The scrapping of Section 21 eviction powers has been welcomed by the London Assembly - but apparently it doesn’t go far enough at curbing what some politicians see as the excesses of the private rental sector.
Sian Berry - chair of the London Assembly Housing Committee and a national co-leader of the Green Party - describes the ban as “great news for tenants who are in constant fear of losing their home.”
But she says: “A loophole landlords still have in getting tenants out of their homes is by unreasonably raising rents. This is why in our rent stabilisation report we said the Mayor should lobby for constraints on rent rises within tenancies, as well as greater security.”
In December London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan said in a letter to The Guardian: “I have long advocated such reforms; in 2013, I suggested reforms could give renters the right to longer-term tenancies and predictable rents. The housing crisis is now having such an effect on a generation of Londoners that the arguments in favour of rent stabilisation and control are becoming overwhelming.”
Currently the London mayor has no effective powers to control private rents.
Sian Berry, in welcoming the scrapping of Section 21, says: “Everyone deserves the peace of mind that if they look after the property they are living in, there should be no worry about whether they can carry on living there or not.”
She continues: “Moving at short notice is one of the most stressful situations a renter can find themselves in, especially in a city like London where rents are high, and property is scarce. In our upcoming report on temporary accommodation, we will be looking at the many challenges faced by tenants who don’t have a settled home.
“This decision by the government protects renters from unscrupulous landlords who dish out arbitrary or revenge evictions. The removal of section 21 will go a long way to provide security for tenants across London and beyond.
“However, the government must be mindful that the announcement risks pre-emptive notices being served which, as we have seen during our investigation for our upcoming report, risks council services for people made homeless being overwhelmed.”
* You can see a summary of the government's responses to consultation on S21 and long tenancies here.
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Yes the Green Party the tenants friend, as predicted this will happen and time to leave the sector as back to the dark ages...
Rent stabilisation.......................you mean rent controls.
Typical dippy.......... Green idiot.
Black market rents will evolve.
Rent caps mean lenders will base mortgage LTV on supposed controlled rent even if black market rents are received far in excess of the alleged stabilised rent.
LA will find lots of LL withdraw their London properties from management.
No LA could risk receiving black market rents.
With rents at a controlled level substantial deposits would be needed.
Or perhaps prices would have to reduce so that property could be purchased by LL at average 75% LTV.
If LL CAN'T afford to fund who will buy London property?
London LL would do well to sell up ASAP before rent stabilisation becomes a reality.
If London Property prices are reduced as a consequence of rent controls this must surely have an effect on prices in the rest of the UK.
It could well be that stabilised rents are insufficient to service existing BTL mortgage debt!
Just imagine!!
Probably good news for us agents in the north .. we never increase rents but a culture and publicity to promote routine rent rises won’t be bad for us our rents are frozen year after year
Couldn’t disagree more on this subject. The words sledgehammer to crack a nut comes to mind!
Many Tenants are young, transient singles who do not want long term Tenancies.
The answer should be positive persuasion, rather aggressive, ill thought out and rushed legislation.
How about high tax breaks for Landlords who offer no S21 notice provision in a longer term Tenancy?...Perhaps a complete scrapping of any tax benefits for Tenancies with allowances for S21 notices?
A complete ban is going to have an unmanageable impact on our County Court system, let alone reduce supply even further and therefore increase rents.
Politicians of all parties need to remember that 99% of Landlords have are well meaning, hard working, decent people,who have made prudent investments to secure their future retirements; not surprising given the pension debacle that continuous Governments have failed to police in this country over the last 20 years. To punish them will only serve to increase the state pension burden in years to come. They will simply sell up, spend and many will look to the state for support in their old age. A case of ...If you can’t beat them, join them!
Given the last 3 years, I would have thought by now the Government would have learnt their lesson that short term populism isn’t always in the best interests of the country.
Politicians aren't concerned about such long term isues.
They are more concerned with staying elected to pick up their pension.
The idea that they can think 40 years ahead is for the birds.
5 year Parliamentary cycles is how politicians think.
They require short term effects to bounce them into being elected next GE.
So populist but daft measures as being imposed on the PRS is how these dopey politicians are hoping to appeal to the more idiotic of the electorate.
Mad as hatters most of these politicians.
Completely clueless as to how the PRS operates.
So those of us remaining can expect for many more big hammers to be used to crush us little nuts!
It will not be pretty.
Many LL will just bring forward their retirement.
For many it simply ISN'T worth bothering with the PRS for the next 5 years which is many would be retiring.
Get it done now.
Avoid prospects of Corbyn and anymore looney Tory policies hammering further the PRS.
Compared to the income you might receive along with the risks of remaining in the sector for another 5 years the losses that could occur compared to actual net income over the next 5 years possibly warrants jumping ship NOW!!!
In fact, the powers that be are incapable of forseeing what human nature will do. No stability of revenue/dictated by ever increasing legislation to add to what already is never policed. The cnclusion is that they believe they can make a new type of council housing model out of the P.R.S., which are two completley different buisinees models and in fact not and will never be compatable.
The goverment has to at last talk ot the real landlords whom operate at street level with real tenants for advice, not shelter or citizens advice - neither of which seem incapable of a more holistic view of the reality of this nations housing crisis.
Everything so far: with the best intention is only going to shrink stock available for everybody.
How about a think tank who get lots of ££ come up with scenario such as. Push landlords out and flood the market with properties for sale. Values drop circa 30% and all of a sudden 1000s of people who couldn’t buy a property are now in a position to? Let’s face it in the crash properties did drop dramatically so long term lower property values make very little difference to the economy! We in the trade know the amount of tenants who don’t or won’t or can’t buy is vast, however I have seen some of the questions local authorities ask which are loaded ( especially when wishing to license an area) can give any final answers they want. Just a thought!
Perfect storm coming up!
What a legacy Theresa Mayhem is leaving behind you could not make it up!
She WON'T care just like Osborne DOESN'T give a f##k about the permanent damage has done with his daft S24 and SDLT surcharge policies.
This man is responsible for the destruction of the PRS compounded by daft Mayhem.
The Tories are doing Corbyn's work without him even being in power.
The oppostion party is effectively becoming the Govt in all but name
This woman is just another loony lefty who clearly has no idea what she is talking about!
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