Here's The Rt Hon Michael Gove getting 'carried away' in a very risque Aberdeen 'entertainment venue'. One hopes it's not chemically induced.... you can stop it when quite sickened.
Mr Gove has got quite 'carried away' with his Renter's Reform Bill.
Everyone wants rid of bad landlords but certain features of this Bill are so onerous and unreasonable that it will be the last straw for good landlords: landlords already hit by the removal of tax relief on mortgages and other punitive measures.
A healthy rental sector is a must but the Dame heard this from a local landlord.
Mr X owns several small South West London flats. He charges moderate rents and is a good and conscientious landlord.
He mentioned that one of his tenants had acquired a badly behaved dog. Under Mr Gove's Bill, there will be nothing to stop a tenant from keeping a nuisance dog.
There are other irritants which make Mr X ponder giving up.
This good landlord is not alone: thousands are wondering if it's worth the candle.
The last thing you want in the midst of a housing crisis is a hollowed-out of the rental sector.
Mr Gove's Bill threatens exactly that.
Prior to the 1988 Housing Act there was no private rented sector. It had been killed off by the Rent Acts. But the introduction of the Assured Shorthold Tenancy changed all that and many investors were attracted into the market - which became a large and successful sector. It is almost impossible to believe that a Conservative government should want to kill that off, with the resultant shortage of available housing and alienation of its own core vote.
ReplyDeleteI don’t mind Gove’s dancing or his private life, but I used to admire him as a bright and serious politician and his latest Bill is a huge disappointment.
ReplyDeleteShocking that a politician holding a high office of State should be cavorting with young men in a backstreet Aberdeen warehouse. The man, like his colleagues, has a dignity by pass
ReplyDeleteI have a very responsible client who owns 45 studio flats. He lets at a fair rent to to essential workers. He has asked me to sell these as they become vacant.
ReplyDeleteA tenant keeping a nuisance dog will be liable to proceedings for a breach of tenancy under the new legislative proposals.
ReplyDeleteThat is not the point. Not every landlord will want dogs in their flats. It may be that neighbours are unhappy about barking. Getting an order will take many months.
DeleteTrue: the issue about pets is that the landlord cannot unreasonably refuse to grant permission to keep a pet if a request is made by a tenant.
DeleteOn all matters appertaining to granting a tenancy, the landlord still has the right to choose the tenant. However, landlords cannot discriminate when selecting a tenant which, in reality, is a bit of a dead letter. If half a dozen people view a flat and express an interesting in renting it, the landlord chooses the tenant with whom he wishes to contract. Most landlords would usually choose the person they are most happy with after taking up references.
Landlords cannot be forced to contract with people with whom they do not want to create legal relations and it is not discriminatory to say I prefer this prospective tenant to a different one. As long as landlords are not saying, I do not want tenants who are on benefits nor introducing any other arbitrary considerations, the landlord still has free rein.
It is true that it may take a long time to obtain a Court Order determine a bad tenant's tenancy. It may also take a long time to get an order to enforce a Section 21 Notice under the existing arrangements and can take even longer to arrange for the Bailiff to attend to execute a Bailiff's Eviction Warrant once a possession order has been granted on the back of Section 21 Notice.
Similar changes to improve tenants' rights in Scotland came in a long time ago and the private rented sector in Scotland is still buoyant.
The essential difference is that it is now very difficult for private landlords to exit from the private rented market in Scotland and it will be more difficult under Gove's proposals to do so in England and Wales.
The good, law-abiding landlords will leave the sector and the scumbag landlords will flourish - they don't give a hoot about following the (weakly enforced) laws anyway. It's a win-win for them and a lose-lose for tenants
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