ELA Landlord and Conference – a Resounding Success!

This week we want to summarise the fabulous Landlord Conference and AGM we hosted at Wensum Valley Golf Hotel.

We were delighted to be joined by 27 industry and trade professionals, including our 6 sponsors who presented excellent and timely speeches for the benefit of our members.

The day started early for us and we welcomed over 150 people through the doors, including lots of non-members looking to join a landlord association.  The day provided a whole host of information and allowed an opportunity for members to be introduced to our partners who we have created successful relationships with, including Fosters, Drayton Insurance, B&Q, Currys amongst others.

It was enormously pleasing to see many familiar faces who regularly exhibit with us but this year we enjoyed welcoming new exhibitors including Pink Plumbing, Certified Rooms, Aico, IHI Insulation and Heating along with Broadland and South Norfolk Council who have not joined us before.  Forming these relationships and connections will truly enhance the membership for those who belong to ELA.

We heard how many are still sharing their concerns around the Renters’ Rights Bill so there are a couple of summary slides shared below from the Fosters segment.  Tyler Clayton explained that he feels landlords shouldn’t really show undue concern when it comes to reclaiming their properties…the grounds will exist!  He expressed his beliefs that in truth, even when Section 21 no fault evictions have been available, it hasn’t been common place for landlords to evict for ‘no reason’.  And when landlords have had to issue eviction notices, it has been for grounds, or reasons, that will still exist after the implementation of the RRB. 

An unchanged discretionary ground is Ground 12 – which refers to any obligation of the tenancy (other than one related to the payment of rent) which has been broken or not performed.  This would insinuate that the new Periodic Tenancies that we start to see after the abolishment of the ASTs may need to have clear and defined clauses which could be relied upon in court should the tenant break the agreement.  It would give the landlord a clear reason for eviction.  The requirements around this Ground 12 would only require 2 weeks’ notice (other than rent arrears).   Of course, this too is all very much ‘up in the air’ and until we know what the new legislation will entail and what the Statement of Terms will include for those switch overs, it is unfortunately still very hard to share with members the exact finite details. We don’t know how this will look until we have sight of the new court forms for example, and until then, we are still dicing with an element of uncertainty.  That said, what this means for landlords in practice was clearly set out in Fosters guidance where they stated:

• Landlords need to be careful who they let to – there will be ever more need to get good refences and credit histories

• If landlords intend to sell or move into the property, let the tenant know early to avoid a dispute

• Landlords should also keep a clear record of rent received and any documents

  
  

Fosters solicitors also explained that the procedure to enforce possession, once a compliant notice is served, the landlord would not be required to have served the tenant with the prescribed documents. This is different to the process around a court proceeding via the Section 21 as it currently stands.

Again, as already mentioned in this and previous Blogs, the Renters' Rights Bill is yet to be implemented so the devil will be in the detail and is still awaited.  But we will of course continue to share the updates as timely as we are able to.

The day consisted of much knowledge shared from our expert speakers and their presentations cannot be clearly shared in a Blog, we have therefore sent these full slides out to our members by email  - if you are not on the mailing list to receive communications though and would like a set, do get in touch with the office who will be able to send them over to you personally.

We will finish with some of the feedback comments from the day:

"All the stalls were very helpful if I asked a question I received helpful advice.”

“It was a great chance to meet other landlords and hear of their plans with all the changes coming”

“I found it useful for keeping up to date on the Renters’ Rights Bill changes and chatting to exhibitors”

“It was well organised, engaging and informative”