14th
Feb 2022
An industry association believes the government’s reform of the private rental sector as outlined in the new White Paper is missing one most important pieces of the jigsaw as there is no mention whatsoever of who or what is going to ensure that the higher property standards will be met by PRS landlords.
Three of the major changes affecting landlords are the expected and feared ending of Section 21 possessions, the newly ‘decreed’ inclusion of the Decent Home Standards and the probable introduction of a PRS landlord national register
The industry association states it is in everybody’s best interests for better standards of privately rented homes, however what is the point of this unless there is a proper process of enforcement.
A spokesperson for the industry association said: “What’s key for ‘levelling up’ the private rented sector is ensuring that local authorities have the staff and resources needed to actively go out, inspect properties and prosecute” he says.
He continued:: “Abolishing Section 21 has been talked about for a while now by the government but what agents and landlords want to know is what will replace it to maintain confidence in the market for landlords.
“We believe the only workable alternative is to strengthen all grounds for possession and make them all mandatory - this is in-keeping with the spirit of the government’s intentions as tenant’s won’t be evicted unless they have been provided with good reason to do so.
“We await further details but additional commitments from the UK Government to build more genuinely affordable social housing is important because the long-term solution to address the lack of affordability in the private rented sector is to ensure that more social housing is built to reduce housing need.
“On home ownership, the UK Government’s plans to address the imbalance of housing supply will be welcome in many parts of the country with a clear focus on providing more people with more opportunities to own their own home. However, there is no mention of the anticipated housing needs of older people and the planning system must remove known barriers to maximising delivery.“
Richard Merrick of PIMS, said: “The sector waits with ‘baited breath’ to hear if the government will be introducing any ‘mandatory’ reasons and conditions of being able to gain repossession.”
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