I know you are all thinking what the change in Government will mean for your rental properties. In truth, it’s too early to say. There were certain things in all parties’ manifestos that could possibly be interpreted as ‘not good news’ for landlords. In Labour’s one, things that stood out were:
- The immediate abolishment of Section 21 (without the same focus on improving the court system first as the Conservatives were mentioning)
- Rent controls have been mentioned, with rent increases being allowed in line with inflation only
- Pets to be allowed – banning a blanket ‘ban’ on pets by landlords (although if there are block management restrictions and similar this may be an exception)
- Give local authorities more powers, to issue fines to landlords and enforcement orders
- Introduce ‘Awaabs Law’, which will make landlords more responsible for health hazards such as mould in their rental properties
- Stronger enforcement of the decent home standards
- Bringing in the ‘warm homes plan’ by 2030 – meaning all EPC’s must be C or above (currently they must be E or above)
- A mandatory national landlord register – keeping a log of how landlords are ‘rated’
- An extension on how much notice has to be served to evict tenants
Before you all rush to sell your properties – remember all politicians discuss lots of things leading up to an election. What gets put into practice and when can be very different!
The election actually put a halt to the very much talked about and debated ‘Renters Reform Bill’. This means the bill will need to be proposed again and will give Labour the opportunity to change some of its content.
If you look at what Labour have discussed they want to do, then you will see that some of this is as it was within the Renter’s Reform Bill (maybe with parts slightly changed). So, it’s still very much on the agenda that the Section 21 will be abolished. My personal hope is that they do not do this without overhauling the court system first and adding more grounds to the Section 8 Notice.
But we are very much in a ‘wait and see’ phase right now. I don’t want to speculate on what ‘might happen’ until new legislation is passed, and new rules need to be implemented. At that point, myself and my team will do our best to guide you through it all.
Debbie Jones MARLA CertCIH - all views are my own, this does not constitute legal advice
