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Revenge Evictions bill back in Lords this week
The Deregulation Bill, under which the government is introducing what is effectively a ban on so-called revenge evictions, will be debated in full by the Lords on Wednesday of this week before returning to the Commons for its final reading.
It is very likely that it will be passed by MPs and receive Royal Assent, turning it into law, on March 30.
Amendments to the bill passed by the Lords last month mean that, if the bill becomes law, when a complaint alleging a revenge eviction is received relating to a private rented property, the local authority for the area will contact the landlord to resolve the problem.
It will serve an improvement notice if the landlord is clearly at fault and there is a serious issue with the property.
Agents and landlords will then be prohibited from serving a section 21 eviction notice for six months following the issuing of a local authority improvement notice, and under those circumstances tenants may have the right of appeal against eviction.
The National Landlords Association has accused the government of using the Deregulation Bill “as a way of resurrecting the Tenancies (Reform) Bill which had previously failed to progress to a second reading in the House of Commons due to lack of support.”
This was the bill introduced last year by Liberal Democrat Sarah Teather which advocated the introduction of a defence against Section 21 possession claims, on the basis of a failure to maintain or repair a property – the so-called revenge or retaliatory eviction.
“We have yet to see any credible evidence of a problem significant to justify the need for additional legislation and we strongly believe that the changes …. represent a politically timed reaction to fear and anecdote, rather than a confirmation of commonplace poor practice within private housing” says Chris Norris, NLA head of policy.
The Residential Landlords Association says that while it condemns any attempts by landlords to engage in retaliatory evictions, it also claims that the proposed legislation is not necessary as sufficient laws already exist to protect tenants. Instead, what is proposed could have damaging potential consequences, it claims.
“Our survey of landlords last year underlined the fact that landlords are very reluctant to evict their tenants and when they do it’s usually for significant rent arrears or anti-social behaviour” says RLA chairman Alan Ward.
