Mrs May is seeking credit for announcing plans to remove No Fault Tenancies, and one would think perhaps they have always been there. That is, after a minimum tenancy period of six months (private sector) the landlord can apply to the courts and get possession without having to advance any reason, and the judge CANNOT refuse a possession order.
For background, revert to pre-1977, and recall the name 'Rachman', a crooked, violent thug landlord, forced evictions, dreadful conditions, terrorised tenants. North Kensington etc, and he wasn't alone.
In that year, the Labour Government introduced the radical and far-reaching Rent Act 1977, a major step forward for tenants' rights in the UK, ensuring that a court order HAD to be secured to obtain possession, and a judge had wide discretion to not grant if circumstances were held to warrant this.
There was one exception, please bear this in mind when reading the remainder of this article: Case13 in the 1977 Act provided ONE exception to the judge's discretion. In the situation where a landlord wanted to return to their home they had rented out, or for close relations, the judge's discretion was removed, possession was automatic.
There were howls of protest, especially from one political party, the-then Opposition, The Tories, led by .... Margaret Thatcher,already renowned for her removal of free school milk.... And from Landlords ....
In their 1979 Election Campaign, the Tories made great play of poor frightened landladies who simply wanted to return to their homes they had rented out but nasty horrid tenants prevented that, and Labour's Rent Act was to blame - Yes, see above. The Tories said this would improve the supply of rented accommodation, we heard much less about frightened old dears, oddly enough.
One of the first major enactments of Thatcher was the 1980 Housing Act which introduced shorthold tenancies - that is, minimum term 12 months, 2 months notice served 10 months + into tenancy, Judge had(s) no discretion, automatic possession. Later, 1988 Act reduced minimum term to 6 months, and since then the Tories changed the law to make shorthold the automatic tenancy agreement default.
This is the cause of the current crisis for private renters, the so-called No Fault eviction.
Some effects of Shorthold Tenancies:
- Claimed there would increased supply of private rented properties - jury out, no evidence.
- Many hundreds and more of No Fault Evictions, people lost their homes because the landlord had 'other plans' or none at all.
- A veritable racket in agency fees, and the growth of such Agencies. The Housing Acts intended that if a landlord did not seek possession at the end of the minimum term, the tenancy continued, until terminated at whatever time. Tenants having paid fees to agents at first should not have been forced to pay more fees, yet many many agents required tenants to sign a new shorthold as each minimum term ended, plus fees. A total abuse and deception.
- Tenants afraid to seek repairs for fear of No Fault eviction. I have seen properties in deplorable conditions for this very reason, families forced to live with mould, slugs, dangerous electrics etc, my own son thrown across a room some years ago when he touched a device, luckily not his pregnant partner.
- The same fear made the majority of tenants not challenge the awful levels of private rent which have characterised the UK rental scene for 40 years. Rents so high that those in work or not seeking Housing Benefit know this will not cover their rent, often by over £100 a month or more. Creating debt, rent poverty and other ills.
So, Conclusion:
- After Forty Years, the Tories now say they will Undo the harmful No Fault Eviction they introduced in the first place.
