Campaigning charity Shelter is nearing a controversial signature threshold in its petition about the Renters Reform Bill.
It now has over 123,000 of a target 125,000 signatories for the petition, which relates to Shelter’s believe that there’s a conspiracy amongst MPs, landlords and others in the private rental sector to water down the Renters Reform Bill.
The charity - which is coinciding the campaign with its traditional pre-Christmas fundraising exercise - claims that the progress and integrity of the Renters Reform Bill are being “disrupted by landlord MPs throwing their toys out of the pram.”
It does not specify who the MPs are, nor their demands to - in Shelter’s words - water down the provisions of the Bill.
But on Shelter’s website the charity claims: “If Michael Gove appeases their self-interested demands, he risks passing a watered-down law that doesn’t give renters the rights they desperately need.
“It’s his job to make sure they know this isn’t all about them. Email him today. England’s 11 million renters need a government who cares about them. Right now, 172 families a day are served a Section 21 ‘no fault’ eviction notice. Yet we’re still waiting for reform while self-interested landlords demand unreasonable concessions. Together, we can challenge their voices.
“It’s renters who are feeling the stress of the constant threat that they’ll be served a no-fault eviction. It’s renters who are spending huge sums of money on rent in substandard properties. It’s renters who are getting ill, living in unsafe homes, scared to complain in case they’re hit with an eviction notice.
“Tell Michael Gove if he plans to keep his promises, he must pass a watertight Renters Reform Bill without caveats or loopholes.”
On X - the social media platform previously known as Twitter - Shelter chief executive Polly Neate writes: “Show them we know what they’re up to and we want a Bill that gives renters decent rights at last.”
Shelter’s website gives a simple guide to the email, including a template outlining every element that petitioners should include.
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Still this extraordinary belief that investors will choose to be landlords, no matter how challenging the red tape, low the return or difficulty in getting their property back. These pressure groups have already exacerbated homelessness by driving landlords away. Without Section 21 I’m off too - and if that is ‘throwing my bricks out of the pram’, so be it.
Constant threat of eviction? Polly must know some really bad tenants. 😉
Two flats sold, just two left which are rented to professional tenants who are sensible and pay their rent on time. Not likely to be the type of tenants that Polly Bleat loves to dream about. 💤
Number of people HOUSED by Shelter still stands at that very round figure of ZERO! 🤣🤣🤣
How dare Shelter, elected by nobody, criticise MPs who are elected representatives!
Section 21 is "no reason given" not "no fault". Sometimes there's a fault, sometimes a valid reason.
The usual reasons a good tenant would be evicted is if the landlord wants to sell, has major health issues, was only letting the property while they were working elsewhere or has to carry out major improvements.
Section 21 is often used when Section 8 would be more appropriate purely because it's more certain.
I am not sure abt Section 8 being "more appropriate".. The new rental law is supposed to make it easier to evict for anti social behaviour. Such a claim by Grove (is he on drugs? ) being blithe nonsense.
Neighbours can be too intimidated to publicly complain like an old lady above my noisy tenants. Crafty tenants can cause deliberate damage by such actions as deliberately not opening bathroom windows and never using the fan in order to claim it's a "revenge eviction". There is possible "revenge" destruction by the tenant on eviction. And even violence towards the landlord or agent. Most landlords would rather evict under 21 and claim they have been forced to sell by a massive back dated tax bill or whatever... Such a pretence to serve and use Section 21 may not stop the repossession being difficult but it will help to cool matters AND IS GURANTEED POSSESSION.
They are like little termite’s 😂 they never stop 🛑
An audit into how the charitable donations are used should be called about shelter. It uses public money it should be a matter of public record on how the money is spent. I wonder how many people know how many six figure salaries are paid inside this so called charity (Business)
You can see exactly how they spend your donations, just go to Shelters website and download their annual report, england.shelter.org.uk/what_we_do/how_we_spend_your_money
Supported by, among others, Birmingham Midshires; B & Q; HSBC; M & S; Nationwide; Besst Western; FatFace; Network Rail and Wayfair.
