, in favour of a corporate takeover of the entire Private Rented Sector, they want it all.
They corporatised the railways, are in the process of corporatising the NHS and have now started on the PRS. This is not a conspiracy theory, it is actually happening before our very eyes, and just as the corporatisation of British Rail was a disaster, with worse service, more accidents and higher prices, so will be the corporatisation of the PRS. We are already seeing the effects on tenants and landlords, less choice and higher rents.
Due to the War on Landlords we are now left with a choice, raise rents or leave the sector. Tenants are also left with a choice, pay more rent or go live in a cardboard box on the pavement.
You get the government you voted for, a majority of Brits voted for a fascist government and so this is what you now have.

Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 27/07/2022 - 07:47
So true, well said that landlord!

Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 27/07/2022 - 07:47
Another landlord backing your theory. It happens to all businesses that starts to do well in private hands who are then taxed/regulated to the point of having to sell thus coughing up CGT to the same government that sold us out to the tax advantaged corporations who will be the only landlords/businesses left.

Scotland banned S21 and bought in indeterminate tenancies a five years ago. As already mentioned, a recent report - Rent Better (April 2022) - concludes that the changes have improved renters' rights but reduced rental supply, particularly for low income people. Scotland continues to have a tragic shortage of family housing but every spare parcel of land in Edinburgh is being given to developers of PBSH. PBSH providers are allowed to use academic year tenancies, which enables the owners to make a killing, renting out the rooms to tourists, specifically for the international festival in August.

I appreciate the potential problems and believe student letting should be exempted from this legislation but we have had student properties for over 30 years and have never had a tenant seek to stay on. So much so we gave up serving notice to terminate the tenancies many years ago. Was this naive and have we just been lucky? Do most student landlords serve the notices as a matter of course? Even if the notice has been served if the student(s) decided to stay put there is nothing that could be done to get the new group in as a possession order would be necessary so is this going to be a lot more risky?

Reply to the comment left by Joanna Fear at 27/07/2022 - 12:06
Like you Joanna I too have let student houses and never had anyone stay on. The nature of a Joint and Severally liable lease would mean they would all have to stay to make the tenancy viable.

However its not just the problem of students staying on but their entitlement to leave at any time especially at the end of their University term, which in my case, as University terms are only 8 weeks, my house could be empty for months.

In Scotland I thought agents took on new tenants in the same way i.e. November or December, and if they failed to get vacant possession in the summer they found the new group alternative accommodation. It makes my mind boggle! especially as a self managing landlord so I would have a try at professionals and see how I go. There are so many other problems anyway like EPC standards that perhaps the writing is on the wall. It's a real shame as I believe students love private houses where they can live independently with their friends. A tenant of mine once told me her year at my property had been the happiest of her life.

Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 27/07/2022 - 07:47
Which Government or party do you think are interested in appreciating and protecting the PRS?

I wrote to my Conservative MP about this as we let to students and again, we don't serve S21 notices. His response was (predictably) to support the ministerial position although the reason was quite ridiculous - because students with a family need to be protected. Well that must account for about half a dozen tenancies throughout England then.
What a shower this government is.
I agree with the comments that the government seem intent on corporatising the sector.
If only there was someone else to vote for.

It'll be the poorest students who lose out - so that's goodbye to social mobility and any 'levelling up' agenda.
Not every student can or wants to afford Bristol PBSA's cheapest accommodation at £800 a month as charged for the recently ended academic year. One of the students who collected keys from me on 01 July said her room had no window so she had no idea from her basic 'pod' what the weather was like at any time of day.
2,500 students come and go through the same front doors and access the high rise wings of the building via lifts - that haven't worked since she arrived as a fresher last October. The stock answer (on repeat) was that the parts aren't available so there is no repair planned. She was told to get over it and told to quit complaining because NOTHING was going to be done about it.
I house mostly NHS students after they leave halls. They're happy with my 4-person houses because I offer them a 12 month tenancy renewal after their initial year with me at the original rent. It means they don't have to move during the summer of their second year when many are still 'on placement' which cannot be assumed to be in Bristol when the start of their second year begins.
All NHS night & days shifts are 12 hours - have been for several years - and some students only get 6 weeks off before their third year starts. Moving during the summer of an NHS second year course is therefore a foreseeable nightmare. It means continuity is a great thing for both parties.
I don't provide a two-year contract from the outset because a) it depends on the household compatibility as sharers which is an unknown at the start of it, b) the reality that some students don't make the required grades the first time around and either drop out or rely on summer re-takes and c) some experience a change in family circumstances back home and have to leave their course involuntarily.
Council Tax exemption for students ends the day after their final year three exam and becomes payable until their accommodation contract comes to an end. If there is to be 'no contract end date' the government needs to ask ITSELF how it intends to manage this.
Council Tax billing has the date of every student's last exam - and bills duly arrive for them well AFTER the students have long since left for Ibiza - calculated until their tenancy end date, which is also known to Council Tax billing by way of the retrospectively informed start date of the incoming students.
Endless student tenancies? Really?
Gov.uk: I wish you the best of luck with this muck and fuddle of your own creation. Don't expect any assistance from me with your tax collections! It won't happen.
Lord