This week I was delighted to hear that the Governments housing minister, Grant Shapps is proposing a faster procedure to evict tenants with a record of anti-social behaviour, which is very positive news for the residential landlord.
If it is successful, the proposal, which will be available to private and social landlords, will add a new mandatory ground for possession to the 17 mandatory and discretionary grounds already in force under section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (amended 1996).
This means is that landlords will be able to take into account tenants’ previous convictions for certain offences to enable them to evict troublesome tenants in a much shorter time span, which will be fantastic for those landlords who are plagued with consistently bad tenants who cause damage to the property or fail to pay their rent on time.
Trigger offences can be anything from a conviction for a serious offence related to housing, including violence against neighbours, drug dealing and criminal damage, breach of an injunction for anti social behaviour filed for by the landlord or even the closure of as premises.
All too often, efforts to tackle nuisance tenants can take far too long, and many landlords feel that the needs and rights of the perpetrators come before those of the landlord. This new procedure should finally bring some power to the victims.
Despite this, eviction is a drastic step and should be used as a last resort. Here at Belvoir, the leading Sheffield letting agents, we seek to reduce the likelihood that our landlords will have problem tenants at all.
We thoroughly reference all tenants, which has meant that we have been able to keep our rental arrears extremely low compared to the national average. In addition to this, we rarely need to go to court for evictions as we manage the process closely.
Landlords should also purchase Rent Protection Insurance as a back-up. This covers the landlord against non-paying tenants if they were to lose their jobs unexpectedly or if they were to fall ill, causing them to default. Our advisors are available to help you through this process and ensure that you are fully protected, should the worst happen.
Belvoir Lettings Agency Sheffield is the One Stop Specialists for Lettings including Property Management, Tenant Find, Investment and Wealth Management Advice, Fit-outs and Renovations, Furniture Packs, Investment Property Insurances and Mortgages