Forgot to mention: "We employ over 1,270 (1,158 FTE) people"
The Housing Charity must not invest in housing??? "Shelter is a social justice organisation which seeks to invest ethically. As such, Shelter’s Investment Policy generally excludes from the portfolio organisations whose primary business relates to alcohol, arms, gambling, high interest rate lending, housing and property development, oil, coal and gas, pornography and the sex industry, or tobacco."
I’m can’t see nearly enough watering down going on. It needs to be binned totally.
With the amount of folk enter I g the Uk. If there is owt unit fir em they’ll sign it. So in a way surprised she ain’t got double the number.
If a tenant is now a lifelong tenant, it follows they must have a far greater responsibility for the upkeep of the property, e.g. decorating, mould caused by tenant lifestyle, gutters, drainage blockages, broken or damaged fixtures and appliances, minor roof repairs, garden upkeep, replacing carpets and flooring after an agreed period, agreeing to regular inspections and penalties applied to damage caused by the tenant and not reported, penalties/eviction for overcrowding and subletting for profit beyond that agreed in the initial Agreement, penalties for wrongly accusing and taking the landlord or free holder to court as a result of 'tenant revenge', ensuring and paying to keep the property current with all new regulations e. g. gas - electric -water - building regs etc.
Times are changing, and the tenant must pay their part in the new tenant/leasehold/freeholder relationship. Poverty is no excuse for not being responsible.
That's all very sensible. But politically there is no appetite for any of this. All tenants are considered to be angels and all landlords are devils. It is as simple as that.
Shelter is highly irresponsible. They just press for the transfer of ownership rights from landlord to tenant without consideration of the obvious consequence that landlords will stop letting to people who want indefinite accommodation.
If 2.74M English private Landlords cannot get together as a union and fight back, we deserve everything we get.
What for standing up for tenants someone has to.
There has to be a balance between landlords' rights and tenants' rights, Sandra. If landlords are going to lose control of expensive properties then they won't let them out - or they will only let them for short fixed periods of time.
You may be experiencing the consequences now of landlords being worried about letting - not many properties available and high rents. However, the Welsh legislation is more landlord-friendly than the proposed Renters Reform Legislation.
I second what you say Ellie. I am one landlord who is now too scared to rent my properties out. Evictions are happening. Properties are not returning to the rental market!
I wonder, with the free legal aid tenants now have Shelter are much less useful. As far as I can gather Shelters main function is to provide legal advise.
Shelters main function is to create jobs for useless people. Especially the CEO on £150k.
For once I agree with Polly - the RRB does not give tenants a better deal! Unfortunately it also doesn't give LL a better deal either! In fact its main effect will be to drive LLs from the sector, reduce availability & increase rents. It certainly isn't the 'once in a generation chance to improve the lot of tenants' that it is supposed to be. Who would be a tenant when even the people on your side make things worse!
Yes Robin. However you are forgetting that Shelter & co expect all of the above done at LL expense. Never mind that this would equate to a reasonable 50% rent uplift. Maths was never a strong point for these organisations. It comes down to their main aim and that is they want us to provide a product for less than cost and the right to abuse the LL at every turn. It’s the politics of envy & bitterness the whole way through.
Jahan, a lot of people are already providing houses to rent at less than cost. For example, I have a £100K house rented at £650pcm. That just about covers the interest on £100K if you include the tenant tax, as I could have sold the property and paid off the mortgage at another place, and not had the maintenance and other costs to pay for either, or the hassle of dealing with tenants who wait two days until Monday to report a broken boiler and then demand that I call out an emergency engineer at horrendous cost to fix it there and then at 4:30pm, reject an offer to have it fixed the next morning so it has to be looked at on Wednesday at 4:30, part ordered and fitted on Thursday 4pm, in the meanwhile complaining that I am failing in my legal duty as a landlord t to have it all fixed within 24 hours and threatening to take the matter to the CAB. So I'm probably losing about £200pcm compared to if I had sold it and dealing with all this hassle, but still can do nothing right. I think I will definitely sell this one when the current mortgage runs out.
And the response from our representative Beadles About.........???? Precisely Zero, Nada, Ziltch, Not A Peep, Jack Sh1t...
