History
Under the system of protected and statutory tenancies, tenants had the right to stay in a landlord's property almost indefinitely and pass the tenancy down to relatives. The difficulties landlords could face in trying to regain possession of their property created disincentives to owners' letting properties, which along with the fact that most council houses had been sold caused a housing shortage.
In 1979, a Conservative government headed by Margaret Thatcher was elected. Thatcher sought to revamp the rented sector. At the time of the Housing Act 1988's enactment, the private rented sector accounted for less than 8 percent of homes in Britain, [3] down from 76 percent in 1918, while social housing was about 30 percent.
The Department of the Environment's 1987 white paper Housing: the Government's Proposals set out goals of reversing the decline in rented housing and improving its quality; giving council tenants the right to transfer to other landlords if they so desired; targeting money more accurately on the most acute problems; and encouraging the growth of home ownership. According to the white paper, public housing authorities had failed to adequately accommodate the wishes of tenants, causing resentment and lack of tenant commitment to their homes; the government sought to alleviate this by giving tenants greater consumer choice, which would be accomplished by offering a variety of forms of ownership and management. Council tenants would be given the right to buy, and private landlords' rights would be strengthened. [4]
Specifically, under the new law, in contrast to the old fair rents system, landlords were allowed to charge whatever they liked, with only two exceptions. Rent could be challenged by assured shorthold tenants during the first six months of the tenancy, if a tenant believed his rent was more than the current market rent for his property, in which case he could refer the rent to the Rent Assessment Panel for review. However, few would want to do this, given landlords' right to give a section 21 notice and end the tenancy. Tenants could also challenge the rent upon service of an annual notice to increase rent at the end of the fixed term; but landlords could avoid this by increasing the rent via a renewal tenancy agreement.
The Housing Act also provided for two types of tenancy, the "assured" tenancy and the "assured shorthold tenancy". The latter is preferred by most private sector landlords, as it gives them the right to end the tenancy at any time after service of a section 21 notice. Typically, in a situation where there is a private landlord and a tenancy that began on or after 28 February 1997, and in which the house or flat is let as separate accommodation and is the tenant's main home, the property is being let on an assured shorthold tenancy. [5]
Contents
The Housing Act 1988 dramatically changed three main areas of English property law in particular, namely: Rent regulation, Succession and Security of tenure. The Housing Act 1988 significantly reduced rent regulation, giving landlords the opportunity to charge whatever they liked for a property (something that is still the case today, despite growing calls from some for the return of rent controls of some description). The change also meant that the only party with the right to challenge the prices set by landlords are their tenants. There are only certain circumstances in which tenants may challenge the rent, which are during the first six months of an assured shorthold tenancy or upon service of a notice to increase rent, which can be used by landlords on an annual basis to raise the rent after the fixed term has come to an end.
Tenants who believe their rent is higher than the current market value can, in the first six months of an assured shorthold tenancy, refer their case to a Rent Assessment Panel (an independent decision-making body sometimes known as a Rent Assessment Committee or Rent Assessment Tribunal) for review. Most tenants, however, are unlikely to take this step in light of the powers you have, as a landlord, to end the tenancy in accordance with Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. What’s more, landlords now have the ability to increase rents without using the notice procedure, opting instead to do so via a ‘renewal’ tenancy agreement. The changes to rent regulation mean that tenants’ rights to challenge landlords over rent – outlined above – have less sway over landlords and are, as a result, used less frequently. The amendments made as part of the Housing Act, and the rebalancing of power this caused, are one of the major reasons rental prices have grown so rapidly since the late 1980s.
As a result of the Housing Act 1988, the rules regarding succession became similar to those under the Rent Act, whereby only a spouse can inherit rental rights. The changes to the succession laws directly impact very few landlords – mostly because assured tenancies, which state that only a spouse can inherit rental rights, are uncommon in the private rental sector. Under assured shorthold tenancies, which also came into force in the late 1980s and now make up most tenancies in the private rental sector, there are no rights of succession. In other words, if the tenant dies, the spouse or other beneficiary has no right to remain in the property. With this type of tenancy, succession rights have become irrelevant precisely because the landlord now has the power to serve a Section 21 notice to evict the tenant through the courts.
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant. When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor, housing provider, and owner. The term landlady may be used for the female owners. The manager of a pub in the United Kingdom, strictly speaking a licensed victualler, is referred to as the landlord/landlady. In political economy it refers to the owner of natural resources alone from which an economic rent, a form of passive income, is the income received.
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user to pay the owner for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial or business equipment are also leased. Basically a lease agreement is a contract between two parties: the lessor and the lessee. The lessor is the legal owner of the asset, while the lessee obtains the right to use the asset in return for regular rental payments. The lessee also agrees to abide by various conditions regarding their use of the property or equipment. For example, a person leasing a car may agree to the condition that the car will only be used for personal use.
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a leasehold estate is typically considered personal property.
Rent control in Ontario refers to a system of rent regulation in Ontario, Canada which limits the amount by which the rent paid by tenants for rental accommodation can increase. It applies to any unit that was first occupied for residential purposes before November 15, 2018.
The private rented sector (PRS) is a classification of United Kingdom housing tenure as described by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, a UK government department that monitors the national housing supply.
