Tenant left but brother paying rent and arrears?

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My letting agent has just worked out that my tenant (A) returned to Romania last year after catching Covid and is still very unwell. He is not returning to Scotland. His brother (B) has been living in the flat, paying the rent and also paying the rent arrears left by the tenant.

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REPORT: Landlords face a ‘dysfunctional’ court system when evicting tenants, warns NRLA

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Court wait times must be reduced urgently to avoid further disruption in the post-Covid PRS, says the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

Its research shows an 80% drop in possession claims between April 2020 and March 2021 – down to 22,700 – compared with 2019. Landlords made fewer total claims across those 12 months than they did in any three-month period prior to April 2020.

The Wait of Justice 2021: how Covid legislation affected possession report is drawn from Ministry of Justice responses to Freedom of Information requests, and shows that in Q1 2019 the mean average wait time for a landlord’s possession order to be issued was about seven to 10 weeks. In contrast, by Q1 2021, the average wait time had risen to between 15-18 weeks.

The NRLA believes the problem can best be solved by either adapting or ending administrative reforms introduced during the pandemic so that typical waiting times for a substantive hearing are reduced.

But it says the research also illustrates the need for a comprehensive package of financial measures to help tenants pay off rent arrears accrued during the pandemic.

While these findings show how landlords and tenants have responded with admirable resolve in the face of unprecedented challenges across the sector, they also reveal the dysfunction which continues to lie at the heart of the court system across England and Wales, says chief executive Ben Beadle (pictured).

“The majority of landlords have complied with the government’s requests to show understanding during a time of national crisis,” says Beadle.

“Now is the time to respond to landlords’ concerns about the future of the PRS by introducing a package of financial assistance that will provide greater security to many landlords and tenants over the long term.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – REPORT: Landlords face a ‘dysfunctional’ court system when evicting tenants, warns NRLA | LandlordZONE.

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EVICTIONS LATEST: EPC and gas safety certificates are NOT needed if AST began prior to October 1st, 2015

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The Court of Appeal has ruled that landlords are able to evict a tenant whose Assured Shorthold Tenancy commenced before 1^st October 2015 even if the prescribed paperwork such an EPC or gas safety certificate have not been served.

Most solicitors and landlords have until now assumed this was the case because the relevant pieces of legislation covering this aspect of housing law were interpreted as not being retrospective.

But tenant George Minster in Bexhill, East Sussex who was served a Section 21 notice in December 2018 at his flat (pictured, above) by his landlord and whose AST started in 2008 – later moving to a statutory periodic tenancy – contested this interpretation of the law. He won an initial hearing at a Magistrate’s Court in Brighton.

The 2015 legislation compels landlords to serve the prescribed safety documentation including EPC certificates by preventing evictions where these documents have not been served.

Following the Brighton court case another judge heard the arguments and ruled against the tenant in favour of the landlords, Darran and Susan Hathaway. The tenant was then given leave to appeal. This has now been decided in the Court of Appeal.

The Hathaways argued that it was not an ‘assured shorthold tenancy of a dwelling-house in England granted on or after 1st October 2018’ and therefore the need to serve an EPC did not apply.

The judges agreed, saying: “The Tenant relies upon the fact that section 41(3) of the 2015 Act provides that section 38 of the 2015 Act inserting section 21A of the 1988 Act applies to any assured shorthold tenancy which is in existence on 1 October 2018

“But in my judgment this reliance is misplaced. The consequence of this for present purposes is simply that section 21A can apply to a tenancy which is in existence at that time,” said Lord Justice Arnold (pictured).

“Section 21A(1) only bites on such a tenancy if and to the extent that the Secretary of State exercises the power conferred by section 21A(2) to prescribe requirements.”

The tenant’s appeal was dismissed.

Julie Ford, of the Landlord and Property Network and an advisor for the HF Assist letting agent advice line, says: “This confirms what we already assumed, as always it is good to have case law set a clear example.”

This case is not the only one regarding prescribed paperwork. Landlords are also waiting to find out if the Supreme Court will allow an appeal against the recent landmark gas safety certificate ruling known as the Trecarrell House Ltd v Patricia Rouncefield eviction case.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – EVICTIONS LATEST: EPC and gas safety certificates are NOT needed if AST began prior to October 1st, 2015 | LandlordZONE.

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Property supply to the lower end of the English private rental market

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Last year, we sought help from Property118 to make contact with landlords who were willing to help us with our research. We were overwhelmed with responses, and I am here taking the opportunity to thank everyone who got in touch.

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BREAKING: Ministry launches tool to help landlords and tenants solve repair disputes

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A new online that enables tenants in the private rented sector to resolve property repair disputes with their landlord or letting agent has been launched by the government.

Created in partnership with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), the tool asks tenants a dozen or question about how the disrepair problem has affects their property, circumstances, health and finances, whether it’s an urgent issue or not and also how their landlord or agent has behaved.

After completing this, tenants are then informed of their rights depending on the problem involved and then points them towards more help including how to contact their local council and how to report their landlord or agent for repairs failures.

The tool also features dozens of links to the Shelter tenant helpline and website guides and is designed to stop disputes escalating.

This is a key milestone in the MOJ’s Legal Support Action Plan, in which the government committed to exploring a number of changes across the full breadth of legal support, focusing on what legal support works for the people who need it.

