If Section 6B of the Renters’ Rights Bill goes through landlords could have a new route to regain possession when major works are required, according to Inventory Base.
The property inventory software company said “unless it’s watertight, this could become a backdoor eviction route – one that’s wide open for misuse”, potentially giving “unscrupulous landlords” the chance to carry out an eviction without the tenants being at fault.
Evictions are steadily rising year-on-year.
In 2020, court bailiffs executed 7,451 repossession orders, followed by 9,471 in 2021. But then, in 2022 when the eviction ban introduced during the pandemic was lifted, the number of repossessions soared to 19,651. The annual total jumped to 25,282 in 2023 and then 27,993 in 2024.
Inventory Base championed its own offering as an effective way of stopping Section 6B being exploited, as a pre-works inventory provides evidence of the property’s condition. Therefore, if a landlord says redevelopment is unavoidable, a report can confirm whether that’s true.
Siân Hemming-Metcalfe, operations director at Inventory Base, said: “If landlords, tenants, and local authorities all want a fair, functional system, evidence-backed documentation needs to be part of the equation. Otherwise, we’re looking at yet another policy change that creates more problems than it solves.”
via [Property Wire]