The news comes a year after ‘indefinite’ tenancies were introduced in Scotland but have not been warmly received by the nation’s buy-to-let landlords who feel this is yet another attack on a sector that is currently suffering from a host of legislation changes, including an increase in stamp duty tax and changes to tax relief.
Adam Male, Director of Lettings at Urban.co.uk, believes this latest move is nothing more than an attempt to railroad the process in an attempt to win votes.
Adam Male, commented: “The introduction of three-year tenancies would be an extremely clumsy and ill-advised move by the government and one that will further suppress the buy-to-let market. This is nothing more than an attempt to appear pro-tenant in order to grab votes and the reality is that the government has little interest in the nation’s tenants and the end result will not favour them.
The current system can be improved, but it isn’t broken by any stretch and if it were to be considered sensibly for the full duration of the consultation, then the emphasis would be put on flexibility for both sides with considerations for tenants who want to set up roots. In fact, assured shorthold tenancies were first introduced to offer this flexibility to both tenant and landlord in order to open up the private rental sector and currently, longer fixed-terms with no break clauses are already available.
As an agency that services the whole of the UK, we find that 12-month fixed-terms with a 6-month break clause is the preference for both landlord and tenant in London, while outside of the capital longer fixed-term tenancies are more prevalent.
This feels like an attempt to erase the use of the Section 21 no fault notice, which can be first served with 2-months’ notice before the break, why not change the rules in order to make its usage fairer? We certainly don’t want to tend towards the old model of assured tenancies so why not offer incentives for longer fixed-terms which are mutually agreeable by the landlord and their tenant.”
