Propertymark has welcomed the UK government’s action plan to give landlords more powers to evict unruly tenants.
The industry body said it has “long campaigned” for striking the right balance between protecting tenants from unfair evictions while allowing landlords to take possession of their property in reasonable circumstances.
The government has expressed its intention to change laws and arm landlords with tools to help ensure that anti-social tenants face consequences. Part of the plan involves making the grounds for possession faster and easier to prove.
Propertymark said that while it is pleased that the UK government is responding to its calls for better enforcement of anti-social behaviour, it needs to see clarity on how the measures will work in practice and when the new legislation will come into effect, as until then landlords will continue to struggle to evict nuisance tenants.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, commented: “It is encouraging to see the UK government acknowledge that there is an issue with anti-social behaviour within communities and after calling for reform we are pleased to see the action plan include measures to speed up the eviction process and support landlords and agents to gather evidence.
“Given the lack of capacity in the existing court system, we reiterate our call for a dedicated housing court to ensure better access to justice for landlords and tenants. A key element is ensuring that tenant behaviour can be better evidenced in court and the cases of most concern are prioritised,” Douglas added.
Unfair evictions?- being asked to leave a hotel room or bed and breakfast at the end of an agreed period of occupation is not an eviction. Returning a car at the end of a lease is not a repossession so why is the ending of an assured shorthold tenancy agreement an eviction?
I understand the pressure of providing a stable home but Section 21- the notice requiring possession at the end of a fixed term or periodic tenancy has been hijacked by people who’s business and income is dependant on a conflict between landlords (and agents) and those needing a home
Section 8 is already there as away to deal with bad tenants so I’m not quite sure what is being welcomed.
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Until we see some details of the Government’s “action plan” any statements made so far are just empty rhetoric. The implication in the press just a couple of days ago was that Landlords would be able to evict anti-social tenants in two weeks. So, is a landlord going to be empowered to engage the services of some “super bailiffs” who working entirely on the landlords say so, with no court case or burden of proof, go round sharpish to the property and evict the tenants? Of course not, the impression given was total rubbish. Once again the headline is misleading as Property Mark are saying they would welcome reforms to make it easier and quicker to evict antisocial tenants but are reserving judgement until they know what they are. The headline would better read “Propertymark gives a cautious thumbs-up to government anti-social action plan while awaiting for full details to emerge”
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