to think this is brilliant news! - the end of Section 21 (no fault evictions) for tenants.

[hummusexual]

Before landlord types come on to complain about rogue tenants, this is to end NO FAULT evictions - ie. where the tenant is evicted when they haven't done anything wrong or dared to complain about something in their property which the landlord doesn't want to fix/deal with and currently the landlord can evict them (more or less after waiting 6 months if the council is involved). That is why so many tenants don't complain and keep their heads down - because the landlord holds all the power.

About bloody time this change happened. Tenants are treated like cash cows that can be abused willy-nilly by some unscrupulous landlords!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47927706

Already a thread about this further down the page

Good news, and how it should be.

I thought this was generally good news as it seems so unfair people have to keep moving after 6 months or so with the costs. But I wonder whether there will be provision if the landlord decides to sell their property. If not then I fear lots of small private landlords will sell up and therefore reduce the private rental market which won't be great

Sorry to upset you but there is another thread on about this. It won't always pan out in the tenant's favour. As a landlord, I never ever would serve a section 21 to a good tenant. If we want to sell a property it only happens if the tenant has left. In fact, there are a handful of landlords who have done revenge evictions. This ruling would be like penalising all good tenants for the few that are bad tenants. We make very little money, keep our properties in good condition, do all repairs promptly. I would suggest if you have a horrible landlord that you move to a better one. I am not here to complain about bad tenants, luckily we have had very few, the deal is in a mutual respecting relationship. I won't tar all tenants, please dont tar all landlords

Unscrupulous landlords do use S21 notices vindictively though beetle. As I said on the other thread, I'd happily give up s21 evictions in favour of a quicker, clearer eviction process when problems occur (which is what's been promised).

I was so pleased when I read this online this morning, I only hope it will extend to Wales soon. I work with families facing homelessness and currently have a family whom were issued with a Section 21 for no-blame. The landlord is well within his right as it is his property, however the other issue is landlords are unable to let to tenants in receipt of DSS due to their mortgage insurance. So this family - a mother and her children - are going into a B&B because there are no social housing and private landlords can’t let. So they’re looking at emergency accommodation for around 2-3 years before something comes up.

So how does a landlord end a tenancy now then?

Can someone link to the other thread? I can't find it. Thanks!

*But I wonder whether there will be provision if the landlord decides to sell their property.&

Apparently yes, that's the plan. This is only at very early consultation stages.

ConfusedBeetle - you sound like a good landlord. My landlord is rather less helpful. Our house is riddled with mould, we have absolutely no shelves or cupboards except for a couple in the kitchen (so have to use freestanding units which we are not permitted to attach to the walls - very dangerous) & the landlord frequently leaves us without basic amenities for several days when something breaks down, just because they CBA to get someone to look at it. All works etc are rock bottom prices paid, so break down really quickly. The gas safety check has never been done on time in over a decade, & one year it picked up that one item needed to be condemned, they didn't replace said item for 4 years.

We can't move out. Benefits trap. No social housing locally. If we complain, they will likely kick us out. At least this house is warm - the last two were much worse - leaky roof, draughty, cost a fortune to heat, mould in both, & the heating didn't work in either. One was so cold that the pipes froze in winter & we couldn't drain the bath, so we didn't dare bathe, had to use my parents' shower.

If you make very little money @beetle consider letting the property go back on the market for a buyer? BTL landlords drive up house prices for the rest of us.

It's nothing to do with tarring all landlords, surely?

It's just that for a tenant, it will be much nicer to feel secure. I think there are lots of landlords who wouldn't imagine what they were doing was anything like a 'revenge eviction' - but there's no real pressure on them to consider letting tenants stay, either. The obvious example is when you have a baby. At the moment, there's nothing to stop your landlord, perfectly politely and calmly, declaring he or she prefers not to rent to a person with a child and serving a section 21. Or, if you tell the landlord the boiler is broken (and still broken, despite their attempts to repair it), they can serve a section 21. It could be they prefer to do repairs with an empty house, or it could be they want to get someone else in.

