My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have participated in this debate. Again, it demonstrates the great expertise and interest in your Lordships’ House in this important issue. I will seek to answer all the questions that have been raised but if there are specific, technical questions, I add the caveat that I shall of course review all contributions and write accordingly to cover any points that perhaps I have not been able to cover in my response this evening.
I, too, thank the noble Lord, Lord Best, for his support for the government amendments. He always speaks with great expertise on housing issues across the board, so his support is most welcome. I hope it continues for the later part of the evening but we shall come to that shortly. I also thank my noble friends Lady Bakewell and Lord Stoneham for their support for the Government’s position. In thanking other noble friends who perhaps have not been totally supportive, I of course recognise the concerns that have been expressed across a range of issues and hope that I can address most of them in my response.
My noble friend Lord Howard asked about tenants who stop paying rent once they have made a complaint. I assure my noble friend that in this regard the amendment under no circumstances permits the tenant to stop paying rent, and the tenant will be obliged to pay. It provides that a Section 21 eviction notice can be invalidated only if a tenant’s complaint is supported by confirmation from the local authority. Indeed, if a Section 21 eviction notice cannot be served for a specified period, the tenant is still contractually obliged to continue paying rent. Failure to do so, as I said in my opening remarks, would leave them liable to eviction under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988.
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I covered dilapidation costs, albeit briefly, in my opening remarks. There is nothing in what is being proposed to prevent landlords offsetting any debts owed by tenants to the landlord against any money that the landlord owes to the tenants. That would still apply.
My noble friend Lord Howard talked also about the possibility of a 12-month delay. We do not perceive that this would be the case. If the council has carried out an inspection by the time the case comes to court, which, as I said, would be a period of up to four months, the tenant would have no defence to the Section 21 proceedings.
My noble friend Lord Howard also raised the issue of affordability. Nothing in what is being proposed in the government amendments changes this. In a normal contract between an owner of a property, a landlord and a tenant, landlords are already obliged to carry out repairs under the Housing Act 2004. The amendment does not change that provision.
My noble friend Lady Noakes asked about adequate response and who decides what is reasonable. That would ultimately be determined by the county court, if it got to that point; initially, such a determination would be made by the local authority.
My noble friend Lord Howard referred to tenants being allowed to block evictions for up to 10 months. The maximum period will be six months from the date that the local authority serves the relevant notice.
My noble friend Lord Cathcart raised several important points on which I hope I can provide some reassurance. First, I assure him and your Lordships’ House generally that this measure is not to tackle good landlords, the majority of whom, as we know, have sound practices in the way in which they deal with their tenants. The protection will apply only where a local authority has confirmed that a repair is necessary to prevent a risk to health and safety. Landlords would also have a right
to appeal against a local authority decision to serve a relevant notice. Landlords would be able to evict tenants who should be evicted—for example, because of rent arrears or anti-social behaviour. We have not made any changes to the eviction procedure under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. The courts will be able to dismiss a claim as unfounded if, for example, they consider a tenant to be in breach of their duty to use the property in a tenant-like manner.
My noble friend Lord Cathcart asked whether landlords could not evict if the local authority had served a notice even if the tenant was in rent arrears. I assure him that the landlord can always use Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 to evict for other reasons, such as the non-payment of rent or, as I have stated, anti-social behaviour.
My noble friend asked also whether local authorities would write to a landlord to inform them that there was a problem. As I hope I made clear in my opening remarks, one of the safeguards that the Government have put forward in their amendments is that when a complaint is first made by the tenant, the tenant should write directly to the landlord. In addition, the landlord must also be given 24 hours’ notice before a local authority inspects. Local authorities would generally engage informally with the landlord to have repairs done before issuing a relevant notice.
My noble friends Lady Noakes, Lord Cathcart and Lord Caithness expressed concern about the 14-day period given to the landlord to respond. I assure my noble friends that this is the period for an initial response only. The landlord is not required to fix the problem in this time. On the issue of an adequate response, as I said earlier, it is for the county court to judge what is reasonable depending on the individual facts of the case.
My noble friend Lord Caithness asked whether the relevant notice would be received by registered post. The short answer to that is no. It would normally be sent by email or by ordinary post. Notices would be served in accordance with the Housing Act 2004. Again, what we are proposing will not be changed by the amendments that the Government have tabled.
My noble friend also asked what the position would be if a landlord and tenant agreed that the tenant would move out and the tenant then stayed. In that situation, the local authority would not be able to serve a relevant notice, so the tenant would not have a defence to a Section 21 notice.
My noble friend also asked about prohibition on serving a Section 21 notice in the first four months of a tenancy. He asked a specific question about short-term tenancies. If a landlord wanted a tenant to leave exactly six months after the start of the tenancy, they would need to serve the notice after the first four months of the tenancy had passed. That would normally be in short-term tenancy agreements.
I always listen to the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, with great attention, as I do all noble Lords. Her critiques are delivered in a dulcet tone, which perhaps softens their impact, but I welcome her support for the Government’s position. She expressed disappointment over hazard awareness notices. As I said in my opening
remarks, such notices are used only for very minor defects. The local authority can always issue an improvement notice if there is a defect and it wants to ensure that a tenant is protected against retaliatory evictions.
Several important clarifications have been rightly sought across the Chamber, particularly by several of my noble friends, and I hope that I have been able to address most if not all of them. I will reflect on the comments made by my noble friends and will write to them if there are areas which require further clarification. However, I hope that, with the assurances and clarifications that I have provided, my noble friend will be minded to withdraw his amendment.