New rights for tenants of repossessed landlords
- Published: Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Tenants are to get greater legal protection against being evicted with little or no notice if their private landlord is repossessed. Under new plans tenants will be given two months' notice to leave the property - hopefully long enough for them to find a new place to live.
Have your say on the plans to give tenants more protection
Giving tenants more protection
At the moment, when mortgage borrowers rent out their properties without the knowledge or approval of the lender, tenants have very few rights if the property is repossessed. This means they could face eviction at very short notice.
Advice centres are seeing an increase in requests for help on this issue and it is believed that as many as 2-3,000 households could be affected this year.
Under new proposals, tenants would be given two months notice if their landlord’s property is to be repossessed. This should give them enough time to find somewhere to live.
Housing Minister John Healey said: "It is wrong that through no fault of their own these families can find themselves out on the street with little prior warning. That’s why I want to change the law to give new protection to those tenants who have no rights when the property they live in is repossessed.
"This will give them much needed breathing space to find another home."
Have your say
Read the full consultation document and have your say online by following the link below.
You can also respond in writing to:
Roni Fraser
Repossessions Strategy Team
Communities and Local Government
1st Floor, Eland House
Bressenden Place
London
SW1E 5DU
The consultation closes on 14 October 2009. |