Gerard Boon, managing director of Boon Brokers, told Mortgage Introducer many landlords have fears around potentially being stuck with difficult tenants. “From my conversations with landlords, their biggest worry is regarding evicting ‘problem tenants’ and the prospect of facing lengthy tribunal claims,” he said. “Since no fault evictions have been abolished with the new bill, it’s going to be far tougher to remove tenants.”
According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, if a landlord wishes to evict a property’s tenants, they will need to have a legal reason to do so. Some of those reasons include not paying rent on time, committing antisocial behaviour in or near the property, or not caring properly for the property.
Boon also said the legislation may not be as beneficial as some renters assume. Landlords may not put in place stricter measures to vet tenants before occupancy, he said, and said that could have an especially negative impact on younger renters.
“My concern is for younger tenants who do not have a history of paying their rent on time and generally showing good character,” he said. “Landlords may decline first-time renters for this reason.”
Landlords are also concerned about how evicting tenants – even if they have met the criteria for an eviction – will work in practice.