One of London’s leading property management figures has said the Government’s plans to abolish section 21 evictions is a ‘sledge hammer to crack a nut’ and not an effective solution to the issue of bad landlords within the private rented sector.

The comments come from Andrew Weir, Chief Executive at agency London Central Portfolio which was founded over 30 years ago specialising in finding, doing up and running BTL properties on behalf of private landlords in central London, building up a portfolio of some 500 properties across London’s prime central heart.

Its model is thought to be unique – the firm finds under-valued properties for landlords, helps negotiate their purchase before then doing them up to maximise their rental value while also subsequently managing them.

“It puzzles me that the Government can’t come up with something more relevant to the issue of evictions.

“During our many years spent managing properties for landlords, we’ve only served notice to handful [of tenants] because we offer quality property management,” he says.

“Our landlords are always looking for continuity of renting and are reluctant to do anything that interferes with that – so it’s difficult to connect with why the Government wants to get rid of section 21 notices.”

Weir says that if bad landlords really want to gain possession for a reason other than those set out in the refreshed mandatory Section 8 grounds to be included in the Renters Reform Bill, they will find ways to get around this.

Therefore, he claims, the Government and campaigners who back the reforms are “unlikely to achieve what they want on the ground”.

Irresponsible landlords

“In my view, getting rid of section 21 is not going to solve the big problems that the PRS faces – for example tackling irresponsible landlords who do not look after properties correctly – so I find it all a bit puzzling really,” he adds.

“The Government just doesn’t seem to have done their research carefully enough.”

Weir says his landlords understand the link between really effective property management and length of tenancy.

“They’re intrinsically linked; if a tenant has a good experience of proactive and engaged management of their home, they will renew their tenancy,” he adds.

Blog Post from Landlord Zone

See details of our Guaranteed Rent Scheme here