Apr

Looming Welsh rental reform laws slammed for ‘huge holes’ despite being only months away

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Welsh landlords face uncertainty around their ability to evict tenants after their government again failed to approve vital regulations to clarify its imminent Renting Homes (Wales) Act.

The Senedd’s Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee has previously criticised gaps in the legislation – which takes effect on 15^th July – but this week failed to alleviate landlords’ concerns.

“There are still obvious regulations missing from the Act which comes into force in less than three months,” says David Smith (pictured), of solicitor JMW.

“Most obviously there is nothing that will allow Section 8 and Section 21 notices issued now to carry over beyond 15th July, despite the Welsh government saying on their FAQ pages that they will carry over.”

The government underestimates the work required for such a radical change in legislation, Smith tells LandlordZONE.

“There are areas that are really important we don’t know about and this still has to progress through the courts. I’m worried that if it’s rushed, there will be confusion and errors and might mean a landlord who should get possession, won’t, because the judge doesn’t understand the law.”

This doesn’t just impact landlords with one or two properties, he says, but social landlords and student landlords with hundreds of tenancies.

Smith adds: “In an Act, there is normally a section of ‘schedule of repeals and consequential amendments’ – but until we get that we can’t be sure about how it meshes with everything else. There will also be legacy stuff that hasn’t been repealed.”

Minister for Climate Change Julie James (pictured) told the committee: “We are keen to learn lessons and continue to keep the legislative programme under review. In the meantime, I can assure the committee that the priority is to continue to fully implement the remaining aspects of the Act.”

Smith hopes the next committee meeting scheduled for early May will provide more clarification.

Read more about the legislation.

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