“We are committed to ensuring that people have access to early legal support as it is vital that problems are resolved before they escalate,” says Justice Minister, Lord Wolfson (pictured).

“This pilot will help us understand the role of early legal support and how this can be designed around what works for people who need it. I am delighted that we are able to deliver this work with support from MHCLG and advice sector organisations.”

Read more about repairs disputes.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Ministry launches tool to help landlords and tenants solve repair disputes | LandlordZONE.

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No landlord should discriminate against tenants because they are in receipt of benefits

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Responding to a new report by the University of York on the supply of private rented housing to tenants in receipt of benefits, a spokesperson for the National Residential Landlords Association said:

“No landlord should discriminate against tenants because they are in receipt of benefits.

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PRS tenants should get same eviction protection as commercial ones, claims Generation Rent

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The tenant’s action group wants a PRS evictions ban to keep pace with the recently announced extended ban for commercial landlords.

Generation Rent has issued a statement lambasting the government for introducing and extended the eviction ban for commercial business tenancies without a mention of any such extension for private residential tenancies.

The government is expected to introduce emergency legislation fast-tracking a further 9-month ban for commercial tenants, plus making it a mandatory requirement that commercial landlords and business tenants, in dispute over pandemic related rent arrears, enter into legally binding arbitration.

Announcing the ban for commercial tenancies in the Commons, First Secretary to the Treasury, Steve Barclay said that the eviction ban will be extended for a further nine months, meaning that commercial landlords will be unable to evict their tenants for Covid related arrears until March 2022.

However, there was no mention of any such extension for the private rented sector (PRS) on which Generation Rent focuses its attention.

Generic term

“Generation Rent” has become something of a generic term used to describe a generation of those young adults (18-40) who rent residential property because many of them, due to the many factors behind rising asset prices, have been priced out of the housing market.

The organisation of the same name sprang up several years ago to support the interests of private renters and, as they say to “make sure that the voices of private renters are heard – by landlords, by policymakers, and by politicians.”

Championing

The director of Generation Rent, Baroness Alicia Kennedy (pictured), has voiced her concerns about the government’s inaction on the PRS while championing the needs of business tenants.

“The difference in the government’s treatment of businesses and private renters who have been hit by the pandemic could not be starker,” she says.

“If your business has fallen behind on rent by more than four months, that debt is ring-fenced, your landlord is encouraged to ‘share the financial impact’ and you are protected from eviction until March next year.

“If, however, you rent your home and are behind by four months, your landlord has been able to seek a possession order since September last year, and as of this month you get just four weeks’ notice before you’re taken to court.

“At the G7, Boris Johnson warned against entrenching inequalities during the recovery, yet at every turn the government has taken decisions that hurt renters, from freezing Local Housing Allowance while rents continue rising, to inflating house prices with the stamp duty holiday.

“Now a business’s pandemic debts are treated as exceptional, yet the same protection is not extended to people’s homes. To help renters bounce back from the pandemic the government must clear their arrears with a Covid Rent Debt Fund.”

Two million

It is claimed that nearly two million private tenants fear they will be unable to find another property if they lose their home as the PRS eviction ban is lifted. With the ban ending the government has come under pressure from campaigning groups to bring forward emergency legislation which would permanent increase protection for those private tenants who are struggling to pay their rent.

Councils have been warning of a “cliff edge” of homelessness in the coming months unless further action is taken further alleviate the pressure on tenants in serious arrears.

One study by homelessness charity Shelter found that the difficulties are affecting around 1.9 million privately renting adults, those most at risk at the end of the ban, which has been repeatedly extended.

The charity claims that of the private renters in England who are worried about losing their home, and who are already cutting back on heating and food to pay rent, over 70% are worried they will be unable to find another home in the future.

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Light bulb moment! Firm launches tech that helps keep HMOs Covid free

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A new technology has been launched to help landlords keep shared properties germ-free by simply switching on a light.

Lighting and energy specialist SaveMoneyCutCarbon has teamed up with US health-tech firm Vyv to bring antimicrobial light technology that inactivates and kills viruses on surfaces to the UK. 

Mark Sait (pictured), CEO of SaveMoneyCutCarbon, says that anywhere people gather, there’s an opportunity for bacteria and other microbes to grow and proliferate. “Left undetected on surfaces, these microbes can double in number every 20 minutes and can become millions overnight,” he tells LandlordZONE.

“Disinfectant chemical detergent sprays and wipes are effective but are not options in providing continuous disinfection. Current approaches are effective at and around the time of cleaning, but once anything or anyone new enters that environment, the cycle of contamination begins again.”

The UV-free light LEDs – in downlights and strip-lights – are effective against viruses as well as bacteria, mould, fungi and yeast on surfaces.

While they are being used in lifts, kitchens and workspaces, the US has seen a growth in demand for the technology in domestic fixtures such as bathroom extraction fans and Sait says this is an area that is likely to be developed in future.

He adds: “Commercial landlords of office suites, shared workspaces and corporate campuses for example would benefit from this technology and it offers a compelling investment to help businesses return to office spaces – a sector that has been affected heavily by the pandemic.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Light bulb moment! Firm launches tech that helps keep HMOs Covid free | LandlordZONE.

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