Tenant protection offered - anyone would think there is an election coming

michaels

Surprised GD hasn't been all over this one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29156186

Basically if you complain to the council that your rented house is not safe and they agree then you can not be evicted.

Sounds very fair to me although I guess for some landlords being told to spend several k bringing a building up to standard might be a signal to sell if they can't afford the capital...except they can''t sell as they can't get the tenants out. Plus as soon as you get LAs involved the goalposts can move very radically.....

wotsthat

michaels wrote: »

Surprised GD hasn't been all over this one.

Mr. McDevon to you. I'm surprised too - he doesn't like a 'rouge' landlord.

What I don't understand is that if landlords are failing to provide safe housing there's already redress through the council. Seems to be a lack of enforcement rather than lack of laws.

Puts me off BTL a bit - obviously I'd want to provide safe, secure and legal accommodation but there's a 'mission creep' against landlords underway. A load of hassle for legit landlords but anyone already flouting the rules will continue to ignore them. I doubt a lot of the tenants affected have the wherewithal or inclination to complain anyway.

I have a holiday home that's now exceeded two lots of capital gains tax allowance. I didn't expect it to increase in value so quickly so thought about just letting it out for ever at some future date. Now thinking about gifting it to my kids one piece at a time instead.

Generali

michaels wrote: »

Surprised GD hasn't been all over this one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29156186

Basically if you complain to the council that your rented house is not safe and they agree then you can not be evicted.

Sounds very fair to me although I guess for some landlords being told to spend several k bringing a building up to standard might be a signal to sell if they can't afford the capital...except they can''t sell as they can't get the tenants out. Plus as soon as you get LAs involved the goalposts can move very radically.....

It was always likely: if more people are renting there's going to be more pressure for politicians to Do Something about shoddy rentals.

PasturesNew

There's a programme on early morning bbc1 - finishes at 10am, probably starts at 9/9.15 - where they go round with housing officers looking at cr4p accommodation and getting landlords to sort it out. Bit of an eyeopener.

vintagebrighton

From the BBC report

'They could then complain freely to the landlord, knowing he or she could not throw them out on that basis alone.'

As it stands a landlord can evict for any or no reason if the tenant has a AST. What will they do to prevent this? It would need a whole new housing act and that ain't gonna happen.

Load of if's maybe's and nothing's in my opinion.

antrobus

vintagebrighton wrote: »

From the BBC report

'They could then complain freely to the landlord, knowing he or she could not throw them out on that basis alone.'

As it stands a landlord can evict for any or no reason if the tenant has a AST. What will they do to prevent this? It would need a whole new housing act and that ain't gonna happen.

Load of if's maybe's and nothing's in my opinion.

Since the Bill does not appear to have been published, it is impossible to say what it will do. All we know at the moment is that it is a Bill to protect tenants against retaliatory eviction; to amend the law on notices requiring possession relating to assured shorthold tenancies; and for connected purposes.

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2014-15/tenanciesreform.html

We would need to know exactly how the law on possession notices was going to be amended to reach any conclusion.

michaels wrote: »

Tenant protection offered - anyone would think there is an election coming..

Yeh, but it's not gonna do Sarah Teather any good, tho'. Being a Liberal Democrat defending a small 1000+ majority in Brent Central, who has already handed in her papers.