A housing specialist has called for steps to be put in place to deal with rogue tenants during the three-month eviction moratorium.
Sim Sekhon, managing director of Legal for Landlords, said that some landlords have waited months to get cases to court to try and evict tenants who do not pay rent and/or damage property.
Sekhon said that with county courts cancelling hearings, such tenants would be allowed to continue in residence while landlords continued to lose income.
He called for virtual hearings instead.
Sekhon said: “As we fight Covid-19 and attempt to mitigate the damage to both public health and the UK economy, we are all in this together.
“This includes landlords and tenants who must work together to find a solution through what will be a hugely challenging time for the country.
“The three-month ‘ban’ on eviction is welcome in protecting tenants as millions of people lose their jobs and, as a consequence, find themselves unable to pay rent.
“However it’s important to recognise that, for many landlords, rental income constitutes their own salary in turn so the Government must make good on its commitment to ensure that no landlord will face unmanageable debts.
“In addition, while the majority of tenants adhere to letting agreements, there are rogue tenants who will undoubtedly view the three-month ban as a ‘get out of jail free card’.
“It’s vital that the Government puts steps in place to ensure that tenants who are causing damage to a property or behaving illegally are not permitted to proceed unchallenged for the duration of the eviction moratorium.
“Landlords must be able to protect their own rights and safeguard their property from damage, which of course carries potentially significant financial consequences for the landlord.
“The cancellation of existing court hearings is also very frustrating – we have received notices from multiple courts cancelling all hearings, including Bromley County Court and Wigan County Court.
“While I appreciate the unprecedented situation we find ourselves in and the need to protect all court staff, perhaps virtual hearings could be something to consider?
“The landlords waiting for these hearings have done so for some months now – up to a year in some cases – while their properties continue to be damaged and their rent goes unpaid.
“It’s an anxious time for everyone, but what relief is there for these landlords?”
Do the government even accept there is such a thing as a rogue tenant? You wouldn’t think so from the legislation to date.
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Of course there is no such animal as a rogue tenant, that is why the loss of section 21 does no matter to landlords. It is why there has not been a mass protest by landlords.
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One person appreciates Irony, the other does not!
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As far as I can see the government has not yet suspended evictions, they said they were looking at this prior to announcing that they would cover 80% of peoples wages, did the announcement to pay peoples wages so that they could carry on paying their rent (and also increasing housing benefit allowance) superseed the previous statement on suspending evictions? Surely if they are going to pay wages this is to directly combat tenants problem with making rent payments?
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Coronavirus Bill 2019-21, Schedule 29 — Residential tenancies: protection from eviction (page 342 of the document)
https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2019-21/coronavirus.html
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