Industry News
No-fault evictions by bailiffs up 41% in one year
Shelter is urging the Government to make scrapping unfair no-fault evictions a priority. Ministry of Justice data shows the number of households removed from their homes by court bailiffs as a result of no-fault evictions is up 41% in one year in England. Between April and June 2023, 2,228
households were evicted by bailiffs because of a Section 21 no-fault eviction, up from 1,578 households since the same quarter last year. 21,332 households have been kicked out of their homes by bailiffs since the Government first promised to ban no-fault evictions in 2019. Private landlords started 7,491 court
claims to evict their tenants under Section 21 this quarter, up 35% in a year, putting thousands more renters at risk of homelessness. Section 21 evictions are a major
contributing factor to rising homelessness because they allow landlords to evict tenants with only two months’ notice and they do not have to give a reason. 24,060 households were threatened with
homelessness as a result of a Section 21 no- fault evictions in the past year – up by 21% compared to the previous 12 months. Te Government first promised to scrap
no-fault evictions in 2019 and in May, it finally published its Renters (Reform) Bill that would allow this to happen. Te Bill has since failed to progress through Parliament and Shelter is urging the Government to urgently prioritise its progress in the Autumn. Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said:
“With private rents reaching record highs and no-fault evictions continuing to rise, hundreds of families risk being thrown into homelessness every day.” “Landlords can too easily use and
abuse the current system. Some will hike up the rent and if their tenants can’t pay, they will slap them with a no-fault eviction notice and find others who can. We speak to renters all the time who feel like they have zero control over their own lives because the threat of eviction is constantly hanging over them.” “Te Renters Reform Bill will make
renting more secure, and for those who live in fear of the bailiffs knocking at their door, these changes can’t come soon enough. Te moment Parliament resumes, the government must get rid of no-fault evictions which have made the prospect of a stable home little more than a fantasy for England’s 11 million private renters.”
T
he Regulator of Social Housing has embarked on a major recruitment drive which could see it take on as many
as 100 extra staff, needed to deliver extra powers and responsibilities. Under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act the
body will be at the forefront of driving change across the social housing sector, as Ministers impose higher service delivery standards on social landlords and expect their customer focus to change for the better. From next year the regulator will start delivering
a programme of planned and reactive inspections, backed up by a raſt of sanctions including a power to issue unlimited fines on offending housing associations and councils. Adverts have already been out for four
Assistant Directors covering areas such as regulatory engagement, assessment and tenant engagement. Te recruitment process for additional posts is expected to continue into next
year, with the regulator taking a more active role in monitoring the performance of social landlords against the new consumer standards and tenant satisfaction measures. Tis is a far cry from the benign co-regulation
system previously implemented since the early 2010s, but it has been forced upon the social housing sector by increasing cases of service failures and high profile tragedies like the Grenfell Tower fire and the death of two year old Awaab Ishak and a damp and mould infested Rochdale flat. In recent years the regulator has taken something
of a back seat as the Housing Ombudsman has taken the lead in exposing service failures at social landlords and championing the rights of tenants. Writing on LinkedIn, Jonathan Walters, deputy
chief executive at the regulator, said: “Tese are exciting and important roles at the heart of our regulation. Tere has never been a better time to come and join the RSH and make an impact on the social housing sector.”
Regulator recruiting new staff to deliver extra responsibilities
Private landlords’ sales profits down
Private landlords selling property will typically make around £10,500 less than they would have done had they sold in 2022 according to a new analysis. Te data from letting and estate agents
Hamptons suggests that so far this year, the average landlord in England and Wales has sold their buy-to-let for £94,800 more than they initially paid for the property, having owned it for an average of 11 years. However this gain has shrunk by around 10%
or £10,500 from a record £105,300 achieved last year and is similar to what landlords selling in 2016 typically achieved. Hamptons have used Land Registry figures to
18 | HMMOctober/November 2023 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
make its calculations and the gains do not include tax and other charges. It said average gains by buy-to-let landlords
were down in every region, with the largest falls, in percentage terms, in the north. Tis, the report says, reflects a shiſt in the type of homes being sold, with smaller terraced houses and flats making up a higher proportion of buy-to-let sales, both of which have seen lower price growth. Te pressure on landlords caused by rising costs
across the board has seen rents rise with the report estimating around 35,000 landlords are coming off fixed-rate mortgages each month, with many trying to balance the books by paying down debt and bringing rents in line with market rates.
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