LATEST: Bailiff freeze spreads to another big County Court in London

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A large County Court in London has written to its legal clients to warn them that some of their scheduled evictions face being cancelled or rescheduled.

The announcement has been made by the Civil and Family Court in Barnet (main picture), one of the major hubs handling evictions in North London.

It says, as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) press office has confirmed to LandlordZONE in recent days, that the delays are being caused by some court-appointed and paid bailiffs pulling out of ‘high risk’ evictions where they face possible injury to life and limb.

In these cases, the MoJ is struggling to provide personal protection equipment such as stab vests and other body armour and these evictions are therefore being stopped or delayed.

Rebooked

Barnet court says it is “sorry that this may affect your scheduled appointments but will ensure they are rebooked as soon as reasonably practicable”.

While this extraordinary situation would in normal times raise eyebrows, given the already long lead times for many landlords seeking to evict tenants, it has lead evictions expert Paul Shamplina (pictured), founder of Landlord Action, to warn that the bailiff system is now at risk of a severe crisis.

Saying the problems go back many years and that this latest blow is exacerbating existing structural weaknesses in the courts system, he adds: “This is just the beginning and without intervention the problem is going to get worse and worse.

“The historic lack of investment in the courts is now being compounded by changes in regulations and rising interest rates, sparking a landlord panic to exit the rental market.”

Landlord Action is calling on judges at County Courts to start granting leave to transfer more eviction cases with serious arrears to the High Court to share the burden of rising workload, as an increasing number of County Court bailiff evictions are being suspended.

Daren Simcox, CEO of High Court Writ Recovery, a private bailiff firm specialising in High Court writs and evictions across the UK, says the number of County Court bailiffs employed by courts to attend evictions has been waning as government policy has affected team sizes, meaning some bailiffs now cover multiple courts resulting in unmanageable workloads.

View Full Article: LATEST: Bailiff freeze spreads to another big County Court in London

MARKET: High rents consign younger tenants to the house of mum and dad

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First-time renters accounted for just 4.6% of new tenancies during the first five months of the year, as more would-be tenants rely on the hotel of Mum and Dad.

With average monthly rents topping £1,000, young adults can save £12,290 by living rent-free with their parents each year, according to Hamptons, which reports that rising rents mean the share of tenants leaving the family home has been steadily falling in Great Britain since 2015.

Then, first-time renters made up 6.1% of all tenants who moved into a new home – equating to 71,860 new rented households in England – while during the first five months of 2023, this fell to 4.6% – about 43,280 new rented households.

Hamptons estimates that if young adults continued to move from the family home into rental accommodation at the same pace they did eight years ago, it would mean there would have been an extra 104,550 households looking to rent in England between 2016 and 2023.

Staying at home

As rents have risen, would-be tenants are staying at home for longer to build up their savings to afford a larger home or rent with friends. 

It says 32% of tenants who moved out this year rented a studio or one-bed in Great Britain, down from 37% last year, while the proportion who left the family home and rented a prperty with at least two bedrooms rose from 63% in 2022 to 68% this year.

Aneisha Beveridge (pictured), head of research, says young adults are staying at home for longer to save up, with some skipping the rental market entirely and going on to buy a home instead.

She adds: “The good news for tenants is that rental growth is starting to cool, and we expect that to continue throughout the remainder of the year.”

Read more about rising rents.

View Full Article: MARKET: High rents consign younger tenants to the house of mum and dad

Landlord defeats HUGE rent repayment claim by tenants who owe HER £17k

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A landlord in Dartford has batted off a huge rent repayment order (RRO) claim made by her tenants after a judge dismissed the case during a virtual Property Tribunal hearing.

Manjit Sanghera, who co-manages the family detached property on the outskirts of the Kentish town with her husband, had faced an RRO claim of £14,400 despite the tenants owing her nearly £17,000 in rent.

The tribunal’s three judges heard claims by tenants Osaretin and Oghomwen Osagiede that Sanghera and her husband had ‘harassed’ them during their tenancy, which commenced in June 2020.

The tenants said their landlord’s frequent and unannounced visits to the property were interfering in their right to ‘quiet enjoyment’ of the property, although only two instances of unplanned door knocking were evidenced – one of which was a welcome chat and the other a visit to assess the repair of a damaged garage door.

The tribunal, after hearing detailed evidence from Sanghera and her letting agency as well as the tenants, dismissed the RRO, noting that the tenants had failed to prove their landlords’ ‘bad behaviour’.

“On the basis of the evidence before the tribunal the [tenants] have failed to satisfy it beyond reasonable doubt that the [landlord] carried out acts likely to interfere with [their] peace or comfort of the property,” the judges said.

Eviction

Sanghera attempted to remove the tenants including issuing them a Section 21 notice of eviction in June 2021, which they contested over the serving of a How To Rent Guide and Gas Safety Certificate, and a Section 8 has now been issued after the rent arrears built up.

The judges sided with the Osgiedes on one point – that their boiler had not worked properly for many months despite requests to fix it and that on several occasions they were without hot water for themselves and their son.

But the tenants have not paid any rent since January 2022 and Sangera highlighted how she had been forced to use her savings to pay her own bills after the Osagiedes stopped paying rent, which was one of her major sources of income after her husband retired.

The tenants have until next week to appeal the decision.

Read more about RROs.

View Full Article: Landlord defeats HUGE rent repayment claim by tenants who owe HER £17k

Good landlords have nothing to fear – Polly Neate

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Polly Neate, the chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, says that good landlords have nothing to fear from the Renters’ Reform Bill which could ‘transform the lives of millions’.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Ms Neate says that since the deregulation of private renting in the Housing Act of 1988

View Full Article: Good landlords have nothing to fear – Polly Neate

The perfect storm for landlords and tenants has arrived

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A financial expert is predicting misery for the property market in the months to come with rising interest rates hitting both landlords and potential first-time buyers.

Sarah Coles, the head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, says that with house prices and sales falling

View Full Article: The perfect storm for landlords and tenants has arrived