AIBU to worry about Section 21 ending causing mass evictions?

[Itsabingthin]

Has anyone noticed mass evictions happening due to the section 21 ending? In may the new law will make it harder for landlords to evict tenants so a lot are evicting tenants now, even good ones.

My friend got a surprise eviction notice yesterday and she is in temporary housing as it is. The neighbours opposite me are also getting evicted. These are no fault evictions.

Where will all these families go?

Yanbu. This was entirely predictable.

Ending section 21, and making eviction harder in case of non paying tenants, means that a lot of landlords are selling up. Section 21s are being used while they still can. Unfortunately, a lot of tenants are ending up homeless as a result, while these houses will just sit empty.

I can remember the old days of protected tenancies. I actually think it was in those days, landlords knew they just couldn't evict a tenant easily but I think it improved relations between landlord and tenant. There were far fewer accidental landlords, landlords understood their obligations better and, from my experience, there were fewer evictions. There was still a clause that possession had to be given under some circumstances, but I genuinely think it worked better.

I wonder if in those days tenants understood their obligation better too?

From the article.
”Goodlord said a “significant” minority of respondents were intent on leaving the market imminently, with 24 per cent of landlords stating they were currently actively selling or looking to sell some or all of their portfolios.”

”Goodlord suggested the imbalance between those looking to sell and those looking to buy indicates that the number of landlords selling up will continue to outpace the number of new landlords joining the private rental sector or expanding their portfolios.”

“Only 44 per cent of current landlords believed they would still be landlords by 2031, but some of this cohort said they would have a smaller portfolio by then.”

Labour hates anyone who tries to be even slightly entrepreneurial.

They didn't!! My DGM and her sister had inherited a portfolio of tenanted properties from their father, who was the builder, in the 1950s. The tenancies could be bequeathed or inherited, the rents were fixed at 1930s and 40s prices, so they had no income for maintenance and anytime a tenant died or vacated, they sold the property. The 1967 Landlord and Tenant Act helped a bit, but the landlord-tenant relationship has never been smooth.

It would be hard to get thousands of private landlords to purchase at least once - also from the article -

“A corporate landlord is a different landlord than the typical ‘Mr. Müller’ who owns two houses and rents them,” Kusiak says. “In the case of corporate landlords, tenants are actually not the clients. The actual client is always the shareholder.”

My relative has recently issued one to his tenants (he only has one property). There have been a lot of issues w the tenant and various neighbour disputes so he’s evicting them. He’s doing it before the deadline so it’s easier.
We also own a rented flat - we’ve rented it out for over 26 years and only once have we evicted a tenant who was extremely dodgy and ended up in jail at a later date. If S21 hadn’t been available it would’ve gone to court and become v messy. ATM we have great tenant but once they leave we may sell depending on the amount of capital gains owing.
I hate the ‘all landlords are bastards’ vilification, yes some are, but some tenants are also piss-takers. One thing I do hate is student landlords/agencies who really are dreadful, but that’s another matter really.

I'm not sure being a landlord counts as being 'entrepreneurial'.

@KatiePricesKnickers That wasn’t your gotcha. There hasn’t been an exodus:

The exclusive research, which surveyed 1,200 landlords across the UK, found 72 per cent of respondents were not offloading any stock nor attempting to purchase any new rental properties.

Any landlords (or anyone else) who do try to sell up in this current climate may find their properties on the market for a very long time, particularly if their properties aren’t reasonably priced and / or have leasehold tenure.

If the population of a city decreased by 28% and then within 5 years by 56%, that could be considered an Exodus?

56% I would consider an exodus. But that’s something that may happen in the future.

“ unearned income stream”
This is the second reference to the above that I have read on MN this morning, and I am curious……if you stay in a hotel, do you begrudge paying for that?

providing safe, decent, legal homes is expensive.

How have I “not earnt” the rent that I charge?

The UK feels like a communist dystopia .

Any major policy change will have a period of disruption. Unfortunately whilst may have been evicted now, renters rights are so much superior after the period of disruption.

It was introduced by the Tories

councils are all headed towards bankruptcy-

The money would have to come from central government.

council bankruptcy is a technicality anyway, they are backed by central government . Like a school going into special measures

@Deskdog how is renting on the continent relevant to this thread?