Last March we carried the news that landlords were being advised to budget for six months of not being able to commence repossession of their properties. Today, the six month wait has ended and Courts are beginning to hear cases. For some landlords it has been a difficult period; for some neighbours with problem tenants living next door it will have seemed like an eternity.
Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said:
“After a six month ban on repossessions it is important that landlords can start to take action to tackle the most serious cases. This includes those where tenants are committing anti-social behaviour or domestic violence and situations where rent arrears were building before lockdown and have nothing to do with COVID-19. The framework put in place by the judiciary and the Government largely strikes the right balance between the needs of landlords in such situations and those of tenants affected by the pandemic.
“We continue to encourage landlords to work with their tenants to sustain tenancies wherever possible, making use of the guidance we have prepared. To support this the Government should follow the example of Scotland and Wales and develop a stronger financial package to help tenants to pay off rent arrears built since the lockdown started.
“Ministers also need to address the crisis faced by those landlords who have rented their homes out whilst working elsewhere. The six months’ notice required in such circumstances freezes them out of accessing their own homes, effectively making them homeless.”
Neil Cobbold, Chief Sales Officer at PayProp, comments:
The resumption of evictions will be a welcome milestone for landlords who have had to wait six months to take action against tenants with serious rent arrears or those committing offences of anti-social behaviour or domestic abuse.
Letting agents will need to make sure that landlords understand the new notice periods set by the government. These include a six-month notice period for the majority of repossessions, alongside shorter notice periods of between two weeks and three months for the most serious and urgent issues.
The new evictions system is more complex than before, with landlords seeking to repossess a property through the courts due to rent arrears required to provide information relating to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on tenants.
For a variety of reasons, seeking an eviction from September 21 could be a longer and more difficult process than before. Therefore, agents will need to remind landlords that repossessing a property through the courts is not to be taken lightly and should be considered a last resort – while also being prepared to assist with the changing process where necessary.
Landlords urged to budget for the next six months as repossession proceedings are scrapped
Comments (11)
@BenBeadle was weak as Pi$$ against a timid Craw. Beadle kept justifying the Govt strangle-hold on landlords legal possession rights. A strong media performance is critical quality for a Head of a Landlord Association, and Beadle doesn’t have it.
Craw and all the Tenant support groups just call for stop on ALL evictions ! they should have been called out for the large percentage of extremely justifiable cases and criticised for supporting rogue tenant to remain over those who genuinely have fallen in Covid financial hard times.
There are many excellent case examples of NRLA members, single property landlords who have been massively and unfairly impacted by tenant non-payment during Covid. Beadle should have taken the opportunity to push Gov to adopt tenant loans such as Wales example.
Also, he should have used the Shopping analogy. Nobody can walk into a supermarket and claim they can’t pay for shopping due to Covid, and rent is no different. Govt need to step up to their welfare responsibilities, and if that means paying Landlords via Tenant loan or whatever, so be it. !
No need for tenants to “Watch out!, it’s just Beadle* about.
*Apologies to Jeremy!
Ben Beadle has enjoyed full pay throughout I presume and sounds as if he isn’t a residential landlord when he says (The framework put in place by the judiciary and the Government largely strikes the right balance between the needs of landlords in such situations and those of tenants affected by the pandemic.) mmmm Right balance! that’s political bull speak for “I daren’t offend anyone lest my cozy existence gets an audit. The pathetic inert and gutless leaders of so called landlord associations should be ashamed of themselves as they cozy up to political charlatans who have it in for the PRS. We’ve been under legal, legislative and financial assault for years now and we still don’t have a voice, sponsor or champion, willing to expose the most disgusting assault of decent tax paying industrious British people who provide good and safe accommodation to some 15 million or so people, and are only able to do so because they paid their taxes, saved their money, looked after their families and ran straight and narrow along lines highway doing the right thing. How else do you get to own more than one property! The pathetic folk in the various Landlord Associations are useless, toothless, weak sods who look after their own futures at the expense of landlords taking a beating week in and week out. I recommend every landlord leaves the big LA’s thereby defunding them and joins a small new association where the likes of Rosalind Beck and her associates et al develop an honest LA that works only in the interests of all PRS landlords. We have nowhere else to go.
Love it! Say it as it is J!
Summed up perfectly. And sadly all true.
NRLA are getting lots of exposure. Great work.
Exposed as being totally limp wristed.
The NRLA have done a great job pushing for this – particularly as ARLA are nowhere to be seen at the moment.
ARLA? perhaps they are too busy grovelling to government for the right to charge members lots of money to get qualifications rather than standing up for them?
Interesting. I have heard more than one landlord expressing their views at completely the other end of the scale. Some have said that the NRLA appear to be almost a subset of Shelter. I lean toward their sentiment and cancelled my membership of the organisation recently because of it.
‘ Pushing ‘ ( and praising ) the absolute abuse of landlords legal right to recover property from Rent defaulting tenants.
If tenants are in genuine need, its the welfare state’s responsibility – not for Govt to manipulate the legal process to transfer the liability and debt onto single-property, key worker Landlords who rely on that rent for their own family support.
Who’s sticking up for landlords, – not the NRLA !