Thanks Ben
Student housing is all sorted. Looks like he can keep his S21 to deal with bad tenants. So why would be bother ;)
Shelter a Rogue Charity Organisation that Houses no one has some Cheek and shouldn’t have any say whatsoever in an industry they don’t support who house 11m. Their Charity Status should be Removed instead of giving them £15m Public tax payers money.
Yes Poly got a soft number from her predecessor Colin former CEO. £150k pa & a CBE for what.
Banging my head against a brick wall right now!!! Shelter would help tenants/the homeless in a much more useful way by working WITH landlords instead of this constant narrative of the landlord being the bad guy - which is only serving to reduce the number of properties available to rent. Why can't they see it? The majority of landlords are decent, responsible people who want to provide good quality rental properties. Yes there are a few rogues in the sector, but there are also a lot of bad tenants. But this narrative against landlords suits Shelter, they get to wear the halo, get lots of publicity and justify their huge salaries.
Its not an Eviction at All unless it’s during a Contract Period.
Otherwise it’s end of Contract Period and the Tenants haven’t complied with their obligations and abided by the Contract.
Therefore putting the landlord to the inconvenience and costs of having to apply to the Courts for the fulfilment of his rights under the law and has no other remedy, (The local Authorities are implicated in all this encouraging Tenants to breach the Contract and fill up the Courts which is why they are full disgraceful behaviour and not fit to hold office).
100% Correct Michael, had this with two properties. One I got back but the tenant trashed it and then did a runner. He told me that the council had advised him to sit tight at the end of the contract and there is nothing I could do about it. A year without rent and refurb costs. Now with letting agent on guaranteed rent with increase every year built in.
Another is still ongoing and detailed on here a number of times, again council advised them to sit tight until I go through the court process until it gets to bailiffs evicting them. More costs and more drama, speak to the council and the only thing you get back is it's their word against yours...!
I would fire the lot of them in local council.
By constantly threatening and attacking PRS landlords, Polly & co will likely cause more homelessness than the Luftwaffe managed back in the 1940s.
I’m Out
Just checked out a tenant
Not looking for another
I have tenants in a house that I've been trying to get possession of for a year now. (Inverness) The council tells them to stay put as they have nowhere else to put them. The first tier tribunal in Glasgow have rejected 2 applications for eviction so far on "technicalities". Who would want to be a landlord in Scotland? I'm selling the whole portfolio just as soon as I can... It's only gong to get worse!
Not that much better in Wales, Shane.
I had the same problem trying to get back possession and the tenant 'did a bunk'.
Ellie said that the Welsh legislation was more landlord friendly than the RR Legislation.
However, that is I think, just the start, as the WAG and Rent (not so Smart) Wales have to justify their existence by continually seeking new initiatives to attack genuine landlords.
Plaid Cymru (who are in bed with Labour) recently proposed a ban on rent rises and evictions during the winter period.
Things can only get worse here and I am putting my rents up sharply, before they also decide to limit the rent increases to a small percentage.
If this results in my tenants' leaving, then so be it, as I will then be selling them all as they become empty, except for two commercial properties with flats above, which I intend to keep for now.
How ironic that Polly would accuse MPs of duplicitous conflicts whilst she herself has clearly gone being the remit of a "housing charity"!!!
Polly's continued aggression toward landlords is clear evidence that her aim is to grow shelter under the umbrella of being a housing champion for the poor whilst ignoring the obvious facts that her actions have, are and will continue to harm the housing market for the people she's supposed to champion for!
Under Polly's guidance, Shelter have continually mislead the public on such matters. So for example they have claimed that S21 notices directly contribute to homelessness whilst ignoring the obvious fact that if all private rented property is actually full then no notice has actually contributed to any homelessness! Ironically her actions in targeting landlords has directly caused many to sell up and reduce the rental stock for homeless people though!
Frankly Polly, in my opinion, is a prime example of hypocritical socialist delusion!
Hypocritical because Polly herself is pretty well off and not directly affected
Socialist because she wants to share the wealth but not hers
Delusional because she seems to really think she's doing good whilst she's not.
