Life after lockdown and tackling anti-social behaviour
The challenges faced by private landlords over the last 18 months have been significant, especially with regards to how they resolve issues caused by anti-social tenants.
The legal protections introduced to help renters during the pandemic have also highlighted the issue of anti-social behaviour (ASB). They have demonstrated that, without sufficient strengthening of Section 8, the impending abolition of Section 21 will lead to significant delays to the eviction process for landlords.
In a case which Landlord Action became aware of in January, we learned that landlord, Anna*, the victim of anti-social behaviour. Aside from receiving no income from her HMO in Cambridgeshire and discovering her property has been trashed, she was forced to conclude that the best course of action is to renovate the property with a view to selling it at a later date.
Anna has been a landlord since 2005 when she released equity from her home and purchased two buy to let properties. One of the properties had been regularly tenanted without problems and Anna has always enjoyed a good working relationship with her tenants.
In March 2020, one of her tenants decided to return to Bulgaria to be with family. He had been a tenant of Anna’s since 2017 without hiccup and even continued to pay rent whilst he was away on the understanding that Anna did not re-let the room. He then returned in August 2020.
Unfortunately, circumstances in the tenant’s personal life had changed. Aggressive behaviour followed and soon drove the other tenants living in the property to leave.
Having tried to communicate and reason with the tenant, who had also now stopped paying rent, Anna was left with no income.Anna instructed an eviction company (after seeing a Google ad) who served a Section 8 notice for anti-social behaviour. Unfortunately, a few months later her case was thrown out at court and the company would not share details as to why It was then that Anna discovered she had instructed an unregulated firm, causing her further financial distress.
In January 2021, during the midst of yet another national lockdown, a desperate Anna came to us at Landlord Action for help.
Over the next nine months, the tenant’s anti-social behaviour worsened. She tried to request entry to the property to carry out the gas safety check but the tenant refused. Over the last year the police have been called several times due to numerous other incidents of ASB by the same tenant.
As surprising as it may sound, landlords faced with such situations often struggle to prove anti-social behaviour as courts need to see a strong “watertight” case to issue such an order. Often bad behaviour must persist over a long period so enough evidence can be gathered to evict on these grounds. Even though Anna had a detailed dossier of evidence, we did not want to risk any further delays. As a result, we served both a Section 21 and Section 8 notice.
Finally, in August, a year on from when Anna’s troubles started, we received a possession hearing date and a mandatory possession order was awarded.We have since applied for a warrant and county court judgement application and await further updates. Anna will soon be able to take back possession of her property..
Prior to the pandemic, a Section 21 notice was the quickest way to regain possession of a property.
However, the exemptions to the eviction ban and notice periods only applied to Section 8 and this led to a shift in the type of notice landlords served. But, as mentioned previously, the courts are not able to cope with the number of cases and therefore the evictions process can be a long one..
Once Section 21 powers end, the only way of evicting anti-social tenants will be to issue a Section 8 notice. Although they will be able to repossess their property, they will have to provide sufficient evidence to satisfy a court. This can be a struggle for many landlords.
The three anti-social behaviour grounds of Section 8 (Grounds 7A, 12 and 14) are rarely workable options for tackling ASB. As a result, it can be tough to prove such behaviour has occurred, often because witnesses feel too intimidated by other parties to come forward.
Furthermore, even if a landlord can prove ASB under a Section 8, the court is not obliged to award possession and a tenant could give false promises to cease anti-social behaviour in order to secure an adjournment.
Without a court system which is fit for purpose, problem tenants will be able to take advantage of private landlords, inflicting more misery in the long run.
This case demonstrates that private landlords require greater support when it comes to addressing ASB amongst tenants. A good starting point is for the government to reduce court wait times and provide the sector with a system which provides adequate redress for those affected.
If you need help with the repossession of your property, contact NRLA recognised supplier, Landlord Action today.
*Name changed for anonymity
