This is a question to the blog clinic from Susan whose Mother is a tenant in England.

My Mother is a retired widow in her mid 70s and has privately rented the same property for over 50 years. She is in my eyes a protected tenant.

Three years ago she was made to sign a new AST by the landlord due to her husband passing away and the property being transferred into her name. The Council apparently would not pay the rent from my mothers housing benefit to the new landlord unless a new AST is signed.

My Mother has always historically been protected under the Rent Act 1977. But my Mum signed this AST because she said she had no choice in the matter and was worried she would lose her right to live there.

The landlord has recently passed away and my Mother has been told by the family they must sell the house now for legal/HMRC costs and will be issuing a S21. However as of todays date there is no EPC, no Gas Safe since 2020 and no EICR or Right to Rent checklist issued when she was told to sign the new AST in 2020 which was a 3 year AST.

Can they evict her?

Answer

If your mother has been living in the property for 50 years then her tenancy will be a protected tenancy under the Rent Act 1977.

This will not have been changed by the fact that she was pressured into signing an assured shorthold tenancy agreement form at a later date. A protected tenant cannot lose their rights by signing a different piece of paper.

All or some of the individual terms and conditions in the new tenancy agreement may apply.  However, signing the new tenancy agreement cannot, in law, change her tenancy from a protected tenancy to an assured shorthold tenancy.

So any attempt to evict her using the section 21 procedure, or indeed the section 8 procedure, will fail.  These eviction procedures only apply to assured and assured shorthold tenancies, which are regulated by the Housing Act 1988. They are of no relevance to your Mother as her tenancy is regulated by the Housing Act 1977.

Your Mother is also protected by the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. Any attempt by her landlord to force her to move out or claims that she will be evicted under section 21 will be classed as harassment under that Act.

I would suggest she get some legal help.  We have a list of advice organisations which may be able to help her, most of them free of charge. But under no circumstances should she move out.

The post Can a widow who has lived in her rented property for 50 years be evicted under section 21? appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.

The Renters Rights Bill currently wending its way through the House of Lords is the biggest change to the Private Rented Sector in the past 35 years.

Many people have different opinions about it, and we all see the bill through a prism of our own experience and needs. Tenants will have one view, landlords another.

But what are the government’s motives? What is important to them?

Protecting ‘working people’

One of the government’s top aims and manifesto commitments is to help and protect ‘working people’.

And although it is accepted that landlords do ‘work’ – there may be a few landlords just sitting on a beach sipping pina coladas while tenants hard earned money drops into their bank account, but they are not the majority – landlords as a class are not people the government consider it is their main duty to protect.

Most landlords will probably not consider themselves to be ‘wealthy’ (few people do), but they are very wealthy compared to, say, a young mother who has three cleaning jobs to help her pay for herself and her children and who, despite this still can’t afford to pay her rent and put food on the table.

On the whole, landlords tend to have reasonably comfortable lives, and the government believes that they can probably look after themselves.

MPs (many of whom are themselves tenants) will have had a steady stream of constituents coming into their surgeries telling them desperate stories of hardship, of forced evictions of families, some with disabled children, and massive rent increases which they cannot afford.

They want this to stop.

Stopping the flood of evictions

Apart from the distress caused to the tenants concerned, the high level of evictions has two other consequences:

• Increased pressure on the courts, and
• Increased pressure on Local Authorities

The courts

The courts have been at crisis level for a long time, due mainly to massive underfunding over the past 20 years or so.

At the moment, there is a high level of eviction claims as landlords use the no-fault section 21 ground to evict unwanted tenants while they still can.

However, once the bill has become law and is in force, they expect this flood of evictions to slow down.

All eviction claims will then need to be based on one of the ‘grounds’ set out in the legislation and supported by evidence.

No longer will landlords be able to evict in order to force tenants to accept a higher rent or because they are being asked to do expensive (or indeed any) repair work.

Local Authorities

Many of the tenants being evicted are unable to find or afford anywhere else to live in the Private Rented Sector. If they fall within the ‘priority need’ category, then they can call on the Local Authority to rehouse them.

Thousands are doing so. This is putting Local Authorities under enormous pressure as they don’t have homes to give them. So much of our social housing has been sold off under the ‘right to buy’.

So Local Authorities are having to pay to put families with children into unsatisfactory bed and breakfast accommodation, which is costing them a fortune.

In fact, the massive cost of all this is contributing to the deterioration of Local Authority finances, forcing some of them to issue ‘section 114 notices’, which is the equivalent of a declaration of bankruptcy.  Many more, we are told, are on the brink.

Again, the government wants this to stop.

They have promised to build more social housing to help these people, but this will take time. Stopping the flood of evictions is one way to ease the pressure on Local Authorities.

Tackling rogue landlords

Many of the problems in the private rented sector are caused by rogue, and often criminal, landlords.

Although there is ample legislation in place to deal with them, Local Authorities have been mostly unable to do so. The reason for this is austerity and the reduction in their income over the past 14 years or so.