Shelter wants the PRS to be like social housing... OK. Why dosent Shelter campaign for Councils to be able to directly rent from private LL's, with the Council responsible for all maintenence and certification?
Peter M’. you didn’t mention all the other costs like licensing Compliance, Annual Certs and pets costing a fortune, have to go there as well as all other required visits, have the Electrician or Gas Engineer with you, dance around to suit a dog you can’t go in because dog is there and have to make an other appointment to suit the dog imagine telling that to the Gas or Electric man with a busy schedule probably self employed and a living to be earned.
The other issue the cost of Renting based on your experience £100k property @ £650. pm, if I am to go with this example I have an £800’000 licensed house in Acton let for £2’200. pm what does that equate to. Have they got a load of alternative providers lined up to replace us to provide simple properties for those very affordable Rents thought not ?.
I rest my case.
I charge undermarket rents and in London make 4% before tax.. I have already sold two properties because of the RRB (and if not passed the Lab version).. Capital gains is holding me back on the others but a rent freeze will break my back.
Forget about Tenants painting in the main I don’t want paint smattered on PVC or Aluminium window frames and doors, on light fittings or door ironmongery. I don’t want rubbish emulsion £2. a litre causing mould, if they got an itch for painting buy your own pay your Mortgage and leave us alone.
I managed one property where the tenants had painted over marks in the outer hall with an excellent colour match . . . until you looked from an angle. Then you saw that the original was vinyl, not matt.
Never let tenants loose with a paint brush they will make a right F up of it
My Nigerians wanted to paint. I said no. They did it anyway. Not a good job. Kids graffi'd all of the walls in each room before they left anyway.
One of my tenants painted over the light switches and sockets.
Yes Nick been there got that tee shirt as well
It's not a nice tee shirt is it.
Thankfully it's up for sale. Agents have said don't bother refurbishing it as you won't get your money back. But paint is relatively cheap. If I do it I can spruce up the living room, bedrooms and maybe the kitchen. I will leave the ceilings :)
Nick good advice leave it alone they’ll probably pull it to bits anyhow. I am guilty of the same try and leave it nice them like I did even left WM & FF in perfect working condition, next I seen them on the scrap collection truck.
My friend same way he Polished to wood floor when selling, later I seen the workers with shovels mixing Concrete on them.
Will do. They'll probably change it anyway!
At what point is Polly going to realize that she is forcing landlords to quit and sell up? and she is a huge cause for the increase in homeless people? She probably doesn't care so long as she gets her 6 figure wages. My next rental house is looking lovely, it's bringing in 5.5% PA (about £12K per year) with no expenses. I'ts called sticking it in the bank. There's no repairs to take care of and no tenants calling me 24/7 to complain about the neighbors kids. I see another rental coming on early next year with roughly the same deal. Maybe when house prices in our are have hit rock bottom, I may buy another house but at the moment interest rates are so good and with the looming RRB, I can not justify buying another house. Well done Polly Bleat (Sorry, the name just suits her so much).
Polly knows perfectly well what the results of her bleating are are but it suits her narrative because it helps to portray it this way as it increases the donations to Shelter enormously!
I've just sold both my BTL flats in London. I might have considered remortgaging them again and just accepting the lower profit from them but certainly not with the RRB waiting in the wings. That's two fewer properties available pushing local rents up higher. And I feel very happy to have escaped before the sh1t hits the fan.
Shelter should change its name to Evictor, I guarantee the majority of people who signed that petition did so with no knowledge of Section 21 or any other Section. They blindly think that if Shelter say it’s bad then it must be. In truth they are voting for less homes to rent & more homelessness!
I agree with you - every tenant or prospective tenant I have ever asked has no idea what SHELTER actually do - every single person has been shocked when they find out SHELTER do not actually provide housing for ANYONE!
170 section 21 a day? How many administrive as it served with a renewal offer? How many for rent arrears leading to non renewal? How many for damage or neglect to the property? How many for anti social behaviour? How many because the landlord wants to move back on? We all need to write to our MP's and go on TwitterX to counter attack this evil propaganda.
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