Landlord Law Newsround #327 » The Landlord Law Blog

Welcome to Landlord Law Newsround let’s see what has been happening in the housing news this week.

Are specialist housing courts the way forward?

Propertymark has called for specialist housing courts with expert housing judges who can expediate cases and maintain a high standard which would be to the benefit of both landlords and tenants alike and speed up the court claim process.

It has called on the Government to make sure this is in place before the removal of section 21 and to reform the section 8 legislation.

Research from Citizens Advice has identified that just 23% of tenants feel confident going to court if they encounter issues. 54% said that due to the current complexity of the court process, they would not take a claim to court. And 45% said they were deterred by the length of time it takes.

Propertymark has been a long campaigner for the introduction of a dedicated housing court system where landlords and tenants alike can be treated fairly and strike a fair balance. This view is also shared with the House of Commons Levelling Up and Communities Committee, who admitted the biggest obstacle to removing Section 21 is the current ‘capacity of the courts’.

Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark stated:

Propertymark is keen to see a dedicated and specialist housing court within the wider system that will be fully geared to deliver on its objectives before any such change. Failing to address the capacity of the courts could lead to substantially longer waiting periods for housing issues to be addressed. All new alternatives must be fully stress tested and be fit for purpose from day one of any proposed changes taking effect.

We stay with the court system where a County Court has found that section 21 notice could not be used where there is no gas certificate prior to the tenancy.

Section 21 and valid gas certificates

I’m sure that most landlords now are aware of the Trecarrell House Ltd v Patricia Rouncefield case where the Court of Appeal ruled that as long as a gas certificate was dated before the start of the tenancy a section 21 could still be used even if it was not served to the tenant at the beginning of the tenancy.

A case heard recently in the County Courts, Byrne v Harwood-Delgado has now found that a section 21 could not be used to end a tenancy if the landlord has not had a valid gas certificate prior to the tenancy starting.

Paula Haverkamp, a senior associate and litigation executive at Nelson law firm said

Although this case is not binding as it is a County Court case, however, it is extremely persuasive and being applied by the Courts, it could provide more protection for tenants and improve their ability to be successful in defending Section 21 possession proceedings. Tenants may not need this type of protection if the plans to abolish No Fault Section 21 evictions are enforced, however, in the meantime, it’s certainly positive news for tenants as it gives them and their representatives extra defences against Section 21 possession proceedings.

Scotland’s new repairing requirements ‘flawed’

The Scottish government brings new a ‘Repairing Standard Guidance’ to all landlords from the 1st March this year. This sets new repair standard that all landlords must comply to. Jonanthan Gordon, a high profile letting agent of Clan Gordon agency has hit out at the government and is now lobbying them saying that these latest regulations have ‘major flaws’ and the time scales are too short to adhere to them.

One requirement is to replace lead water pipes, but he says the government has not given enough time to meet this requirement and not only that, but the work that actually needs to be done to meet this new legislation is by no means clear.

Water pipes in rented properties will need to be free of lead piping from the boundary to the kitchen tap, but in older houses and properties with shared pipework, this could mean ripping up floors and walls, causing significant disruption and huge costs with no grants available. And, at best, there can be no guarantee that all lead has been removed.

He says

Our view is that landlords, especially in older tenement buildings, are heavily penalised by this new rule. We feel the rules on lead in water should be part of the Tolerable Standard so that all owners are required to comply. Not only is the government trying to get landlords to solve a problem affecting the whole community, but they are making it unlikely to have any impact on the amount of lead as it will be virtually impossible in most tenements to get common agreement.

Most critically he adds:

No matter what process we follow to try and ensure clients’ properties are compliant with the standard, surely the Scottish Government must accept that this is impossible to achieve in a few weeks?

It will be interesting to see how this is resolved with only two weeks until the deadline.

Maintenance costs for landlords rise

A new report by Fixflo, a maintenance management company, states that the average spend for landlords a year on fixing general maintenance repair work is now at over £1000.00 a year, with an average spend of £535 for leak-related repairs. They have identified the most common repairs reported by tenants as follows:-

72% water and leak emergencies
15.96% alarm and smoke detector emergency issues
5.62% electrical emergencies, mainly dangerous broken sockets
2.65% broken windows
1.77% gas leaks

Quite a bit there to contend with! Furthermore, two in five repairs are reported outside of ‘office hours and weekends’, with emergencies 20% more likely to happen out of hours, with an average fix time of four days.