Changes in the UK

The_Conductor

There is a lot of song and dance about far greater tenancy rights being instituted in England this morning. Notably this relates to the abolition of a 'no-fault' eviction- in exchange for far greater ease for landlords to evict in instances where they are selling the property, or wish to use the property for themselves or a family member.


The BBC have a run-down on the new English legislation here

Tenancy advocacy groups are broadly welcoming the changes- and believe it strikes a better balance in the sector- while copperfastening the rights of landlords if they need the property (to sell or use themselves).

In an Irish context- where 80% of units are let by landlords who own 3 or fewer units- and we do still have a no-fault termination process for the first 6 months of a tenancy- would a similar type arrangement fly (given that there is a quid-pro-quo associated with this- with greater rights for a landlord to take back a unit for personal use or to sell it)?

The current Irish regulatory system- is toxic- and is worsening- driving supply out of the sector (even allowing for the REITs and their multi unit developments).

When you see some things actually working in other jurisdictions- you really have to ask yourself- why are we rushing headlong down the road we're intent on travelling in this country?

overkill602

"we are" looking at other jurisdictions mainly Venezuela and the policy advice that comes from the homeless charity industry has left so much uncertainly in the market has curtailed supply



I think the UK acts more in the best industry standards

Marcusm

The_Conductor wrote: »

There is a lot of song and dance about far greater tenancy rights being instituted in England this morning. Notably this relates to the abolition of a 'no-fault' eviction- in exchange for far greater ease for landlords to evict in instances where they are selling the property, or wish to use the property for themselves or a family member.


The BBC have a run-down on the new English legislation here

Tenancy advocacy groups are broadly welcoming the changes- and believe it strikes a better balance in the sector- while copperfastening the rights of landlords if they need the property (to sell or use themselves).

In an Irish context- where 80% of units are let by landlords who own 3 or fewer units- and we do still have a no-fault termination process for the first 6 months of a tenancy- would a similar type arrangement fly (given that there is a quid-pro-quo associated with this- with greater rights for a landlord to take back a unit for personal use or to sell it)?

The current Irish regulatory system- is toxic- and is worsening- driving supply out of the sector (even allowing for the REITs and their multi unit developments).

When you see some things actually working in other jurisdictions- you really have to ask yourself- why are we rushing headlong down the road we're intent on travelling in this country?

It’s not in return for the landlord being able to terminate for sale or occupation; the landlord under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy can decline to renew each 6 months or 1 year depending on the periodicity if the tenancy. The proposed restriction is to restrict it to the cited circumstances. This is not a significant issue in the U.K.; average tenancies last 3.9 years and there are few of the overholding issues that we have here. This is principally due to the bailiff regimefor evictions. This seems to be a measure to gain some positive political publicity rather than something being sought be tenants or landlirds!

partyguinness

The eviction process and indeed debt collection is far more streamlined and efficient in the UK. Consequently, landlords and creditors will not hesitate to bounce you in front of the County Court and it will all be done and dusted in a few weeks. Tenants will hold out until the morning of the Court hearing and then just leg it.

By contrast the court process in Ireland is tedious, slow and archaic.

There is already a protection in place whereby a tenant cannot be evicted if they complain about the condition of the property to the local authority in advance. Plenty of tenants play this game- cannot be evicted until the work has been carried out.

GGTrek

partyguinness wrote: »

The eviction process and indeed debt collection is far more streamlined and efficient in the UK. Consequently, landlords and creditors will not hesitate to bounce you in front of the County Court and it will all be done and dusted in a few weeks. Tenants will hold out until the morning of the Court hearing and then just leg it.

By contrast the court process in Ireland is tedious, slow and archaic.

There is already a protection in place whereby a tenant cannot be evicted if they complain about the condition of the property to the local authority in advance. Plenty of tenants play this game- cannot be evicted until the work has been carried out.

The repair bit is mostly for Section 8 fault evictions, with Section 21 ("no fault" evictions) it is much more difficult for a tenant to challenge the eviction (only issues of non protection of deposit or gas certificates + some other paperwork). The fact is that the vast majority of UK landlords use Section 21 to evict non paying or antisocial tenants or for sale since it is very difficult to challenge in court and it leads to bailiffs approximately 5 months after the notice has been served (depends on location since bailiff resources are overstreched in the UK)


There was a lot of propaganda on the evil of "no fault" termination notices done on left-wing press (think the Guardian and BBC) with absolutely no investigation on why these Section 21 notices were being used (there are strong reasons, but unfortunately Section 8 of the Housing Act 88 is not fit for purpose since the tenant will stop paying rent, then claim disrepair and then to stall the process by not allowing anyone to inspect or repair the property). Shelter (the equivalent of Threshold in Ireland) and Generation Rent (the equivalent of Take back the City in Ireland) have been pushing their biased propaganda for years and it seems a few Tory politician eager for a few more votes in the next election (which will be soon given the cluster... of Brexit) just announced their support.


On the other side the leader of Labour is actually a great friend of Venezuela and he would like to go back to the socialist UK of the 70s (indefinite tenancies, almost impossible to evict and strict rent caps decided by government bureaucrats, very much like SF Anti Eviction bill in Ireland), not thinking (or maybe in bad faith he does) that at the time the state owned a massive amount of council houses and the private rental market was tiny (due to the massive restrictions). Most council houses were sold and the landlord associations in the UK are quite strong since the numbers of landlords is in the millions and have lobbying power, so it is not so easy for the government to screw landlords as it is in Ireland (still doable, but bigger consequences in terms of votes).

partyguinness

You also have the added conundrum of quite a sizable number of MPs being private landlords themselves.