The Alliance position on Section 21

The Alliance position on Section 21

14:02 PM, 22nd August 2019, About 5 years ago 11

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The landlords Alliance as part of the Fair Possession Coalition met Lord Lytton in London some time back. We have carefully examined proposals to abolish Section 21 and have listened carefully to our members.

We have concluded that the abolition of s21 is nothing more than a sop to organisations such as Shelter. Before we continue it must be remembered what kind of organisation this ‘charity’ is. It is a £60 million set up which houses nobody and demonises landlords as well as calling for the abolition of s21. To suggest that landlords cannot decide who to accept and are restricted from recovering their properties is not simply an attack on landlords, it undermines all property owners rights. To have an organisation which calls itself a charity attempting to undermine property owners rights is simply not on.

The Judicial system is a mess and long delays do not help landlords or tenants. ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’. The position where councils, Shelter etc tell tenants to ignore the court and await bailiffs is wrong. The court should not be defied. There is no justice where a landlord defaults on his mortgage, because rent is not being payed, or where neighbours lives are made hell because of tenant’s anti-social behaviour.

There is a housing shortgage which must be addressed by more building.

The language of hate constantly referring to ‘criminal landlords’ is completely unacceptable.

The eminent London solicitor Ian Narbeth has in a lengthy article pointed out how inherently flawed the proposed deposit passporting scheme is. It is therefore absolutely unacceptable that property owners rights should be undermined.

The Landlords Alliance therefore is completely opposed to any abolition or dilution of Section 21 at this point.

At some stage in the future after essential reforms have been implemented following careful consideration, we would be prepared to revisit the argument. However, it is fair to say that we have a very flawed system which must be rectified as a matter of urgency. Having those in society who contribute no taxes, default on rent and engage in asb, driving the agenda is totally wrong

We urge landlords to join the Alliance now and we urge all our colleagues in the Fair Possession Coalition to speak with one voice. It simply is not tenable to even contemplate the abolition of S21 at this point.

We will end up with a swedish or Seventies style rental market with shortages and no mobility. This will benefit nobody.

There is no case at this point in time for the undermining of the PRS by abolishing section 21.

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Ian Narbeth

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11:51 AM, 23rd August 2019, About 5 years ago

Thanks Larry.
With a new Government and a new Minister we have an opportunity to get them to stop in their tracks and realise what damage they will do. The courts system needs to be reformed and substantially speeded up first which means eviction of defaulting tenants in a matter of weeks not months.
This will mean probably a specialist housing court with specialist judges. We must also fight to ensure that the same obstacles are not put in the way of claims under section 8 as there are under section 21.
At present all we have is talk from Government about speeding up the legal process but no proposal for additional resources to achieve that. If s21 were abolished and landlords had to use s8 instead, then there would be a double whammy. More cases would end up before the court because tenants would raise (often specious) defences and secondly cases would take longer to hear on average because the issues and defences are more complex.

John Bullock

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12:23 PM, 23rd August 2019, About 5 years ago

Great piece Larry and succinctly put.

AlanR

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13:54 PM, 23rd August 2019, About 5 years ago

Larry - how many members do you have in the National Landlords Alliance?
Are many of your members also with the NLA or RLA or have they abandoned those organisations to join the Alliance?

DALE ROBERTS

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15:02 PM, 23rd August 2019, About 5 years ago

The unethical "gatekeeping" that Shelter, CAB and local Councils consider mandatory to prolong a tenant's freeloading stay in a property whilst withholding rent also needs serious intervention. Landlords lost over GBP 9 billion rand in unpaid rental last year and I can testify to being one of them owed over GBP20 000 by a tenant, advised by the above, to willfully and intentionally remain in my property until such time as the bailiffs removed her. I will probably never regain those losses as will neither over 80% of other landlords equally so dismally treated by the present legal system. Defaulting tenants thus pocketed over GBP 9 billion rand last year. The organisations mentioned above saved as much by making the PRS responsible for housing those same tenants.
My unit has now been empty for over a year. I refuse to accept another tenant under the present legislation. I prefer paying my mortgage without a non-paying tenant in situ aided and abetted by biased anti-landlord legislation.
And I am determined to sell my properties without ever housing another tenant.

Rennie

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16:19 PM, 23rd August 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DALE ROBERTS at 23/08/2019 - 15:02
I agree entirely. I have just had a 6 month void because all the applicants and interested parties were either unemployed or on some kind of benefit. I have finally found a working tenant and hope that this will turn out to have been a good choice. Should s.21 be abolished without very robust and a much better alternative I won't be having any more tenants. I will just leave it empty and sell it.

david Brinsden

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16:35 PM, 23rd August 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DALE ROBERTS at 23/08/2019 - 15:02
I was in a similar position but problem was, my tenant had vanished, taking their clothes etc with them. Solicitor said that I couldn't just assume abandonment so had to do the whole section 21 palavar, took months but have of course now had to sell to get money back. Also just selling another property with good tenant but on benefits which fluctuated massively. So that's 2 this year, luckily in 2 financial years!

Ian Narbeth

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16:42 PM, 23rd August 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DALE ROBERTS at 23/08/2019 - 15:02
Dale
Not disputing your figure but where does it come from and what is the reference to "rand"?

MoodyMolls

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19:55 PM, 23rd August 2019, About 5 years ago

Landlords’ annual loss is £9.9 billion in arrears & damage
By LandlordZONE - 10th September 20151748

DALE ROBERTS

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10:47 AM, 24th August 2019, About 5 years ago

My apologies Ian for the "rand" reference. I am South African so occasionally default. All stats stated are in GBP. But as the ZAR is over ZAR18.00 to the pound you can imagine how huge my losses are in my currency! Add my compounded two year eviction period and my subsequent no rental due to my adamantine refusal to house another tenant and you may begin to appreciate why I am exiting the PRS in the UK.
MoodyMolls kindly replied to your further request for substantiating my referral to the PRS's collective losses. This amount is referred to on many news sites.

Ian Narbeth

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12:22 PM, 24th August 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by MoodyMolls at 23/08/2019 - 19:55
Sorry, can't find that.

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