Fairer private renting
The Renters (Reform) Bill is one of the most significant pieces of legislation for private renters and landlords in the past 30 years. At the end of April, it went through its third reading in the House of Commons.
The government has said it will delay the ban on Section 21 evictions to relieve pressures on court time. However there are also many other significant proposals that affect tenants, letting agents, and landlords.
The bill also incorporates the transition to rolling tenancies, introduces new guidelines allowing tenants to have pets, establishes England’s first landlord ombudsman, and introduces a new property portal.
The Conservative Party has committed to passing the bill into law before the date of the next General Election, which is widely anticipated to take place in the Autumn of 2024. Source: #Dataloft by PriceHubble, Goodlord (https://www.goodlord.co/). April 2024
What do Jukes Estate Agents Harlow think?
Co owner Geoff Flewers believes that in essence it is a good thing. He says: “It’s about time there was a complete overhaul in the rental system. Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t and probably cannot go anywhere near far enough to make me happy!”
He continues: “As an Estate & Letting Agent I guess my views are not conventional. I was opposed to the selling of council stock back in the ‘Thatcher years’ & I am still against it.”
“To me it’s immoral that Harlow Council are now paying rent to private landlords to house Harlow people in a property they once owned!”
“I could talk about this until Christmas & nothing is going to change that much & therefore, any changes that benefit the tenant are welcome”.
“However, I would like to see it easier to evict bad tenants because landlords do need protection as well.”
Flewers definitely is passionate about fairness to all parties and whilst happy about many aspects of the forthcoming bill, he still has issues with it. He goes on…
“It is good news for people with pets that very soon they will not be discriminated against. It is fantastic news that landlords will not be able to refuse people on benefits. However, whilst they are still committed to banning ‘no fault’ evictions, more work need to be done to protect landlords.”
Is he talking about poor tenants?
Geoff continues: “Yes I am. Ban no fault evictions, allow pets, families & people on benefits.” That is all wonderful news. However, tenants HAVE to be held responsible for wanton damage.”
“We visit many of the properties we manage and to be totally honest, there are many occasions that the property has been ‘trashed’.”
“What the rental market needs right now are good landlords & tenants, and bad tenants and bad landlords need educating and subsequently stopped from doing the bad things that they do!”
Guarantors
More landlords are insisting on tenants having a guarantor. This is because there is usually only 4 weeks rent held as a deposit. Often the landlord will have to spend considerably more when the tenant decides to vacate the property. With a guarantor in place, they would be held to account and have to pay the bill.
Jukes Estate & Letting Agents Harlow are seeing a huge increase in landlords insisting on a guarantor regardless of the tenants income & credit rating.
Conclusion
We seem to be on the right track to making things better. There will be some ‘u-turns’ and tweaks to the bill here and there. However, it is a start!