The Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16 – Impact to Landlord and Tenants

This Bill is currently in its final stages and is one step away from receiving Royal Assent.

First Tier Tribunal

A local authority will have the ability to apply to the First Tier Tribunal to ban rouge agents and landlords from letting in England or from engaging in letting agency work or property management work. It is proposed there be a database of rouge agents and landlords maintained by local authori-ties themselves.

The Bill also extends the circumstances when a local authority or tenant can apply to the First Tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order, such as when a landlord fails to comply with an improvement notice issued under the Housing Act 2004. The Bill gives the Tribunal the power to order a rent re-payment of up to 12 months.

Also dealt with in detail in the Bill is the ability for a landlord to recover possession of an aban-doned property end without a court order where there are rent arrears and warning notices served.

The Bill is not yet in its final form but it is clear that the Bill aims to give wider powers to local au-thorities and to landlords and tenants but whether these provisions will be of practical importance is yet to be seen.