NRLA urges changes to the Renters (Reform) Bill to protect student landlords
The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) is calling for amendments to the Renters (Reform) Bill (RRB) on student lets to boost protections and ensure student landlords get their property back when needed.
The Government has already unveiled a mandatory possession ground for student landlords to regain possession of a property where:
· The tenants are either students or expected to be a student when the tenancy starts
· The landlord’s property is an HMO (house in multiple occupation).
Under the Bill, the notice period will be two months and enable a student landlord to gain possession between 1 June and 30 September 30.
The NRLA warns that restricting the possession ground to HMOs is not right and it should be extended to cover one- and two-person student properties.
That's because, the organisation says, in some areas these homes account for up to one in five properties in the student sector.
'Ensure that the Renters (Reform) Bill works for all student landlords'
The NRLA's head of policy, James Wood, told Accommodation for Students: "We want to ensure that the Renters (Reform) Bill works for all student landlords, and we want to see amendments to the Bill that will protect them, whenever they let their property to students.
"There is interest in taking an amendment forward so we should see this issue being debated in Parliament, though we can't guarantee that will happen."
He adds that there is a growing understanding in government that student landlords have a need to get their property back to re-let because of the sector's cyclical nature.
Mr Wood said: "This aspect has been a focus of our lobbying, and we welcome the new mandatory ground for student landlords. We just want to ensure it is available to all student landlords who need it each academic year."
Mr Wood reassured student landlords by saying that the government is listening to the sector and the potential issues of moving to periodic tenancies.
Possession ground for student landlords
The NRLA's campaigning on the Bill has seen several changes being made already, including the possession grounds for student landlords.
Anti-social behaviour claims will also be easier to achieve.
The organisation is still speaking with MPs and Lords to explain the Bill’s consequences and urging them to table amendments to be debated. In an article on the NRLA's website, Mr Wood says that under the current proposals, tenants could end their tenancies at any time with two months' notice, even right after signing the contract.
In some areas of the country, where demand for short term lets is high, this could mean that some PRS properties accidentally become short-term lets, which worries some landlords. Though in most cases, this is unlikely to happen as most tenants stay in a home for at least four years.
Landlords would face more uncertainty
However, landlords would face more uncertainty about how long their properties would be occupied, which could increase the risk of void periods.
There would also be issues over the cost of insurance or mortgage products that require a tenancy to be a minimum of six months.
Landlords would also have the regular expense of finding new tenants.
Tenants too would suffer with higher rents to compensate for the uncertainty and those in HMOs would also face the issue of moving out or renegotiating each time a tenant left.
Giving notice within the first six months
The NRLA says it doesn’t have an issue with the notice period length but wants an amendment to prevent, in the first six months of a tenancy, a tenant from giving notice.
This would, the organisation says, give landlords confidence in the tenure.
It would also help give tenants a period of security, prevent the property from being used as a for short term let, and give insurance brokers and lenders trust in the tenancy's length.
And the organisation wants protection from sub-letting tenants and highlights the successful intervention in a court case on rent-to-rent.
The NRLA wants to protect landlords from tenants who sub-let via a rent-to-rent company without permission or knowledge and for the Bill to changed so that the superior landlord would not be liable for the rent-to-rent company’s behaviour.
Mr Wood says that any compensation owed to a tenant should not come from the superior landlord but the immediate landlord - the rent-to-rent firm.
He would also like to see the Bill amended so any rent repayment orders will follow the rent-to-rent company directors, and this would prevent them from dissolving the company in a bid to avoid financial penalties.
The government is listening to our concerns
The managing director of Accommodation for Students, Simon Thompson, said: “Many student landlords will be pleased to hear that the government is listening to our concerns – it didn’t look that way when the Bill was first published!
“Here we have a chance to improve the Bill for both landlords and tenants and I hope this happens.
“Protecting student landlords and student tenants is crucial because without it we are looking at landlords leaving and making the student housing shortage even worse.”
