Letting Agents Concerned By Housing Bill Measures
Tenants who engage in anti-social behaviour would be harder to evict under proposed new legislation, landlords have said.
Tenants who engage in anti-social behaviour would be harder to evict under proposed new legislation, landlords have said.
Letting agents from across Scotland have voiced deep concern'' about measures in the Scottish Government's Private Housing (Tenancies) Bill.
The legislation is aimed at improving security of tenure for tenants but landlords are worried they will find it harder to tackle anti-social behaviour.
If passed, the Bill will introduce a new kind of tenancy agreement under which landlords will no longer be able to ask tenants to leave simply because a tenancy has reached its end date.
Instead, they must use one of 16 specified grounds for repossession, which include intending to sell or anti-social behaviour.
If a tenant does not leave the property after being given notice, the landlord will have to apply to a tribunal to have them evicted.
A total of 56 letting agents, representing the landlords of 16,620 properties, have signed a statement objecting to the proposals ahead of a National Landlord Day event at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh.
It said: As letting agents from across Scotland, with thousands of landlords as customers, we are deeply concerned that measures being proposed in the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill will make it harder for them to end tenancies in the event of anti-social behaviour.
These landlords are concerned that, in future, neighbours who complain about anti-social behaviour in a property would be forced to make an official complaint and be willing to give public evidence to a tribunal before any action can be taken to remove a tenant.
By increasing the onus on neighbours or members of the community to intervene, the new legislation will drastically limit the ability of landlords or letting agents to take steps to end anti-social behaviour.''
John Blackwood, chief executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords, added: The people often most affected by anti-social behaviour are those in vulnerable groups such as older people who could feel threatened by a neighbour.
They may be less likely to publicly complain, let alone be willing to take part in what is a formal legal process.
These people would in future have to suffer in silence and our landlords would be powerless to help.''
The signatories urged the Scottish Government to revise their plans to remove the right of a landlord to allow a tenancy to come to a natural end''.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: The new Private Housing (Tenancies) Bill provides new grounds to evict tenants that engage in anti-social behaviour or have a relevant criminal conviction so landlords will be able to use this to deal with anti-social behaviour if necessary.
Landlords are also able to include a range of evidence in their application to the tribunal, including their own testimony and from the police.
The bill will introduce a modern tenancy to make it a more professionally managed and better regulated sector that provides good quality homes and is attractive to those who want to live, work and invest in it.''