AIBU to worry about Section 21 ending causing mass evictions?

As I say, I understand problem tenants, but my question was about the new rules and why everyone is selling up because of those specifically.

I’m in Scotland -after issuing notice to quit which can take months , the tenant can then go to court which will take months to come up , meanwhile you are maintaining g a house for an unhappy tenant.

Tbf it’s in keeping with other policies, targeting family farms, small businesses and landlords. It’s not really on the side of small scale ownership.

There will be a real lack of rental properties. Can't imagine where everyone is going to live.

It won't be easier to evict a bad tenant. If a tenant is up to a pound under 3 months rent in arrears you can't evict under new laws. They have to be over 3 months in arrears before a section 8 can be given. Under old laws many tenants who owed rent were not given section 8 but simply given a section 21 which was quicker as didn't have to wait until souch arrears built up.

You can get tenants who are just spiteful.
I had a young female who made complaints every day - spurious maintenance issues.
One time she told me there were mice in the house and when I went there to put down poison, the other tenants told me to go home as there were no mice. They must have known what she was like too.
I can remember that at that time, I had a power flush and the chap who did it had left the valve for the kitchen radiator closed, so it didn’t heat up. I opened the valve using a wrench in front of this young lady, and felt the radiator heat up. However, the next day she summoned me back round there, saying the radiator wasn’t working. The valve had been turned closed again, and it could only have been done using a wrench, as there was no thermostatic control on it. She was the only person who had seen me open the valve with a wrench, so it must have been her who closed it.
While she was a tenant I also had to replace an integrated gas oven and hobs set, because all the knobs that you turn suddenly became stuck fast. At the time, I didn’t really query it, but now I think she superglued the knobs.
When you have this every day, it becomes very wearing. I think she sent me 45 maintenance complaints over two months.
Also, invariably, if you, as the landlord don’t like a tenant, you can bet the other tenants can’t stand them as they have to share a house with them.

That's true, but if you are in the landlord business, which I am, you have to be able to ride out these situations. Many landlords insurance policies cover rent for these scenarios, so you shouldn't be out of pocket.

They would have to be over 3 months rent behind before a section 8 was issued then courts take up to 6 months before they can actually be evicted so potentially 9 months rent owing.

My parents are landlords - two properties, long term tenants in one house, couple of years in the other. Houses are well maintained, rent is reasonable, tenants left alone. Been doing it approx 20 years. Only one bad tenant in all that time, but it cost them thousands (guy did a flit leaving all his stuff and two months unpaid rent, they had to leave the property empty for a period of time in case he returned, then pay to move all his stuff out and store it for another period of time).

They are in their 70s now and my dad has had enough. The new regulations have tipped him over the edge and he's given notice that the properties are being sold. The newer tenant had plans to relocate anyway but the older tenant will be really impacted and isn't in a position to buy.

The government has been short-sighted with this. Not everyone can buy their own home, renters rely on a stock of housing available to rent, that stock has gradually been reducing and this will hasten that decline. But there aren't any plans to increase that stock so rents will get pushed up, more people will need LA support.

But why would Labour want this?

You are absolutely correct, section 21 was a gamble, you issued it, but the tenant could ignore it, months could go by during the process that ultimately ended up in court.

Under the new system there is a slightly longer notice period, but the leaving date will be enforceable in every case, bailiffs can be there on the day and the landlord gets his place back, every time, no hassle.

I doubt it’s a fuck up, I have always thought that it’s being done intentionally to remove small landlords from the market so the big corporations own everything.

But that’s just not true. A section 21 still has to be legally enforced. If you have problem tenants the chances of them leaving rather than waiting to go to court are minimal
anyway, there’s absolutely no penalty on tenants who refuse to leave until they’re evicted by the courts.

Edited to say - I’m not trying to be argumentative for the sake of it. I genuinely don’t understand the concerns.

But loads of S21s do end up going to court, because local authorities required tenants to stay put until evicted, which still required a court order.

With the new system, yes, I have to get the court order, which is extra faff, but then I've got it, the leaving date is set in stone and can be enforced if needed on that date, no messing around hoping the tenant goes, then they don't, getting an order etc..

As a landlord I have no objection to the new system, it seems entirely fair to both parties to me, I certainly am not panicking into selling up.

Yes but tbf, the march against landlords started under the Tories. So both parties are implicated in messing up the rental market. Greens want to abolish private landlords altogether.

Along with the thousands of renters who have complained (sometimes reasonably and sometimes fanatically) and campaigned for these laws.

It is a lot harder because now you have to go to court for everything.

Previously, you could issue a S21 and as long as you had all the paperwork (which is not as easy as you think because a simple typo can invalidate the paperwork) then you did not have to go to court.

The courts are bunged up already so after May if your tenant stops paying rent it could take you years to evict them.

Yes, I am in my 60s and when I was considering buying a property in the 1990s, my dad always said, don't buy a leasehold. I couldn't understand why because everyone was buying flats, but know I see.

But it isn’t harder. It’s easier to evict bad tenants under the new law.

I still haven’t read a single post from anyone explaining how the new rules are detrimental to good landlords. Tenants who break rules or don’t pay will be EASIER to evict. Because the no fault evictions are ending there’ll be much fewer evictions, freeing up the courts to act faster. Yes there are a lot of rules that can incur fines, but if someone is incapable of issuing a couple of documents to a tenant they have no business renting in the first place. Also the argument about it no longer being profitable. Why? Because rents have to be fair?

I think this is scaremongering. The decent landlords should be embracing the changes.

The issue with that is that there are few enough rental properties available for 1-2 people who don’t qualify for social housing. That would surely make things more difficult for them

This does show there are a lot of amateur and small time landlords in the game who are over leveraged or cannot understand how to comply with regulation.

The correction is , I think going to be painful for some tenats and landlords but we should never have got in to the position where a large amount of our housing provision was in the hands of well meaning, often over leverages, amateurs renting out a house the inherited from Aunty Doris or a flat they can't sell.

I think it should be law that when a landlord sells a property, the council or a housing association buys it - to add to their housing stock. Then it can be awarded to a family - or person, or couple, who needs it. So much more social housing is needed. Anyone who is in social housing should absolutely cling onto it for dear life! It's a real gift in this day and age.

I'm so sorry for you @Itsabingthin I really hope you can get social housing soon. Are you on the list? If not, get on it ASAP.

The clue is in these words; three years.

The new act would still allow eviction under section 8 for not paying the rent.

They didn't want small landlords back, though. They wanted social ownership - housing let our by public sector bodies.

From the article: "The campaign to resocialise housing (Vergesellschaftung) was launched in 2018..."

I'm a landlord, and I really don't understand why other landlords are concerned by this.
The end of section 21 stops no fault evictions, but expands the scope of section 8, so I can still serve notice if:

My Tenant doesn't pat the rent
My Tenant is not looking after the property
I want to sell it
I want to move into it

Which are the four sensible reasons for evicting a tenant, which I'd hope never to need to do, but the option is still there.