Propertymark, the letting agents’ trade body, has accused governments across the UK of using Covid 19 rule changes to slip in major anti-landlord changes to the rental sector ‘by the back door’.

An amendment agreed lastweek to the Northern Ireland Private Tenancies Bill will, if introduced, see notice to quit periods in Northern Ireland increased for most tenancies.

Daryl McIntosh, policy manager at Propertymark, comments: “Yet again we see the exceptional circumstances brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic used to engineer a change to legislation that is neither based on robust evidence nor supported by the sector.

“Whilst ensuring there is adequate security of tenure for tenants, there also has to be balance with appropriate and comprehensive methods for landlords to recover their property to ensure they are not deterred from investing in the private rented sector, not exemptions hastily introduced as an afterthought.

“The Private Tenancies Bill has the potential to improve much needed housing safety and standards but sustaining supply must also be an objective and the notice to quit arrangements have the real potential to constrain it if they are not reconsidered.”  

In Scotland, for example – where the private rental sector is already the most heavily regulated and controlled in the UK – restrictions introduced on minimum notice periods, banning Section 21-style evictions and mediation have been carried over from the early pandemic period to become effectively permanent measures. 

Wales is introducing similar changes this spring and summer, making legislation from measures first introduced to its rental sector in response to the outbreak of Coronavirus in 202l