Many will be aware that National has stated that they will reverse the law change made under this Labour Government allowing landlords to give tenants notice without a valid reason.
There will be many
landlords who support this move. Landlords should have the ability to remove
problematic tenants quickly and easily. The current law does not allow for
this. It can be challenging to obtain sufficient evidence to seek termination
through the Tenancy Tribunal against a troublesome tenant who is antisocial and
proving to be a problem within the neighbourhood. Even if you do, there is no
guarantee that the adjudicator will terminate the tenancy.
In 2020, we
witnessed significant changes to the Residential Tenancies Act that
strengthened tenants' rights. One of the many changes was the removal of
no-cause terminations. Landlords had to provide a valid reason for ending a
tenancy. Many feel that the pendulum swung too far in favour of tenants.
National argues
that the law change has proven to hurt many tenants, who, for whatever reason,
typically struggle to find a property to rent. Some tenants may have a poor
credit history, or their personal circumstances may pose too high a risk to
rent to. In the past, some landlords would give these marginalised tenants a
trial period, and if things didn't work out, they could remove them easily.
As a Property
Manager many years ago, I would convince some landlords to give tenants who
fell into this criterion a tenancy by placing them on shorter fixed-term
agreements. If things didn't work out, their tenancies would not be renewed,
and they would leave. Everything worked well when I did this; the tenancy
continued without major issues.
Tenancy law needs
to protect both landlords and tenants. A landlord chooses to be a landlord; a
tenant often has no choice, so the law needs to offer them greater protection.
However, over 90%
of rental accommodation is provided by the private sector - so, if we make being
a landlord too hard, who will provide accommodation for approximately one-third
of the population? The state can only house some people. This Government may
have started out with the best intentions, but it has largely failed to deliver
on the bold targets it set for housing and to make life better for renters. A
social housing waitlist and skyrocketing rents are evidence of this.
Despite the RTA
needing fine-tuning, it largely has the balance right. The law should make it
easier for landlords to remove antisocial tenants. Currently, it does not do
this. A landlord must serve the antisocial tenant three notices within 90 days.
In the notice, the tenant must be informed of what the antisocial behaviour
was, who was involved, what date, time, and location it took place, and how
many notices have been served. It must also explain that they have the right to
challenge the notice.
When applying to
the Tribunal, evidence such as witness statements, noise control reports, and
more must be submitted. Even then, there is no guarantee that the tenancy will
be terminated as the adjudicator will look at the tenant's personal
circumstances. Also, one must consider the time it takes to get a date at the
Tribunal, and this process can only be done for periodic tenancies. None of
this applies if you have a fixed-term tenancy. And here lies the problem. It is
simply too hard, with no guarantee of a positive outcome, to deal with and
remove antisocial tenants.
It is a reform of
the RTA and speeding up Tribunal proceedings which is the answer to the
challenge around antisocial behaviour.
Tenants need
protection and should exercise their rights without fear of retribution from a
landlord. Tenants will be less likely to do so if there is an underlying fear
that a landlord can issue a 90-day notice without reason.
The best way
National can support landlords is to remove the draconian interest
deductibility rule that Labour introduced and fine-tune the RTA, making it
easier for landlords to remove antisocial tenants.