I've had both of those situations. I don't for a minute think either landlord thought they were doing anything unreasonable or unfair, and both of them were perfectly polite. As the law stands, they were quite entitled to do this.

The difficulty is that, since you don't get your deposit back before you move out, it can be very precarious for people to move, especially if they end up moving multiple times in a short period.

This law isn't about saying all landlords are big meanies. It's about providing a bit of security.

This will weed out a good few btlet landlords who will be bought out by bigger private landlords/private housing.
Soon the circle will fully turn and slumlords will be the norm.

This is only a plan at this stage, and more likely posturing by the Tories because they're likely to get hammered in the upcoming local elections.

It can only be a good thing if it happens, but that's a big if.

Already the way things work up here in Scotland apparently.

Personally, I've always had better experiences renting from "professional" landlords who own multiple properties compared to "accidental" landlords or one house BTL landlords who often don't know the law and have less money readily available to spend if something essential goes wrong.

However, this is just in the planning stages, and I imagine it will face a lot of changes as it goes through parliament.

I would imagine one of the changes might include provision for no fault evictions if the landlord genuinely sells the home.

They are proposing to make selling the home and exemption already, jayblue.

Btw, I agree about professional versus accidental LLs. I'd never choose to rent from an accidental landlord. Too fraught.

I am a landlord. I think this is good news overall but I do think it will lead to many houses being withdrawn from a market that already suffers from a lack of decent stock. This will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for landlords who have had one bad experience after another and don’t even make that much money out of it.

And of course lack of stock drives up rental values.

I've never quite understood this.

Surely, if the landlord 'withdraws' the house, they won't just hang onto it, will they? They'll sell.

Is there no chance this might just lower house prices?

I expect I am too hopeful. But it seems to me it would be much better if there were fewer landlords and more people able to own a property.

Our last house had a terrible mould problem. We complained once, he painted over it.
Complained again...same thing.
And then book. Section 21, 8?weeks notice. He said he was selling because he didn't want to deal with it anymore and days after we were gone he'd rented it out to an elderly couple.

So whats to stop a LL saying they want to sell it, evict the tenant then take house off market and re-rent?
Whats to stop a LL saying the want to move into property, evict the tenant then not move into it and re-rent.
Are tenants going to have to sue LL for bad faith after they have moved out?
Who is going to rent to 'risky' tenants?
It might now be better to leave the unit empty that to risk renting it out.
Doesn't sound very thought through.

Su Mould is often a tenant issue though, not a landlord issue. If people are drying washing on radiators and doing lots of steamy hob type cooking, or pushing their furniture right up to the walls etc, stuffing under bed voids with bags of stuff, without ventilating the house or opening curtains or windows often enough then mould will appear and there’s not a thing a LL can do about it. If you keep living the same way then it will keep coming back. (Actual damp in the walls is a different matter.)

Some houses are much more susceptible to mildew depending on the materials used to build them. Many modern houses are so hermetically sealed to be energy efficient that they don’t actually let the house breathe. People should keep the double glazing vents open but they don’t.

As an owner occupier you’d just have to roll with it and make some sensible adjustments to your usual living routine. But tenants seem to think that shouldn’t have to apply to them and that all LLs must have some sort of magic pill if only they’d spend the money on it. Newsflash - they don’t!

This is why you might be given notice. Sometimes as a LL it’s frustrating when you can’t get through to people that you are renting them a house, but they have a responsibility to use it sensibly to avoid common problems. It’s not a suite in a hotel where every last thing is the LL’s problem to solve, so you can carry on regardless.

We started as accidental LL and never had any problems and so did ds, although he has a portfolio now.
We do emergencies the same day and other essential repairs asap, never had any complaints, returned deposits and had good relationships with our tenants.
Not always, but generally speaking we found if you are nice, and do your job properly treating tenants with dignity and respect you get the same back.

One of my tenants was using a condenser tumble dryer without emptying the water or the filter for god knows how long. Not only must it have been costing them a fortune in electricity as drying would take forever, but all that steamy hot air would have been billowing out and getting trapped in the room. I had to tell them they were supposed to empty the water canister. 🤦🏻‍♀️