Section 21 to be banned in the UK

[harrycatcat1]

This will not bother me now as I am winding down but if I was embarking on the buy to let journey now it would certainly make me scratch my head.

What do you think?

https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/lz-voice/section-21-to-be-banned-in-the-uk?utm_campaign=LandlordZONE+Newsletter+April+20th+2019&utm_source=emailCampaign&utm_content=&utm_medium=email

[DaveyTed]

I agree a lot of potential landlords will be put off. It remains to be seen what conditions will justify terminating a tenancy. How much damage and abuse, or rent arrears, will a landlord have to endure. I previously rented out a house and the state some left the house in was disgusting whilst others were faultless. One thing I learnt quickly was regular inspections were a must.

[countryman]

when a lot of small landlords sell up the government will need to find homes for all the people living here now, good luck with that one. What about tenants that don’t pay there rent and trash the place as well then walk away Scott free, if you owed the government thousands you would be locked up.

[mel b3]

I'm not a landlord , or a tenant, but I find renting rules crazy .  If someone is renting your property and they damage it , you should be allowed to put them out on the street without notice, a few cold nights might teach them a lesson or two . On the other side of the coin,I think that slum landlords should have their houses taken away from them,and put under the control of someone that will look after the tenants properly.

One of my mates(another binman), has about a dozen properties that are let out to tenants. Whenever he gets a call from a tenant telling him that something is broken( heating/dripping tap , etc ), he contacts the relevant tradesman from his trusted list ,and has the problem fixed immediately(he calls the tradesman within seconds of getting of the phone with the tenant) ,  He also gives each tenant £50.00 in a card at christmas.  His houses are checked every Friday when himself or his wife ,visit the houses to collect the rent in person.

[Old Boggy]

An old colleague of mine built up a good portfolio of properties and let them all through an agent.

He insisted with the agent that they only let them out to Polish tenants. That way he was assured that the properties were kept absolutely spotless and the rent was always paid on time, unlike some of his more indigenous previous tenants. 

Whether this could be seen as being somehow racist, I don't know, but my view is, that they are his properties, he is entitled to have a say in who rents them. 

OB

[Wb123]

I’ve been renting the last twelve years, generally moving for work every twelve months sometimes sooner. The loss of section 21 I expect will be replaced with a more efficient version of section 8, but I do worry hiven the talk about three years starting terms how readily shorter contracts will be available without paying a massive premium. 

[Stonepark]

The problem is the 6 month initial term was where the tenants ere meant to be judged and tenancy continue if ok - instead agents (and private landlords) have used the 6 month term as a fee generating scheme and/or an excuse to change tenants where they have raised legitimate complaints and landlords have looked to get in someone who will put up with issues instead.

 

More a concern will be the EPC regs which are going to prevent a lot of poorly insulated property being let in the future.

Being a landlord is a business and has to be treated as such including risks, regulatory changes etc.

 

[figgy]

About time the whole affair was looked at properly. With fair rules for both landlord and tenant. 

As others have said it's a business, not a charity. Or a means to extract money for poor housing.

[treeratcontrol]

I am a landlord of four Victorian mid terraces ooooop north. It doesn't worry me, in the decade since I bought the first I have only once had to evict a tenant and I could have done it without section 21. I had reasonable grounds so had no problem, nor would I in the future even if section 21 is banned. I used to do maintenance for other landlords and I can assure you there are almost as many bad landlords as there are bad tenants. The majority are still decent on both sides, you just never hear about them.

[oowee]

1 hour ago, figgy said:

About time the whole affair was looked at properly. With fair rules for both landlord and tenant. 

As others have said it's a business, not a charity. Or a means to extract money for poor housing.

It would be good to see it overhauled given the growth in the rental sector, particularly the role of agents and upfront fees. I rented in Bristol and was aghast when the agent on taking the return of the property picked up on a whole load of minor niggles when the property was returned. In my view all in an effort to demonstrate to the landlord that the agent was worth the fee. The landlord was fortunately much more sensible and wrote to thank us for returning the property in a clean and undamaged way.

There was an article on the box the other week talking about some of the poor standards and operating practices of the housing associations. Not what you might expect to hear.