Retaliatory eviction - Citizens Advice

Shelter Cymru & Citizens Advice CymruMaking rights real: preventing retaliatory evictions in WalesFurthermore, the Welsh Government is proposing to remove the ‘six-month moratorium’ that currentlyprotects tenants from eviction for the first six months of their tenancy. Potentially this could have theunintended effect of increasing tenants’ vulnerability to retaliatory eviction and further deterring them fromdefending their rights.Currently, if tenants need to raise disrepair issues it is generally in their interests to do so when they havea substantial length of time left on their fixed term agreement. By being protected from immediate evictionthey hope that any bad feeling between themselves and the landlord will have settled by the time theycome to renegotiate the tenancy.The ‘six month moratorium’ gives tenants some assurance that if they raise disrepair issues near the startof the tenancy, they will be protected both from eviction and rent rises for at least a few months.Our concern about the Renting Homes proposals is that there appears to be little incentive for landlordsto offer any fixed term at all. Instead the scheme allows them to insist that new tenants remain on rollingperiodic contracts until they decide the tenants can be trusted or, potentially, for the duration of thetenancy.This may not be a problem for tenants with a certain level of income who are able to exercise consumerchoice and negotiate favourable terms with potential landlords. However, households on low incomesare generally not in a strong bargaining position and will have little choice but to accept whatever termstheir landlord proposes. These are also the households who are most at risk of living in poor qualityaccommodation and being subject to retaliatory acts.If, when the Bill becomes law, periodic contracts become more prevalent among low-income householdsstarting new PRS tenancies then many will be in even more precarious positions than they are now. Inthese circumstances it will be highly unlikely that tenants will be willing to challenge their landlord on anyissue, let alone one that could see them branded a ‘troublemaker’ and evicted with two months’ notice atany time.Introducing retaliatory eviction protection would greatly assist tenants to negotiate with their landlord inorder to ensure that the repairing and other obligations in the standard rental contract are met.As well as improving landlord compliance it could also have a positive effect on tenant compliance,since tenants would be aware that if they failed to honour their tenancy obligations they would no longerbe protected from retaliatory acts. This could serve to enhance the overall effectiveness of the RentingHomes scheme.28