The landlord – tenant relationship is at times fought with difficulties

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Unpaid rent, destroyed properties, anti-social behaviour, all very often intractable problems a landlord must somehow deal with right now. With even the best will in the world, and all necessary efforts to stay in contact and keep communication channels open, the nuclear option, eviction, is sometimes the only answer, the last resort.

Of course no landlord wants that, responsible long-term landlords want tenants to stay as long as possible, maintaining their income stream and looking after the property, getting along with neighbours and all is hunky dory! Covid has rather “upset the apple cart” regarding all of this and is challenging not just good tenants, but good landlords as well. It needs a bit of common sense and cooperation from both sides.

If a tenant is struggling to pay, then rescheduling payments or even waiving part of the rent, say 20 per cent off where a tenant is on furlough, would perhaps be a sensible solution. Creating goodwill should be the aim of all good landlords under the current difficult circumstances, but not all of that is appreciated or responded to.

This story is about a Dublin landlord who became so fed-up with some problem tenants he recorded footage of the property after departure: it shows large amounts of waste left behind as well as filthy work surfaces and flooring, a rubbish-strewn kitchen, pet faeces in the living area and a marble bathroom destroyed by hair dye. The tenants left owing rent arrears of €45,000.

The Irish Republic has an acute rental housing shortage, while rents are soaring because of it, and tenant friendly legislation introduced some years ago, with partial rent control, some argue, exacerbates the situation.

This was an experienced landlord who let the Dublin house back in 2017 for €3,300 per month. All went well for the first eight or nine months, until the tenant simply stopped paying rent in around April of 2019. According to The Irish Times the landlord ignored the arrears for a month, but when no rent was paid the following month, the letting agent acting for the landlord wrote to the tenant requesting payment. No response! So the agent then suggested to the tenants that they vacate the property, with no penalty for breaching their contract. Again no response.

One thing about the Irish system now also in common with the Scottish one is that landlord – tenant disputes have been taken out of the hands of the courts and given over to specialist rent tribunals. You might see this as a good thing, in fact the English landlord associations have been lobby for a similar system in England for some time.

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), the name of the Irish agency established to resolve disputes between tenants and landlords, was applied to by the landlord in this case. When it came to adjudication – a process which took some six to seven months, with unpaid rent of €3,300 racking-up each month – thankfully the ruling went in favour of the landlord.

That of course is not the end to the sorry tale the landlord had hoped for. The tenants, as is their right, appealed this against the tribunal ruling and the case was then submitted for another tribunal hearing.

So much for the neat solution of having a Housing Court in England: if this case is anything to go by it’s no better than the courts!

But wait, that’s still not the end of it. With the Irish Republic in the EU, legislative matters tend to be quite convoluted and difficult, and under the Human Rights umbrella, the tenant took up a claim for discrimination against the landlord to the Workplace Relations Commission. If the WRC had found in favour of the tenant it would have resulted in a €50,000 fine – but fortunately for this landlord it didn’t.

Now the landlord awaits a tribunal date as he can’t get a court order to evict without going through the tribunal first and he thinks it will cost him “at least €50,000” to put the house right. In the meantime, the bank is talking about pursuing him for mortgage arrears and is threatening repossession.

The landlord told the Irish Times:

“I don’t believe they should be able use the system to stay in a property rent free,” adding that even if the RTB rules against the tenant at the tribunal, pursuing the unpaid rent may require going to court to get a judgment against the tenant, and then hiring a private investigator to track them down.”

This tale of woe is being mirrored to varying degrees across the UK due to the coronavirus pandemic, lock-down and the eviction moratorium. Some landlords are suffering unacceptable amounts of loss of which the above case is just one example.

One of yesterday’s stories on LandlordZONE about English landlords seeking help and guidance from the Scottish market, as it has been dealing with tenant friendly legislation for longer, says nothing of how to deal with this kind of unreasonable and the intractable behaviour of rogue tenants. No amount of transparency and good communications on the part of the landlord could solve this one.

It seems so unfair that those unfortunate landlords who come up against this, being stuck with difficult and unreasonable tenants, are being left high and dry, simply because of a blanket band on evictions and a court system that’s simply not working.

The Irish Times was told that this landlord’s experience appears to be far from the exception:

“While in the UK it’s possible to pay an extra 4-4.5 per cent to insure yourself against rent arrears, no such product currently exists in Ireland, which can leave landlords vulnerable.”

“No-one is talking about this – everyone is talking about landlords gouging people,” said a Dublin docklands agent, Owen Reilly, adding that while the market is obviously dysfunctional for tenants, it’s also not working properly for the landlord.

It’s so depressing from a UK landlords’ point of view that a Housing Court or Rent Tribunal as it operates in Ireland, with some claiming an average of 12 weeks waits before a hearing, is not the magic solution it promised to be, and there are calls there for it to be scrapped.

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BREAKING: Another evictions ban extension, this time for commercial tenants

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Commercial tenants are to be protected once more from being evicted from their premises, this time until the end of the year, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced.

The original evictions ban ran from March to the end of June and was then extended until September 30^th.

This extension has been expected since rumours began circulating earlier this week that the ongoing Covid pandemic would prompt the government to prevent mass evictions as businesses fail, and give firms more time to rebuild their revenues during the Autumn and Christmas periods.

Ministers had also been in talks with retailers and other commercial tenants to gauge the situation on the ground.

Rent arrears recover

Also, the announcement includes an extension of the restriction on landlords using Commercial Rents Arrears Recovery to enforce unpaid rent on commercial leases, also until the end of the year.

This is a statutory procedure that enables landlords of commercial premises to recover rent arrears by taking control of the tenant’s goods and selling them.

