Shelter demands 12 months of no re-letting in new Bill

9:50 AM, 11th July 2023, About A year ago 56

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The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee has been told that the Renters (Reform) Bill needs strengthening to prevent landlords from using a loophole to evict tenants for no reason.

The follow-up meeting heard that under the proposals, the law will enable landlords to take possession of their rented property when they or a family member want to move in or to sell it – and there will be a period of three months when the property cannot be re-let.

However, Shelter’s policy manager Tarun Bhakta told the committee that the Bill offers ‘a backdoor to ‘no-fault’ evictions’ and he said the no re-letting period should be longer.

He told the committee: “This is a big concern of ours, at the moment a landlord won’t be allowed to put the property back on the market for three months.

“We don’t think that is a strong enough disincentive when misusing those grounds, particularly when you consider that it might be quite difficult to design quite robust evidential requirements for the landlord moving in. It’s really difficult to imagine what that would look like, but we want the government to try their best.”

’12 months for no re-letting is what we are recommending’

He added: “We think there needs to be strong disincentives via the no reletting period so 12 months for no re-letting is what we are recommending.”

And when tenants believe they have been wrongly evicted, tenants should be able to seek compensation and rent repayment orders – and tenants should be given an incentive to bring a case of wrongful eviction to a local authority.

In response, an irritated Ben Beadle, the chief executive of the National Residential Landlords’ Association, said: “This isn’t roulette. It gets tested in court, it goes before a judge, a judge will need to be satisfied that the landlord is telling the truth about selling the property.

“And the last time I checked, if you lied in court, it was perjury so I would say that was a pretty strong disincentive.”

He added: “I don’t know what it is what my friend from Shelter wants to see, whether it is waterboarding or public flogging, but a financial penalty of £30k if you re-let sounds to me to be a lot of money and I think we have to look through the lens of why landlords are selling and the confidence levels in the sector are where we should start rather than having 12 months punishing waits and lots of extended notice periods.”

Turning to Mr Bhakta, Mr Beadle said: “And, actually, do your clients a great disservice.”

Below is Mr Beadle’s response to Mr Bhakta’s comments:

Watch the full committee exchange on Parliament.tv

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Tags: ben beadle in parliament, National Residential Landlords Association, No-fault Evictions UK, Renters Reform Bill, Shelter UK, Tenant Rights UK, UK Landlord Legislation, UK Property Market, UK Rental Regulations, what do shelter want from the renters reform bill?

Comments

Happy housing

9:31 AM, 15th July 2023, About A year ago

Banks. They will charge higher rents they have 0 mortgage. People complain about landlords but banks owning btl will charge much higher rents once they acquire more. At least most landlords are have some what understanding. Bank won't and govt will not push them as much.

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Freda Blogs

12:11 PM, 15th July 2023, About A year ago

Through its policies, Government and Shelter are expecting PRS landlords to act as quasi social sector landlords, which is generally where long term tenancies lived whilst the PRS housed people who did not require long term accommodation. Of course this was before Council housing was sold off and after the Housing Act 1977 decimation of the rented sector took hold and was remedied through the introduction of the AST and S21, in the 1980s.

The problems of the current housing shortage are fairly and squarely down to the government, yet here they are again, history repeating itself, punishing both landlords and tenants in the process.

Madness.

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3 Bed Investor

13:29 PM, 15th July 2023, About A year ago

Just how much more Government intervention does Shelter’s policy manager Tarun Bhakta want Landlords to endure? - I'm all for compliance and providing a good safe service to Tenants but t's getting quite pathetic when they just don't stop making more demands on Landlords.

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Pobinr

13:43 PM, 15th July 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Freda Blogs at 15/07/2023 - 12:11
Yes the problems of the housing shortage are down to the government for not controlling immigration.
Legal net migration last year 606k = More than the population of Manchester + illegals = 5000 new homes needed every week

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Eileen Grace

14:28 PM, 15th July 2023, About A year ago

With 12 months vacancy, the local council may double or treble the council tax and insurers may impose an extra premium or refuse to insure. Thus, selling could become a necessity.

Crisis run courses for needy perspective tenants showing them their contractual obligations as they recognise how unaware some people are.I think Crisis are much more proactive in comparison to Shelter which seems to prioritise lobbying at the expense of practical help to tenants.
In law, are there any other examples of imposing 12 months of dormancy on assets?

Is there any mileage in assessing Shelters' use/ misuse of charitable funds and or advising/ misadvising tenants

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Seething Landlord

14:54 PM, 15th July 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Eileen Grace at 15/07/2023 - 14:28
"selling could become a necessity"

Well, that's the point really. Shelter are lobbying for the 12 month ban on re-letting to ensure that landlords do not fraudulently claim possession on the grounds that they intend to sell when they really have no intention of doing so. They argue that the 3 month period in the draft Bill is not a sufficient deterrent.

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Shelter demands 12 months of no re-letting in new Bill