RadioRocks, luckily, the law is in place, rather than your view of what the law should be.
Are you suggesting landlords should ignore the law because they think it’s unfair (and actually most don’t)
When you choose to be a landlord, you do it in the basis of the law that applies. That means tenants have contracts and the law specifies time scales for when notice can be given, how long the notice is and what happens if tenants aren’t gone by the end of their notice. No-one has to become a landlord but does so on the basis of the law. once they sign a tenant up, they have agreed to the law. They can think it’s unfair if they like, but they have gone into the legal agreement willingly and no one forced them.
If you think tenants should be in a position where a landlord (because they are the owner of the property) can ask them to leave at any point and they will have to go without specified or decent periods of time to vacate, the landlording clearly isn’t for you and probably many tenants will be glad you’re not their landlord.
No-one should have to go through a process where they move into a property with the expense and efffort involved in that, to have zero security or certainty, because it’s not their owned property. People pay substantial rents and whilst they cannot have permanent security (and very many every year have to move when they would rather not) it is totally right, that time periods are specified on contracts and laws to establish exactly when notice can be given.
Without the law about only giving notice in the last 2 months of a 6 month contract, any tenant could be given notice within a week or 2 of moving in. Do you think that’s right? Even so, they can still be given notice after being there 16 or 17 weeks. The notice starts from then. Usually it’s 2 months, so the landlord would give notice at 4 months if they want the tenant gone at 6 months usually. Currently, at 4 months, they need to give 6 months notice meaning it will be 10 months since moving in until the landlord can expect the property back. That’s assuming the tenants go by this point ...and the vast majority do.
So why would you let in the current circumstances if you needed to market or sell the property within the next 10 months? Honestly, you wouldn’t unless you don’t understand the system. Might that mean some time without rental income. Yes. That’s the nature of it and as a business owner, that has to be factored in. Simply shouting ‘the law is wrong’ doesn’t make it right or business sense to do otherwise.
The time when it can be difficult for landlords is when tenants don’t go by the end of their notice period. After this point, it is still not accurate to describe them as squatting. There are systems for legal eviction. Sometimes people have nowhere to go and sometimes they are waiting for social housing and the social housing system won’t house them until they are made homeless and for this to happen, they have to be evicted. So, often, tenants who don’t go aren’t actually being awkward to get at the landlord, it is their only way to get their next housing.....very annoying for the landlord (especially if they are not paying....but this isn’t usually the case when people are waiting to be rehoused) but it’s a feature of the current system, which isn’t so good, but you can see how it’s come about.
There are tenants who are bad tenants and know the law and play the system. At a crucial point, they stop paying rent, or they stop paying and then pay a little bit again to avoid notice being given (at the appropriate point) or don’t pay and don’t vacate after notice is given and take a long time to evict. Landlords are victims to this, but that doesn’t mean the law to protect tenants is wrong.