REFORMS: ‘Rethink your plans on Section 21 evictions’ landlord tells MPs
Successful landlord and property developer Kathy Miller has urged the government to rethink its plans to abolish Section 21 or face a big rise in court cases and spiralling bills for unpaid rent and property damage.
A Wiltshire landlord for more than 20 years, Miller (pictured) has submitted evidence of her personal experience renting out family homes – some of them to tenants with pets or on Universal Credit – along with 233 other individuals and organisations as part of the LUHC committee’s inquiry into reforming the PRS.
She believes the government’s White Paper proposals won’t result in a fairer private rented sector but instead will decimate it by removing the means to evict bad tenants.
Trash my house
“During Covid I had a tenant completely trash my house which cost £30,000 to put right, along with rent arrears of £7,500,” Miller tells the committee. “I couldn’t evict for 10 months despite being down for emergency eviction by the courts. I had to stand by helpless as my house was destroyed.”
Section 21 is mainly used for problem tenants – without it, there will be a massive increase in Section 8 evictions, she says. “The courts need to record why tenants are being evicted and make the statistics available.”
Proposals to give tenants the right to have a pet will also make evicting tenants with destructive animals even harder, adds Miller. “A pet policy can be cancelled in 14 days and in many cases the insurance won’t pay out. It leaves landlords with a garden full of waste, doors damaged by cats using them as scratching posts, fleas hatching six months later, and urine-soaked carpets. How do you evict these tenants without Section 21?”
The committee’s final examination of witnesses takes place on Monday.