Many Local Authorities have been forced to make whole teams of enforcement offices redundant over the years and have not been able to afford to employ and train new ones.

The result is that bad landlords have often been able to operate with impunity.

Only a few Local Authorities (such as Newham in London) have proper staff and facilities in place to deal with rogue and criminal landlords, and they can’t do as much as they would like. Many Local Authorities have done no enforcement work at all for many years.

The Renters Rights Bill aims to tackle this:

• The penalty fines (which Local Authorities can keep to help with enforcement work, unlike Magistrates Courts fines, which just go to the Treasury) have been increased
• There are more offences which they can impose fines for. For example, for unlawfully evicting or harassing tenants in breach of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. Previously, prosecution was the only option
• There is now a duty on Local Authorities to enforce the legislation in their area and
• A duty to provide reports to the Secretary of State on their enforcement work
• There is also the power to appoint a lead enforcement agency which will oversee enforcement work and take action itself where a Local Authority lacks capacity

It is very much hoped that these measures will kickstart Local Authority enforcement work.  Which should hopefully reduce the amount of rogue and criminal landlords out there.

Getting something done

The government also wants to be seen to be doing something, and the Renters Rights Bill (unlike building more social housing) is not going to cost them anything!

Once passed, it will be something they can point to, to show that they are taking action against the problems that so many people face.

Find out more

Are you a landlord, letting agent or do you work in the Private Rented Sector?  If so, note that we are running a Renters Rights Bill Online Conference on 11 and 12 March.

We have a fabulous lineup of speakers, and the event will help you (and your staff) understand the new legislation. Find out more here.

The post What does the government seek to achieve with the Renters Rights Bill? appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.

Welcome to our Landlord Law Newsround let’s see what has been in the housing news this week for landlords.

Welsh government supports ‘rent compensation’ scheme

Welsh housing secretary, Jayne Bryant has come out in support of a tenant compensation scheme which would see tenants being able to retain their last two months’ rent if they are handed a no-fault eviction.

Letting agents and Propertymark have ‘concerns’ and say this would be ‘counter productive’ as the Renting Homes (Wales)Act 2016 which was recently enacted already provides tenants with six months’ protection from evictions, and risks thwarting the supply of rental homes and will undoubtedly bring rises to rent increases.

The Welsh Government says it is open to all feedback and will address this proposal again in April of this year. Watch this space.

Rent repayment order reduced on rent arrears

A Landlord was facing a £16,860 rent repayment order from her tenants for failing to license her HMO. However, the First Tier Property Tribunal reduced it to £5,055 as the tenants owed more than £17,000 in rent arrears.

The tenants claimed that the landlord, Gloria Nolte had shut off the power supply, verbally abused them and changed the locks, amongst other claims.  However the judge said despite all this, the substantial arrears incurred by the tenant was ‘very poor conduct on their part’ and added

If the respondent did change the locks before the bailiffs were involved, this was probably borne out of desperation. A tenancy is a contract that both sides are expected to comply with. Neither side behaved properly in this case.

You can read more and the full decision in full here.

Rise in tenants planning to move by this summer

The tenant app Tlyfe claims there will be a very large increase in demand for rental properties as up to 60% of tenants are planning to move over the first half of this year, 13% of which plan to move straight away.

Reasons for moving vary from their current property having issues (21%) needing a bigger home (16%) and being unable to afford their current rent (14%). Renters also claim that they will not wait for the Renters Rights Bill to become law before moving.

Adam Piggott chief executive of OpenBrix supports their thinking due to the lack of supply, moving now could actually improve their chances.

However, he maintains that many tenants are just not ‘rent ready’, and not adequately prepared. 51% do not have enough deposit saved and 30% do not have the correct paperwork in place.

He says

At the absolute least, you need to have your documentation in order, be proactive in contacting agents in your desired area and have a deposit accumulated to ensure you can act immediately.

Letting agent given higher than normal HMO fine

Waltham Forest Council fined a letting agent, Marble Properties, a higher than normal fine (£12,000) for not having an HMO licence on a property that it was manging. The council said that as they specialised in property management they should know better and therefore deserve a higher fine.

The agency appealed the fine and the First Tier Tribunal agreed and reduced it to £8000.00. However, Waltham Forest Council appealed that decision and the Upper Tribunal over turned it again it was restored back to £12,000.

A Spokesperson for the council said that their website is ‘abundantly clear’ on the criteria for licensing an HMO and added

Waltham Forest will continue to take a robust approach where there is evidence that landlords and agents have failed to meet their legal obligations.

Snippets

Landlords horror discovery after issuing tenant with Section 21
Landlord slams tenant group’s ‘childish’ social post
Rogue landlord fails to maintain HMO and ends up in court
44% of landlords support the introduction of rent controls – claim
Renters Rights Bill concerns highlighted by accreditation service in letter
One in 20 landlords is ignorant of their property’s EPC rating
Almost 40 firms banned from installing UK insulation amid botched jobs outcry

See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law

Newsround will be back again next week

The post Landlord Law Newsround #372 appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.