A raft of measures from government and courts intended to help private tenants during the Coronavirus lockdown may be storing up a wave of litigation, warn experts.
Property law firm Hägen Wolf says temporary restrictions on the termination of both residential tenancies will expire at the end of next month and could lead to a surge of litigation based on rent arrears.
Measures that have already been introduced extending the notice period for notices to quit and notices under both sections 21 and 8 of the Housing Act 1988 to three months, which apply to all notices served before September 30 this year.
Any possession proceedings issued relating to rental properties - including requests for enforcement of an existing possession order - have been automatically ‘stayed’ until June 25 at the earliest, subject to minor exceptions related to trespassers and interim possession orders.
However, of course none of these measures mean tenants should not ultimately pay their rent - which may trigger disputes later this year.
“The government has made it clear that tenants are still liable for their rent and should pay this as usual. The pause on litigation does nothing to resolve issues, and we already see a spike in enquiries about possible legal action following lockdown" says a statement from the firm.
“For residential tenancies, the changes only slow down evictions and do not prevent them. We suspect that many residential landlords are waiting to see what further changes the government makes before issuing notices and possession claims on tenants who have fallen on hard times.”
%20-%20IMAGE%20Client%20Accounting%20%E2%80%93%20what%20are%20your%20options.jpg)
.png)
%20(002).png)
%20(002).jpg)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
"Rental sector may face wave of court cases after lockdown"
MAY???? There's no 'may' about it.
That's the biggest revelation I've heard since Night follows day !
see ' Landlords and Corona ' on our facebook post.
What about when the winter wave of the virus comes and the predicted 2nd lockdown the nhs are gearing up for happens..... it’s a slow death for the industry where you’ll watch it bleed out slowly until we hit a recession by Christmas and then the Tory scum Brexit will do the rest. Just be glad there will be work to do with managing the fallout for the private landlords as the industry fights yet another round of new legislation and regulation to protect a few that can’t pay for the services they need, between tenant fee ban, Brexit and the virus the industry on its last legs and needs reform, fees on a race the bottom, agents can’t charge for licensed time and qualified skills.
BrExit is great news.
All those immigrant jobs now can be done by British workers who won't export their wages to other countries like the Poles do with Child Benefit.
BrExit is the best thing to happen to the UK for decades.
Can't wait to be out of the rotten EU.
There is no need to go down that route. When tenants struggle to pay their rent and their landlord has a mortgage, we urge the landlord to get a mortgage holiday, and to transfer the benefit as a rent relief to the tenants for the amount and the time granted by their lender. This is safer for the landlord, as the cost of the mortgage holidays is simply transferred to future rents, and the incumbent tenant can get back onto their feet. No rent arrears, no eviction, and the landlord-tenant relationship is only strengthened. See the full rationales in this article ww.renthappily.co.uk/news/rent-breaks-during-pandemic-lockdown
Fool!
Please login to comment