Here we go again!

Déjà vu

It’s happened again! The soap opera that is British politics has come up trumps again and another Prime Minister has come crashing down and a new one crowned!

The events of the last few weeks are well documented and yes, the sensible money was on yet another change at the top. However, to really badly misquote Oscar Wilde from The Importance of Being Earnest, “To lose one (Prime Minister) …… may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

Of course the repercussions of all of this have wide and serious consequences and whilst the major U-turns and turmoil these have caused have occupied the concerns of commentators, within our smaller bubble of the private rented sector, chaos was also reigning.

It started with Tweet!

It all started, as it usually does these days, on Twitter, when a senior Times journalist, tweeted that Number 10 was reviewing the scrapping of Section 21 no fault evictions and that the whole rental reform agenda was not seen as a priority. This revelation caused an immediate frenzy of reaction from all and sundry in the sector.

Predictably, the suggestion was welcomed by the landlord community and condemned by the tenant focused groups and the opposition.

I said at the time though, that Government’s often use friendly newspapers to test out ideas as rumours before announcing them. If they go down badly, they deny them. Lo and behold within twenty-four hours, the Prime Minister, herself had with a terse two-word response, scotched the rumour in Parliament. The following day in a more detailed answer was given by the then Secretary of State, who stated legislation will be laid this Parliament. Calm the waters and sail on! Of course, with the latest developments, this could all be up in the air again!

Well, this was just the eye of the hurricane! Things were just about to get even stranger. Within a week the Prime Minister was gone!

A leadership selection was announced to select a replacement in double quick time; a blast from the past, albeit from only a few months ago, emerged as the possible favourite, flustered then faded with a flick of his unkempt blond hair; a two horse race that wasn’t, as the last two became the last one, literally as the starting pistol was cocked; a contest became a coronation and the runner-up last time grabbed the gold medal that alluded him such a short time ago.

It then got bizarre! As with all these things, the new guy at the top, wants his own team in place, so I strongly suspected that the incumbent Secretary of State responsible for housing was for the chop, however what I did not see coming was the return of the architect of levelling-up , to his old job. After a late summer of snakes and ladders, we were back to square one!

The whole thing was weirdly like the Doctor Who episode shown that weekend, where the Doctor, became the Master, various previous incarnations appeared and finally she regenerated into a previous Doctor in a nostalgic attempt to reinvigorate the almost sixty-year-old show by resurrecting the past. Whether this works with our longstanding Government remains to be seen,

What does appear to the case however is the indication at the moment, the Government will revert back to the manifesto pledges of 2019, however who knows.

It could be déjà vu or something new! What is clear is, however short the transitional hiatus in setting up a new Government was, time is running out to get new laws on the statute books and that is without the possibility of a snap General Election occurring!

Yes, for the rental reform agenda, the old captain is back at the helm, and whilst he has changed his crew below the decks, there should be little having to get back up to speed. However, having had to edit this blog heavily since putting pen to paper, I am not pinning any tail to the donkey yet!

The Government also has big economic fish to fry and already we have seen their proposed date to present their “Halloween Horror Show,” the Fiscal Statement, has been delayed, so tax and spend decisions are still to be finalised.

So where does that leave us? As I have frequently said, since all the delays and speculation started, the constant flip flopping is causing confusion and uncertainty in the market, and this is very dangerous. Agents and their landlords cannot plan for the future, and this will lead to them making poor decision on their longer-term plans. What is needed is a clear way forward, whether you like the road or not.

This said, whilst the final decisions on the direction will be political, the work on the reforms have not stopped. Civil Servants have been working on the proposals and there have been consultations and discussions with all parties in the sector.

Opposition adopts!

What is also clear is that whilst the reforms may not be the cup of tea for a certain cohort in the current/old/new (delete as appropriate!), Government , their plans are mainly in accord with the policy direction of the opposition, so the core pillars of the White Paper are likely to form part of their plans.

