There is growing concern that a government-backed Private Members' Bill, attempting to outlaw so-called revenge evictions', may lack the evidence to justify a change in the law.
Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather has introduced a bill to stop retaliatory evictions - preventing landlords evicting tenants who make a complaint about essential repairs or poor conditions in their homes.
This follows a long campaign by housing charity Shelter, including a petition against these revenge evictions handed in to the government by a delegation which was joined by Teather.
The MP claims that retaliatory eviction is a particular problem in London. She says that whereas some two per cent of renters across the UK have been victims of revenge eviction in the last year, the total rises to seven per cent for those in London and up to 17 per cent for some migrant tenant groups.
The Bill will have its second reading in the House of Commons on November 28 and last week it was announced by Housing Minister Brandon Lewis that the government would back it.
However, the National Landlords Association says it is important not to confuse the use of a no-fault possession procedure to end a tenancy - which in the vast majority of cases is the final resort says the association - with a revenge eviction.
We don't talk about any other service provider seeking revenge from their customers and there is no reason to suspect landlords are any different. Sarah Teather's bill is aimed at tackling a perception of the worst case scenario', which is not the experience of the majority of renters who rely on private housing according to NLA chief executive Richard Lambert.
He insists there is a lack of hard evidence to support a need for any law change.
Courts are already at bursting point and unable to deal with the volume of housing issues we have and this will only add to that burden. Any substantial changes to the landlord's ability to end a tenancy risks exacerbating the housing crisis by unnerving lenders, and will jeopardise much-needed investment in providing more homes for the future says Lambert.
The Residential Landlords' Association is also voicing opposition to the bill and disappointment at the government's support for it.
The RLA claims that by supporting this proposal, ministers are handing nightmare tenants who bring misery to the lives of their neighbours and landlords alike, another weapon to prevent their removal.
Making it more difficult to evict anti-social tenants will make the good landlords think twice about investing in much needed new homes, leaving the market more open for crooked landlords who operate under the radar, the association says.
By backing a measure to tackle the minority of criminal landlords, Ministers will be penalising the vast majority of good landlords by making it ever easier for nightmare tenants to hold up eviction proceedings and continue causing misery for communities says RLA chairman Alan Ward.
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Comments
The Teather Bill is needed
Just shows how very, very, little this lady and other third rate politicians know about the practicality of the sector and of human nature. Most seem to want to get their name on the statute books by any means possible before collecting their generous pensions.
All that is really needed is proper regulation of agents and landlords which would see all the crooks leave the sector anyway.
"It's my property, I'll do what I like with it" springs to mind.
I wish the Government would just stay out of the PRS. S21 is ons of the the reasons why buy to let investors have provided much needed rental accommodation. Mess with that and it will screw the PRS.