A study by the National Landlords Association has shown that 88% of tenants are unaware of the new law that was introduced on the 1st October that protects them from so called ‘revenge evictions’.
The new law is part of the Deregulation Act and will prevent landlords from ending a tenancy using a section 21 notice if the landlord does not deal with a complaint that the tenant has made to the local authority about the state of repair of the property.
Although evictions like this are rare, the changes obviously have potential issues fro the landlord too as a landlord could find themselves with an unscrupulous tenant that registers a non genuine issue with their local authority, hence the National Landlords Association is asking councils to provide a clear structure of how they plan to deal with complaints.
The CEO of the NLA Richard Lambet says, “The majority of landlords only choose to end a tenancy if it’s absolutely necessary, so we have to make sure that the system isn’t abused by those simply trying to prolong the evictions process.”
Similarly, the protection for tenants must remain, Richard continues, “We all know that local councils are under-resourced, but housing problems must take priority. If a tenant complains about a potentially hazardous issue then both they and their landlord should have a clear expectation of how and when the council will deal with it.
From a landlord point of view, this is more evidence if it was needed that your properties must be correctly managed and that you are working with a reputable Lettings Agency – such as Belvoir! Sheffield – take a look at the our range of Landlord services, we can help with much more than simply marketing and managing your property.