Indeed, at the recent Labour Conference , they committed to practically the entire agenda but with bells on, namely rent controls and longer notice periods. For those who feel these additions are a bridge too far, they should be urging the Government to get their legislation in to place in its current manifestation before any election.

Have your say!

The latest indication change is afoot, was the recent consultation on the proposal to introduce the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector. The aspiration, to achieve a dramatic cut in the one in five properties that do not meet minimum standards is clearly one every decent person in the sector should welcome and so it was my pleasure to accept an invite from Goodlord to discuss this part of the White Paper as part of their four-part series of webinars with various experts across the rental market.

The irony of this was the webinar was broadcast literally two hours before the announcement from the PM she was going. Oli Sherlock and I were therefore blissfully ignorant of what was to happen. This said, I stand by my view, reinforced by subsequent developments, that this part of the changes is pretty much a dead cert, and the landlords and agents should start preparing for the new standards as there will be costs involved to ensure properties below the standard meet them.

I am personally in favour of all this and to be fair they are not arduous or particularly challenging, if you have abided by the current HHSRS requirements and have done all the current legal checks for gas, electricity, minimum room sizes, etc, etc, etc. What I do support changing, is the powers of enforcement for the small number of landlords and agents who are not playing ball and whilst the cost of and effectiveness of enforcement is not great at the moment, the prospect of a single portal or register of properties and their condition will make things easier, especially if the data can be fed into it automatically. Paul Shamplina’s session as part of the Goodlord White Paper Webinars Series is definitely worth a watch. ?

I also am in favour of rolling out more alternative dispute resolution for this so that issues can be resolved before the need for big fines, rents repayment orders or banning orders and whilst I believe the worst offending landlords should even face prison, the vast number of well-intentioned landlords should be given the help and opportunity to comply. As for agents, the long overdue implementation of regulation should be introduced post haste, I say no more. Find out more about what I talked about in the webinar, including pets in lets and rent reviews here; You can also listen to the podcast at your leisure.

The Council is concerned!

So, webinar in the can, I head into London for a meeting of The Letting Industry Council (TLIC). This body which brings together representatives across the sector, meets several times a year but also through working groups produce data, research, and policy suggestions, much of which is fed into Government to help improve and raise standards in the sector.

Of course, as I was emerging out of the Tube, the breaking news of the PMs departure was taking place and of course dominated proceedings. ??It is clear that whilst we are in the midst of this pandemonium, the lettings industry is going to have to take the initiative and try and drive things forward. Don’t let change happen to you, make change happen for you.

The detailed and well researched paper the TLIC submitted to Government (see the Chair, Theresa Wallace, (right) delivering it, not unfortunately taking up the post of PM!), as part of the feedback on the White Paper is a great example. It was also good to see David Smith, himself one of the experts featured in the Goodlord webinar series on rental reforms , giving his views on the White Paper changes and whilst he believes change will be more piecemeal, it was good to see he and I are on the same page. With the exception of possibly the move to periodic tenancies being dropped as this does not sit well with opposition and tenant groups, he thinks the Government will shoehorn the changes into regulations even if they cannot deliver a Renters’ Reform Bill in time. (Greg Tsumans episode of the White Paper webinar series, is on a single system of periodic tenancies which you can view here .)

The work goes on!

Presentations on property logbooks and the challenge of bring rental properties up to net zero were enlightening and the indication that lobbying to get the EPC changes delayed by at least a year does appear to be getting through to Government, not least as they do not seem anyway near providing the guidance and support needed to make this happen. ?I was l also impressed with the organisation which helps letting agents identify and promote disabled suitable rental properties and to build awareness of the sector to the needs of this part of the rental market. (See Accessible PRS )

It is this drive and commitment that make me optimistic for the future and despite the political failures, the prospects for positive and meaningful change is on the horizon. This message should be in the first Red Box of the new Prime Minister, with the note get it done!