The assured shorthold tenancy (AST) is the default legal category of residential tenancy in England and Wales. It is a form of assured tenancy with limited security of tenure, which was introduced by the Housing Act 1988 and saw an important default provision and a widening of its definition made by the Housing Act 1996. Since 28 February 1997 in respect of accommodation to new tenants who are new to their landlords, the assured shorthold tenancy has become the most common form of arrangement that involves a private residential landlord. The equivalent in Scotland is short assured tenancy.
Landlord harassment is the willing creation, by a landlord or their agents, of conditions that are uncomfortable for one or more tenants in order to induce willing abandonment of a rental contract. This is illegal in many jurisdictions, either under general harassment laws or specific protections, as well as under the terms of rental contracts or tenancy agreements.
Under the provisions of the United Kingdom Housing Act 2004 every landlord or letting agent that takes a deposit for an assured shorthold tenancy in England and Wales must protect the deposit under an authorised tenancy deposit scheme. The regulations came into effect on 6 April 2007, and were amended by the Localism Act 2011 and the Deregulation Act 2015. Most recently the Tenant Fees Act 2019 provided further protections for tenants.
An assured tenancy is a legal category of residential tenancy to an individual in English land law. Statute affords a tenant under an assured tenancy a degree of security of tenure. A tenant under an assured tenancy may not be evicted without a reasonable ground in the Housing Act 1988 and, where periodic changes in rent are potentially subject to a challenge before a rent assessment committee.
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is a UK Act of Parliament on English land law. It sets minimum standards in tenants' rights against their landlords.
The Ellis Act is a 1985 California state law that allows landlords to evict residential tenants to "go out of the rental business" in spite of desires by local governments to compel them to continue providing rental housing.
A Section 8 notice, also known as the Section 8 notice to quit or Form 3. It is a prerequisite if the landlord of an assured tenancy or assured shorthold tenancy wishes to obtain possession order from the court, thereby ending the tenancy, for a reason based on a circumstance entitling the landlord to possession under the grounds pleaded. It is used in England and Wales and is part of the Housing Act 1988. as amended by the Housing Act 1996.
The history of rent control in England and Wales is a part of English land law concerning the development of rent regulation in England and Wales. Controlling the prices that landlords could make their tenants pay formed the main element of rent regulation, and was in place from 1915 until its abolition by the Housing Act 1988.
A section 21 notice in England and Wales also known as a section 21 notice of possession or a section 21 eviction, is the notice under the Housing Act 1988 section 21, which a landlord must give to their tenant to begin the process to take possession of a property let on an assured shorthold tenancy without providing a reason for wishing to take possession. The expiry of a section 21 notice does not bring a tenancy to its end. The tenancy would only be ended by a landlord obtaining an order for possession from a court, and then having that order executed by a County Court bailiff or High Court enforcement officer. Such an order for possession may not be made to take effect earlier than six months from the beginning of the first tenancy unless the tenancy is a demoted assured shorthold tenancy. If the court is satisfied that a landlord is entitled to possession, it must make an order for possession, for a date no later than 14 days after the making of the order unless exceptional hardship would be caused to the tenant in which case possession may be postponed to a date no later than six weeks after the making of the order. The court has no power to grant any adjournment or stay of execution from enforcement unless the tenant has a disability discrimination, public law or human rights defence, or the case is pending an appeal.
Rent control in Scotland is based upon the statutory codes relating to private sector residential tenancies. Although not strictly within the private sector, tenancies granted by housing associations, etc., are dealt with as far as is appropriate in this context. Controlling prices, along with security of tenure and oversight by an independent regulator or the courts, is a part of rent regulation.
A short assured tenancy is a type of tenancy in Scotland that was introduced by the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988. A short assured tenancy gives landlords some protection and freedom of action when letting their properties. Short assured tenancies have become the norm within the residential letting industry in Scotland. The equivalent legislation in England and Wales is assured shorthold tenancy. Following the enactment of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, it is no longer possible to create a short assured tenancy, instead a private residential tenancy must be entered into; with greater protections for the tenant such as security of tenure.
A sitting tenant is a tenant already in occupation of premises, especially when there is a change of owner. Sitting tenants can result from a decision not to evict an assured shorthold tenant following a change of owner or where there is a protected tenancy. Where a landlord sells a property but decides not to evict a tenant the new landlord is said to 'step in the shoes' of the old landlord and the terms of the tenancy continue.
Rent regulation in England and Wales is the part of English land law that creates rights and obligations for tenants and landlords. The main areas of regulation concern,
A demoted tenancy is, in English law, a type of tenancy created by a court when a housing association get a demotion order from a court. It is typically created when an assured tenant or secure tenant engages in anti-social behaviour. The creation of the demoted tenancy is an alternative to eviction and makes a tenant easier to evict in the future. The Housing Act 1985 established demoted tenancy, and the Housing Act 1996 expanded on it.
The Housing and Planning Act 2016 is Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that makes widespread changes to housing policy and the planning system. It introduces legislation to allow the sale of higher value local authority homes, introduce starter homes and "Pay to Stay" and other measures intended to promote home ownership and boost levels of housebuilding. The Act has been subject to a number of criticisms by those opposed to the loss of social housing promoted, the extension of right-to-buy to housing associations and possible work disincentives under "Pay to Stay".
