New guidance published by the government will prevent chaos in the student housing market says the National Residential Landlords Association.
The Renters Rights Act introduces a new ground for possession so landlords renting to students can ensure properties are available to let to new students from one academic year to the next.
Under the ground, landlords must provide tenants with four months’ notice before it could be enforced in the courts if needed.
However, with the Act commencing in May, there was a very real risk that thousands of student properties would not be vacant in time for new arrivals in September this year.
The new guidance confirms that for student tenancies for houses in multiple occupation agreed before May 1:
· Landlords will have until May 31 to formally notify students that they may use the ground for possession to ensure properties are available for new incoming students.
· The formal notice to repossess a property using the Ground can be issued to student tenants any time between May 1 and July 31, and for this year only, the minimum notice period is two months, rather than four.
NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says: “It is positive that the government has taken on board our pragmatic concerns about the workability of a key aspect of the Act.
“There was a very real prospect that tens of thousands of students could have been denied access to the housing they need from September as landlords would have been unable to regain possession of properties in time.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today