Revenge evictions and changes to the Section 21 notice

Managing properties is about to get tougher

Have you heard about the legal changes that will have a great impact on landlords? If you haven’t here’s a heads up and the lowdown.

On the 11th February the House of Lords passed amendments to the Deregulation Bill which were ratified on the 16th March.

The aim of the legislation is to combat so-called ‘revenge evictions’ but its effects will be to severely limit the ability of all landlords to use a section 21 notice to evict tenants.

Revenge evictions

The amendments were drafted in reaction to complaints of ‘revenge evictions’ by private landlords. These are evictions that are made when a landlord responds unfairly to complaints from tenants about the standard of the rented property.

How is the Section 21 notice affected?

Landlords now cannot evict a tenant using a Section 21 procedure if they have received an improvement or hazard awareness notice in the last six months.

They will also not be able to use this procedure if certain basic requirements have not been met (such as the provision of an EPC or annual gas certificate).

Finally, the notice period for evictions will be increased to two months.

What are the consequences of this for landlords?

In essence the changes will make it harder to use a Section 21 notice. Many landlord bodies have argued that the legislation is likely to deter landlords from issuing eviction notices – even for legitimate reasons. There is also the possibility that certain tenants may choose to play what could be called a ‘revenge tenancy’ card by submitting requests for repairs in order to avoid eviction.

Can managing properties be easier?

Many landlords are looking for an easier way to manage their investments.

We offer a Guaranteed Rent scheme that takes away the hassles of finding and managing tenants, the trouble of dealing with day-to-day maintenance issues and the endless worries over legal changes.

Quite simply we lease your property for five years, we guarantee you rent every month whether the property is occupied or not, and we return your investment to you in exactly the same condition as we received it in.

So what will you do with all that time you have saved? And how relaxed will you be without all that worry?