Its great to see somebody at the sharp end standing up for landlord rights. At the last count there were 5000 landlords that had signed the petition illustrating that there are a lot of disgruntled landlords out there.
However, it pains me to say. This campaign is destined to fail and rightly so. Why?
At he moment we all know that getting a tenant out can take an absurdly long time. Issuing section 21 notices takes for ever and with all the technicalities of getting notice dates right the process can be infuriating.
However, the laws are there to strike a balance. That balance between the rights of the landlord to get their property back and those of the tenants to occupy their property and have reasonable time to act. I think by and large that balance is about right. By tightening the law and risking tenants being flung on to the street with apparently little recourse to fairness or for them to have time to act risk landlords being branded as merciless 'Rachmanesque' caricatures.
This will then play into the hands of the anti landlord lobby who are just itching to regulate and license us to the hilt.
My view is if it ain't broke don't fix it!
Landlord insurance - professional rates
Section 21 is by and large all right for a landlord who wishes to regain his property, except for the ridiculous timing and getting the dates right. It is section 8 which is all wrong, mainly the time it takes for a case to come before the court. Landlords need a speedy process to evict ill behaved tenants for a single bad one can clear a complete block of flats in a few weeks - I know it has happened to me. Especially galling as the tenant concerned was not one of mine.
ReplyDeleteAs Maluka says, S21 is fine as a no fault notice where the rent is being paid with no problems, S8 However is a 'fault' notice where the rent is not being paid or other problems are being caused by the tenant, and the very nature of the beast means the landlord is already going to be seriously out of pocket before he can even issue it. Then with the various notice periods (except g14) he has to wait another period before he can even apply for a court date, usually with no income from the property. The whole process can take six months or more before the landlord gets the property back.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that the whole process of S8 be taken away from the courts and put in the hands of an organisation that could handle it rapidly and fairly. How about having a single lawyer to advise both groups on the law especially where the ground being used is one of the mandatory ones.
Shamplina over the past couple of years is an interesting case to watch as an example of how to get great publicity for himself & his firm (nowt wrong with that..).
ReplyDeleteThink the campaign will "succeed" in getting him more publicity, not changing the law and thus getting more clients for his wee business.
IMHO the balance of LL/Tenant law is about right, with the 1988 HA swinging it hugely in LL's favour (e.g. S21??).
Cheers!