Renter’s Reform Bill White Paper put on ice until next year

Renter’s Reform Bill White Paper put on ice until next year

8:50 AM, 29th October 2021, About 3 years ago 8

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The Government’s planned release of the White Paper for the Renter’s Reform Bill which includes proposals to ban section 21 evictions and introduce lifetime deposits has now been delayed until next year. The extra time is apparently needed to give an opportunity to produce a ‘balanced package of reforms’.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities wants to benefit from continued work with the sector and consider the findings of the National Audit Office’s review of the regulation of the sector due to report in the coming months.

Sean Hooker, Head of Redress at the Property Redress Scheme, said: “I appreciate the property industry is on tenterhooks waiting to see what the proposals will be, and uncertainty is not good for any industry. The fact the Government is continuing to consult with the sector and gather evidence on the impact and unforeseen consequences of the changes, is a prudent thing to do. For the sake of a few months more, let’s get this right, not rush it through half-baked.”

Isobel Thomson, safeagent Chief Executive, said: “Safeagent welcomes the clarity on when the White Paper on reforms to the Private Rented Sector will be published.

“It makes sense to wait for the findings of the National Audit Office’s review of existing regulation and exploration of key sector organisations’ aspirations for PRS reform for the benefit of tenants and landlords. safeagent took part in the NAO’s review and looks forward to the report being published.”


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paul robinson

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10:07 AM, 29th October 2021, About 3 years ago

Wil there be another formal government consultation for the general public?
The one a few years ago was very flawed (likely rushed out) and nowhere mentioned the word HMO!?
Having spoken to the lady involved in the consultation publication, she suggested HMO landlords “just use the OTHER box” to feedback their comments and said "the consultation document was more aimed at the single occupier rental market, not HMO".
Unless the Governments proposal was to exclude ALL HMOs from the scrapping of S21 (could have been suggested for student rentals?) then it’s clearly a very flawed public consultation and considering the size of the HMO market very short sighted.
HMO rentals are a very different animal to a single occupancy rentasl and S21 (or equivalent) is a vital tool for honest landlords to provide safe and well managed HMO, as without decent tenants and their landlords will carry considerable more risk from bad and antisocial tenants living in shared HMOs

Luke P

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10:11 AM, 29th October 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by paul robinson at 29/10/2021 - 10:07
Whilst I don't disagree that HMOs are a different animal, S.21 is a vital tool for residential/family lets too...

Don't allow them to divide us!

paul robinson

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10:18 AM, 29th October 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 29/10/2021 - 10:11
I would 100% agree on that too. My comment was more to highlight that the serious lacking on the past consultation and the need for another that clearly recognises and describes correctly the PRS landscape and ALL its subsectors....otherwise these consultations are just lip service!

Luke P

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10:24 AM, 29th October 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by paul robinson at 29/10/2021 - 10:18
They definitely need to consider all the possible outcomes and come up with workable alternatives. I'm sure they'd rather the Courts have jurisdiction over every single eviction (unlike with S.21's Accelerated Possession...which takes a huuuuge number of cases out of the Court's Hearing timetable), but they are simply not geared up for the sheer weight of the onslaught and will just continue to operate at their own merry pace, causing more losses for landlords, more guarantors to be sued and more tenants to never be let to ever again. It's okay thinking they're being clever by awarding themselves the power to decided whilst simultaneously dictating the speed of the process, but if too many landlords get burnt too often, they'll ultimately withdraw from the market...they might think that's a good idea but will create far more and deeper-rooted problems.

paul robinson

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10:27 AM, 29th October 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 29/10/2021 - 10:24
worked fine in scotland! ;-))))))

Carole Wicklow

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18:45 PM, 29th October 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by paul robinson at 29/10/2021 - 10:07
Anecdotally, I have just received a Landlord questionnaire from YouGov asking what we would do if Section 21 was abolished amongst other questions? Sell all our btls was the quick and easy answer!

Jessie Jones

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13:04 PM, 30th October 2021, About 3 years ago

A problem that the Government has is that it has made commitments both to uplift the energy efficiency of private rental housing, and also to provide renters with greater security of tenure.
These two policies are at loggerheads.
The cost of external wall insulation, or heat pumps would make many private rentals uneconomic for several years.
Mortgage companies will call in any BTL mortgages where they think that the landlord is not making a profit.
Landlords being forced to sell, tenants would be evicted in huge numbers. If they weren't allowed to evict in order to sell, then the property values would crash as nobody would want to buy them unless at a huge discount. More mortgages would be called in and so evictions would snowball.
I very much hope that the reason that the Government have decided that they need more time is because somebody has pointed all this out to them.

Ian Narbeth

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9:23 AM, 4th November 2021, About 3 years ago

Spot on Paul. I wrote about this and you commented in 2019 and the same arguments hold. The situation now is arguably worse because of the long delays in getting a court hearing.
We had to use s21 this year to evict an anti-social female tenant. We were very concerned the other tenants would leave and we would be left with the trouble-maker and a vastly reduced rental income. Thankfully she left but without s21 I would have needed the other tenants (probably ex-tenants by the time we got to court) to testify and then take my chances that the judge wouldn't believe whatever story the anti-social tenant made up. She lied to us repeatedly so I suspect she would lie to the court too if it suited her.

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