Section 21 ban proposed by First Minister of Wales

11:57 AM, 14th April 2019, About 6 years ago 2

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Mark Drakeford AM, the Leader of Welsh Labour and First Minister of Wales announced that the Welsh Government will be banning Section 21.

With the Government’s own data showing that it takes over five months from a private landlord applying to the courts for a property to be repossessed to it actually happening, the RLA argues that it is vital that a reformed and improved court system is able to bed in and the grounds to repossess properties are properly improved before making changes to Section 21. This would follow the lead set in Scotland.

RLA Vice Chairman Douglas Haig met with the First Minister Mark Drakeford to discuss the RLA’s concerns on the proposal. He said:

“We discussed with the First Minister that the current structure of the legislation means that section 21 is the fundamental backbone of the sector. Section 21 is not retaliatory action, it is the last option and is only preferred because reform hasn’t happened to section 8.

The RLA has been calling for many reforms to the sector, such as the housing court, that would reduce dependency on section 21 and increase the confidence in the use of section 8.

Only 11% of tenancies are ended by the landlord and over three quarters of those are because of high rent arrears. Research conducted by our research arm PEARL has highlighted the problems of Universal Credit reform; LHA freeze and reduction in housing benefit. Such a lack of provisions for our most venerable have left tenants defaulting on rental payments, increase possessions due to large rent arrears in the thousands of pounds and an increase pressures on support services that have been drastically reduced.

The First Minister understood the RLA’s concerns and stated that the Welsh Government wouldn’t remove section 21 without also reforming the system around it. He confirmed that a consultation will be launched seeking the views of landlords, stakeholders and associations like the RLA in the near future. He is interested in introducing this reform in a separate Bill in the 4^th assembly year.

Future meetings with the First Minister have been scheduled and he looks forward to the RLA’s continued constructive input and to understand the views and concerns of landlords with the proposed removal of section 21.

The RLA also advised the First Minister that it will shortly be consulting the landlord community to establish what measures would be needed to ensure they have confidence in the system before efforts are made to end Section 21 repossessions. He welcomed such efforts and looks forward to hear the response of our survey and supports our encouragement to get the views of RLA members across.

Overall, I would like to thank the First Minister for a very constructive meeting and the RLA hopes to continue to work with the First Minister and his Government on their future proposals”

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Comments

Larry Sweeney

23:22 PM, 14th April 2019, About 6 years ago

On the Watch of the RLA/NLA, section 24 was introduced. Landlords are taxed on turnover rather than profit. No other business suffers such a draconian tax policy.
On the Watch of the RLA/NLA , landlord licensing schemes have been foisted upon landlords by bankrupt councils desperate for cash injections. Worse still the landlord associations have assisted with these schemes.
Now these so called Landlord representative bodies, stand by again as S21 stands to go the way of tax relief.
In the meantime the media villify landlords as criminals.
We must be honest and call a spade a spade, despite our advise not assisting us recruiting members, in fact our advise means less members for us.
Never the less ,we strongly advise as follows.
1/ Those thinking of becoming landlords. Forget it. Property rights are being eroded.

2/Existing landlords, think very carefully before renting to benefit tenants. Remember Shelter the housing charity which houses nobody will not offer bonds for these tenants. Landlords why should you carry the can and be abused in the process.

3/ Landlords. Dis invest. Take your money and invest in property or equities abroad.
Loss of tax relief, a Sdlt penalty, CT on your empty property, a tax on initially renting{Landlord licensing) and now the imminent removal of s21.
The RLA/NLA will not give this advise. Why?.
They want your fees, they want to help councils and flog smoke detectors.
We want to fight your corner.
While you remain in the business.
Join us.
http://Www.landlordsalliance.co.uk.
Why would you want to tie up hard earned capital to have your asset taxed to the extent that profitability is impossible. Why would you surrender your right to deal with your asset as you see fit?
Let Shelter the £60m housing charity which houses nobody and useless councils take the slack and start housing people. Not our problem. We are leaving thanks to your hate campaign and taxation policies.

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Chris @ Possession Friend

23:06 PM, 15th April 2019, About 6 years ago

God, he looks as gormless as he sounds ( an embarrassment to the Welsh )

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