Parliamentary panel proposes changes to UK rental rules
The British Parliament's Communities and Local Government Committee wants the government to make 47 changes to the way the country's private lettings sector operates.
Recommendations for overhauling regulations covering rental properties in the United Kingdom have been welcomed by landlords and letting agents.
The British Parliament's Communities and Local Government Committee wants the government to make 47 changes to the way the country's private lettings sector operates. Hong Kong investors who let out residential property in Britain could benefit if the committee's recommendations, which were put before Parliament last week, are implemented.
A recommendation for speeding up the eviction process for tenants who fall behind with rent payments would be welcomed by Hong Kong landlords, said Marc von Grundherr, lettings director at London-based Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings. The current eviction process, he said, was embarrassingly slow and could take up to nine months to complete in extreme cases if a tenant knew how to play a legal system that was biased against landlords.
"Landlords can't do anything to evict a tenant until they are two months in arrears, and then you have to apply to court for a hearing and that can take two to three months, and then the tenant can ring up on the day of the hearing and say they are ill, so the hearing gets delayed for another 14 days, and so on," said Grundherr.
How quickly evictions might take place in future would be decided by the government if it adopts this measure.
Another recommendation is for longer tenancies. Currently, most tenancies are restricted to one year by mortgage lenders, but demand from tenants to stay at properties for up to five years is growing, and enabling such extended tenancies would benefit landlords because it would generate a predictable income stream over a longer time span with fewer void periods.
