Renters Reform Bill moves to next Stage
Renters Reform Bill finally moved to the next stage. After months of waiting, the Bill moves to Report Stage and MPs will have the opportunity to make further amendments.
The Demand for Regulation of the Property
I’ve been watching this ‘space’ for the last 18 years and when I started working in the property sector I did not understand why estate agents who assist consumers with the biggest purchase of their lives were not required to have even a minimum entry level qualification. But this also applies to letting agents who manage billions of pounds worth of stock.
We have a list of the primary, secondary legislation that agents need to be aware of and adhere to on behalf of their clients and it currently sits at 297. Clearly no one expects an agent to know each piece of Statute of by heart, but the fundamental principles of key legislation is paramount.
But the property sector does not just revolve around the law and compliance - think about key skills, customer service, customer care, complaints handling, building rapport and relationships, the benefits of NLP in business and so it goes on.
Michael Gove confirms “No-fault evictions will be "outlawed".
This morning, Housing Secretary Michael Gove told Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC that ‘No Fault Evictions’ will be banned by the next general election.
It’s difficult to watch this play out in a “Ground Hog” kind of way because since the announcement was made in 2019 that Section 21 (Form 6A) notice would be abolished, nothing much has really changed.
Of course, the Renters Reform Bill which will serve as the vehicle to abolish the Section 21 notice, is currently at the Report Stage, but the government has clearly stated that a ban of the notice cannot be enacted until the court system is improved, something confirmed by Michael Gove last year.
When asked by Laura Kuenssberg if he could guarantee that ‘unlawful evictions’ would end by the time of the next general election, Mr Gove responded that: "We will have outlawed it and we will have put the money into the courts in order to ensure that they can enforce that." A woolly response that is most definitely not possible because reforming the courts will not be a quick fix.
What next for the Renters Reform Bill?
A lot of chatter has appeared in the trade press over the last 24 hours regarding the Renters Reform Bill and the intentions of the Labour Party if they win a general election. A lot of the discussion circulates around the abolition of Section 21 (Form 6A), so much so that landlords are constantly having a ‘knee jerk’ reaction every time the trade press, national press, TV reports, a blog make reference to the notice disappearing. This has lead to many landlords selling up and exiting the letting sector.
With the greatest of respect to all those who report on the Renters Reform Bill, it’s irresponsible to mislead landlords in this way; landlords who in 2019 reacted to the initial proposal of abolishing the Section 21 notice were unfortunately mislead into thinking that firstly the notice would be abolished imminently. But let’s also think about tenants and the impact this ‘misinformation’ has affected them. Many tenants could have avoided having notice served on them and worse still, facing accelerated possession through the courts and possibly eviction. It has not and will not be abolished for a while.