Repeal S21.

Red-Squirrel_2

Would it be a stupid idea to suggest an alternative would be a section 21 notice that gave 6-12 months notice rather than 2? Landlords could get possession of their properties back but wouldn't do so willy nilly, tenants wouldn't be in fear of having to scramble to move within 8 weeks every year or so.

AdrianC

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Would it be a stupid idea to suggest an alternative would be a section 21 notice that gave 6-12 months notice rather than 2? Landlords could get possession of their properties back but wouldn't do so willy nilly, tenants wouldn't be in fear of having to scramble to move within 8 weeks every year or so.

And how much notice would tenants have to give?

Lord_Baltimore

AdrianC wrote: »

And how much notice would tenants have to give?

6-12 months .

Marktheshark

Whilst this thread has been live, on average 700 adults have migrated to the UK looking for housing.
80 have left.

Like it or lump it, the market is supply and demand and when there is more people than houses, the landlords are going to make money.
That is free market economics supported by slack inept government immigration policies

Red-Squirrel_2

AdrianC wrote: »

And how much notice would tenants have to give?

Its not an equal relationship though, is it? The situations of the two aren't comparable. Its like, I can quit my job with 2 months notice but it'd take a heck of a lot longer for my employer to sack me! In some situations its perfectly fair for the level of responsibility to be different.

Rosemary7391

AdrianC wrote: »

And how much notice would tenants have to give?

I'd keep it similar to what it is now, a month or two. The business is only ever going to take a financial loss from being served notice, and it should be accounted for in their business plan: the consequences to private persons of leaving their homes can be of a very different nature, and for many they can't choose other than to rent.

Actually, I wonder if it'd work that during the S21 notice period, tenants could leave at any point without any further rent to pay? That would make moving less stressful I think. A simply longer period wouldn't help much with the headache of trying to not pay rent on 2 places for an extended period of time. Then the LL can get on with selling or whatever it was he wanted them out for.

princeofpounds

Another possibility that might improve matters would be to allow tenants to move at any point during the S21 notice period, rather than hold them to the end of the tenancy.


Often the difficulty with securing onward rental accommodation is that you need it to be available in quite a precise timescale, or you end up paying for painful overlap periods.


Yes, this does mean that if the LL is evicting simply for things like rent-raising with a new tenant they may have a couple of weeks void.


But there are two things that make it considerably less painful. The first is that the LL has control over the timing, whereas for the tenant it is often a total surprise. The second point is that if tenants were free to move during S21 then LLs would find that they could take occupation much faster than is often currently the case.

AdrianC

Marktheshark wrote: »

Whilst this thread has been live, on average 700 adults have migrated to the UK looking for housing.
80 have left.

If you're looking to rabble-rouse, you might like to consider using some figures that bear at least a passing resemblance to reality.

During 2014 - 641,000 people moved to the UK. Roughly 1,750 per day. Of those, 13% were UK nationals returning after emigrating. 42% were citizens of other EU countries. 45% were non-EU citizens.

323,000 left the UK. Roughly 885 per day. 43% were UK nationals, 28% other EU nationals, 29% non-EU.

So that leaves a rough increase in population of 318,000 due to migration. Total population growth figures for 2014 haven't been made public yet, but for 2013, only 46% of the population growth was due to net migration. The other 54% was simply the difference between births and deaths.

Rather more importantly for housing discussions, the number of households is predicted to grow by about 220,000 per year between 2011 and 2021.

AdrianC

princeofpounds wrote: »

The first is that the LL has control over the timing, whereas for the tenant it is often a total surprise.[/qoute]

Which, of course, applies the other way around, too.

The second point is that if tenants were free to move during S21 then LLs would find that they could take occupation much faster than is often currently the case.

They can. Tenants need only give one month notice, LLs need to give two. If a tenant finds a property to move to, quickly, they can give a month's notice and be out before the end of their two months notice.

Plus, of course, few landlords would insist on the entire notice period being served anyway.

Cornucopia

lighting_up_the_chalice wrote: »

S8, like S21, doesn't take much effort. The biggest factor is time. That's an issue with the capacity of the courts, but it's an issue that could be addressed.

Time is often of the essence, though.

We're talking about a tenancy, here, so there are only really two issues: non-payment of rent, and abuse of the property. Either of those things can be worsened considerably by the passage of time.

Strengthening of the measures *is* therefore a reduction in the time taken.