Tribunal travail takes its time delivering justice

On balance, the residential lettings market has tended to favour landlords. This is for a number of reasons, the principal ones being the difficulty many potential firsttime buyers find in raising the deposit on a mortgage, and lifestyle changes which – for some – have made longer-term renting more attractive than owner-occupation.

Despite this, few landlords, and the agents who act for them, have taken unfair advantage of this situation, beyond the accepted norms in a commercial environment. Indeed, the sector as a whole has cooperated fully with the Scottish Government in its understandable attempts to create a more level playing field, including providing residential leaseholders with virtual “security of tenure”. But has the government kept its side of the bargain?

The answer has to be no, although I do not believe this to be intentional but rather down to the old political conundrum of initiating schemes or projects while not providing sufficient funds for these to operate properly. This was confirmed recently with the revelation that landlords in Scotland are, on average, facing a ten-month wait to evict tenants who are in serious arrears with rent.

In 2017 the government created the Housing and Property Tribunal Chamber to adjudicate on eviction, rent and repair issues in the private sector. The purpose was to create a simpler and less expensive system that in part was a quid pro quo in the provision of virtual security of tenure: responsible tenants could stay in rented properties for as long as they wished while making it easier for landlords to evict the irresponsible minority.

In principle the system should work well. Unfortunately, it has nowhere near the capacity to deal with the workload, receiving more than 3,800 applications in the past year, according to an investigation by law firm Aberdein Considine.

A tenant must be three months in arrears before a landlord can initiate eviction pro - ceedings. With further time taken up by giving notice, waiting on the tribunal’s written decision then allowing tenants a 30-day appeal process, it is taking, typically, 312 days to secure an eviction. Almost 20 per cent of applications were rejected on technical grounds, which meant landlords had to start the process all over again.

The consequences are obvious: months of lost income, legal bills, the cost of internal repairs (many rogue tenants have a sense of “victimhood” and take their frustration out on their landlord’s furniture and fittings), and high levels of stress (leading in some cases to longer-term ill health).

This last aspect is particularly relevant. Many more recent entrants to buy-to-let (BTL) have been “fair-weather landlords”. While they play by the rules in providing comfortable and safe accommodation at a reasonable market rent they are not as committed as those with more experience in the sector. BTL only appealed when interest rates hit rock bottom and they discovered their building society savings were providing a negative return after inflation. Should interest rates nudge upward then they could be tempted back to the “safety” of cash. Or, given the cost and stress that comes with evicting a rogue tenant, they might even decide that the stock market is better not only for their finances but also health and wellbeing.

This would reduce supply of stock and lead to higher rents for everyone. Another example of the responsible majority being penalised, however indirectly, by the actions of the irresponsible few.

Is this what the government really wants? I don’t think so – or at least I sincerely hope not. Good intentions are not enough. Obviously the tribunal must have sufficient investment to carry out its role properly but perhaps a start could be made by simplifying the process so that a few bad eggs are not allowed to use the law to their advantage. As things stand the playing field is as level as the former pitch at the Easter Road home of Hibernian FC. David Alexander is MD of DJ Alexander

Landlords face a ten-month wait to evict tenants who are in serious arrears with rent