Fixed term tenancies should not be abolished, a lettings industry has told the Government.

Responding to A fairer private rented sector white paper published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities last June, the group said abolition of such tenancies would create uncertainty for sharers of a single tenancy. In such instances frequent changes of tenants would increase landlord costs, resulting in higher rents – and the First Tier Tribunal is not equipped to handle a significant increase in rent increase appeals.

‘All of this will only add to landlords exiting the market’, said the Lettings Industry Council, a grouping of lettings industry bodies created following the dramatic number of changes to letting rules and regulations.

Its supporters include the NRLA.

If s21 repossessions are done away with as proposed, ‘we need to strengthen s8 grounds to ensure a landlord can gain repossession for a valid reason’, said the response. ‘This would make the process much simpler for all, negate many of the unintended consequences whilst still giving tenants more security and encourage landlords to stay in the PRS and new landlords to enter and provide the homes we so desperately need.

‘It is imperative that the changes brought in by the Renter’s Reform Bill do not lead to any more landlords exiting the sector.

‘It is vital to maintain the supply of desperately needed properties to rent, to prevent a further rise in homelessness and living costs which will inevitably affect the most vulnerable tenants on the lowest incomes.

‘Those rental properties being sold are not all being bought by other landlords or first-time buyers. In addition, we have seen an increase in the tenant sharer market over recent years and, when a property is purchased by one previous sharer as a first-time buyer, there is still the equivalent of two or three sharers still in need of a rental property’.

‘Removing section 21 within the current fixed-term AST set up will provide much more security for both sides compared to the proposed periodic setup. We believe it would be better if tenancies remain as fixed term agreements for whatever length the parties agree. This would prevent a landlord from selling or moving back in for the agreed period and tenants could be given the right to serve the required two months’ notice to vacate a property when they had been living in it for four months.

‘We don’t want to replicate the shortage of stock experienced by Scotland which is seriously impacting tenants. Following the introduction of open-ended tenancies in December 2017 the severe shortage of stock has taken the Scottish Government by surprise’.