Landlord Action Founder Attacks New Legislation

The founder of eviction firm Landlord Action has revealed that he fears new legislation that came into force last week will allow tenants that complain about false repairs to stay in a property for long periods without paying rent.

Landlord Action Founder Attacks New Legislation

Changes under the Deregulation Act 2015 affect whether or not a landlord can serve a section 21 notice on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) in England.

The new legislation states that if a property is considered in disrepair, landlords cannot issue a section 21 notice for six months from the date an improvement notice is served by the council.

Paul Shamplina argued against the new law last year before the All Party Parliamentary Group. He said the rules could cause tenants complaining of false repair issues to avoid paying rent for longer while investigations are conducted.

He argued: “I think this could lead to a huge spike in complaints from tenants.

“I am a bit fed up of all the frequent landlord bashing. It is about time there were more positive statements for landlords in the private rented sector, which now stands at approximately 19% of the housing market.”

He also believes that the Government has not spent enough time or money on ensuring landlords and letting agents are aware of the changes under the legislation.

He continues: “There have been a lot of significant changes in a short amount of time and I would like to have seen the Government proportion a greater budget to educating landlords, particularly those that don’t use agents to manage their properties, to ensure they are up to speed with new legislation.

“We still receive calls to our advice line on a weekly basis from landlords who don’t know about the deposit scheme, which came into effect eight years ago.”¹ 

¹ http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/landlord-action-hits-out-at-new-legislation/