Frequently Asked Questions

Housing law is complicated and that is not going to change as a result of the Renters Reform bill. The current court system is overwhelmed and not coping but if that were not a good enough reason a specialist housing court would be able to provide a conciliation service to try to keep cases out of court.

Conciliation is a court appointed form of mediation, with guidance on key legal points, and with delegated powers to try to bring parties together. Among other functions it could assist tenants with disrepair, landlords with arrears and try to bring parties together to arrive at binding legal agreements.

In fact it will do the opposite. Because we believe many key issues such as disrepair or arrears are best tackled earlier on before parties become entrenched, agreed settlements can reduce the number of cases that need to go to a full court hearing.

By advising tenants and ensuring benefits for example are claimed and other measures taken, as well as misinformed beliefs tackled before arrears build, there is a much better chance of avoiding eviction. A referral could be made to a judge for orders such as direct payment of benefit to tenants. Both landlords and tenants would benefit.

Skilled conciliators could act as an independent advisor for landlords, giving accurate information about their obligations as well as offer practical advice. One common solution might be an order that a survey to be carried out by a specialist surveyor, using a court provided form. Advice would be binding on both landlords and tenants.

One of the most contentious issues to tackle, but a specialist housing court could order acceptable behaviour contracts, with penalties for non compliance, up to and including eviction, but with opportunities for tenants to get back on track. We think a points system, a bit like with a driving licence, could ensure repeat offenders, or those committing criminal offences loose their tenancy, but prevent evictions for tenants who have made less serious breaches of their tenancy agreement, while providing reassurance for landlords, neighbours and others.

In fact, section 21 is only used in about a third of evictions now (far less common than arrears, for example) and often used as the only viable way of tackling anti social behaviour. Post Section 21 evictions will still happen but all cases will be open to defence. While this is a good thing they will take more court time, introducing many more potential delays. Using a specialist housing court and conciliation service is a much better way of reducing evictions.