“I am announcing today that we are extending support to protect those businesses that are unable to pay their rent from eviction to the end of the year,” says MHCLH Secretary of State Robert Jenrick.

“This will stop businesses going under and protect jobs over the coming months.

“This government is committed to supporting businesses and our high streets at this difficult time, and this extension of support will help businesses recover from the impacts of the pandemic and plan for the future.”

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Now commercial tenants will be protected until Christmas

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Businesses will be protected from the threat of eviction until the end of year, providing commercial tenants with greater security, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has announced.

The government will also extend the restriction on landlords using Commercial Rents Arrears Recovery to enforce unpaid rent on commercial leases

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EXCLUSIVE: Landlords slam New Look rescue plan announced today

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The British Property Federation (BPF) has criticised a deal signed by fashion retailer New Look with its creditors saying it undermines landlords’ interests.

After calling for rent reductions during the lockdown, New Look’s Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) should keep the high street stores afloat.

The ground-breaking agreement involves a three-year rent holiday on 68 of its stores and turnover-linked rent contracts on hundreds of others. In return for the rent cuts, landlords will be able to exit leases more easily if they can secure better terms elsewhere.

However, British Property Federation chief executive, Melanie Leech, tells LandlordZONE: “CVAs were designed to be short-term, as part of a wider rescue package, to support businesses in genuine distress.

“We support this rescue culture, but today’s result clearly demonstrates how the process is now wrongfully being used as a weapon by businesses to rip up leases permanently.

“Property owners find their interests again wholly undermined by a flawed process which forces them to accept a prejudicial outcome for their investors.” 

New Look’s chief executive officer, Nigel Oddy, has thanked its partners for supporting for the CVA, and adds: “We look forward to working closely with our landlords and all creditors to ensure we can navigate the uncertain times ahead together.”

The BPF has called for an end to the evictions ban in the commercial sector as it says well-financed businesses have been exploiting the Government intervention to avoid paying rent, when they are able to pay, which puts the sector’s ability to support vulnerable tenants at risk.

Reports in The Financial Times earlier this week suggested that the Government is preparing to extend the ban, set to end on 30^th September. Many landlords are still smarting from collecting only 18.2% of commercial rents on the last quarter day, 24th June.

Read more about Covid and the high street.

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My first ever working tenant!

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I have a flat to rent and had an enquiry from a single lady (with son aged 13) who will be working, but whose rent will be topped up by the DWP. All of my tenants to date in the area have never worked at all

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RENT CONTROLS: Sadiq Khan makes another bid to introduce London ‘freeze’

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The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called for a two-year rent freeze in the capital until the Covid pandemic eases during which landlords would be allowed to reduce, but not increase rents.

Khan has written to Secretary of State Robert Jenrick asking for the powers required to bring in a rent freeze as the courts service, landlords, tenants and solicitors prepare for possession claim hearings to restart on Monday.

It seems unlikely that Khan will get his request – Conservative ministers are in an almost constant state of war with the Labour mayor and have yet to grant him any of the PRS powers requests he has made in the past, including previous attempts to bring in rent controls.

And yet Khan clearly believes he has a chance this time. “More than ever, COVID-19 means that many of London’s private renters are facing a really uncertain future,” he says.

“More likely to be in lower-paid and insecure work, the end of the furlough scheme means even more renters in the capital are now at risk of pay cuts or losing their job.

“Yet at every stage of this pandemic, renters have been treated as an afterthought by the Government, with protection measures only ever rushed out at the last minute.”

Chris Norris (right), Policy Director for the National Residential Landlords Association, says: “Rent controls would be a disaster for anyone looking for somewhere to rent.

“As history and experience elsewhere tells us, all they would do is drive landlords out of the market exacerbating an already serious shortage of homes available.”

Read Khan’s statement in full.

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BREAKING: More official guidance revealed on how evictions will re-start next week

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The government and the courts have simultaneously published more information on how evictions will work once the current moratorium ends on Sunday.

Last month Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced an extended stay on eviction proceedings in England and Wales until that date, after which eviction proceedings for new and existing cases can continue.

But Jenrick also introduced six-month notice periods until at least 31st March 2021, effectively bringing in a six-month ban.
Nevertheless, the Master of the Rolls has announced the shape of how evictions will work after the stay on proceedings ends.

This is all about prioritisation as the tsunami of old and more recent eviction proceedings descend on the courts.

Evictions that will be given priority include anti-social behaviour and extreme rent arrears of at least 12 months’ rent or at least 25% of a landlords’ total annual income from any source.

Other exceptions include squatters, domestic violence, fraud, deception, illegal sub-letting and abandonment of a property.

The update also reveals that landlords will have to make themselves available for telephone meetings with tenants and their representatives prior to court hearings to ‘prevent the determent of compromise’, and also warns that court capacity during Covid will be about 25% of previous capability.

Accelerated claims

Finally, accelerated Possession Claims issued before 3 August 2020 will require a Reactivation Notice as with all other stayed claims, although court process changes due to Covid will render the ‘accelerated’ bit somewhat meaningless.

Away from the courts, the government has published updated versions of the Reactivation Notices that it is asking landlords and tenants to complete and lodge with a court before old cases can be re-started, and which must be sent before 4pm on 24 January 2021 to be valid, the guidance says.

But lawyer Giles Peaker says this date is “not necessarily the case. Any possession claim with a hearing already listed requires a reactivation notice to be filed and served at least 42 days before the hearing, according to Practice Direction 55C 2.5.”

More clarification is expected in the coming days as the September 21 deadline looms, but is expected to include a Pre-Action Plan pack from the NRLA setting out the ‘nine gold rules’ plus four sets of new guidance from the MHCLG and more advice from HMCTS.

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