The founder of tenant eviction firm Landlord Action says he fears new legislation which came into force last week will allow tenants complaining about bogus repairs to stay in a property rent-free for longer.
Measures under the Deregulation Act 2015 include changes which affect whether or not a landlord can issue a Section 21 notice on an assured shorthold tenancy in England.
Under the new legislation, if a property is considered in disrepair, landlords are now unable to serve a section 21 notice for six months from the date an improvement notice is served by the council.
Paul Shamplina, who last year sat before the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Private Rented Sector arguing against the law against so-called retaliation evictions, said the new rules could lead to tenants complaining about bogus repairs to avoid paying rent for longer while investigations are carried-out.
Shamplina said: “I think this could lead to a huge spike in complaints from tenants.
“I am a bit fed up of all the frequent landlord bashing. It is about time there were more positive statements for landlords in the Private Rented Sector which now stands at approximately 19% of the housing market.”
Shamplina also said the Government had not spent enough time or money on ensuring agents and landlords were aware of the multitude of changes under the legislation.
He said: “There have been a lot of significant changes in a short amount of time and I would like to have seen the Government proportion a greater budget to educating landlords, particularly those that don’t use agents to manage their properties, to ensure they are up to speed with new legislation.
“We still receive calls to our advice line on a weekly basis from landlords who don’t know about the deposit scheme which came into effect eight years ago.”
Why has a DEREGULATION ACT brought in so many new regulations? If this were an advert the ASA would be on it like a shot!
Paul, of course, is at the sharp end and sees it all first hand. Of course this will drive small landlords to use agents which may be good for some, but the costs will need to be recovered from tenants. There will be a number of small agents who do not keep up with the supersonic rate of change the Cons are effecting. The fact is as margins reduce investors will move investment elsewhere. The Government has caused the problem by not providing the social housing that is needed to house the increasing population largely caused by migration. It has failed to keep the market in balance. The reason for this surge in legislation is to form a smoke screen to deflect interest from the LACK OF NEW housing investment by Government. They do this by demonising the private landlord.
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I’m a landlord of many years and find that with the constant stream of reg’s it’s just not worth the bother for the return. Eg when renting out a unit at £95 pw I’m left with about £65 after tax and expenses ‘so’ in effect it takes a week to earn just £65 which is not much! Its time to sell up and look forward to a nice stress free retirement courtesy of the state!
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