"A symbiotic relationship that needs a symbiotic approach”

With evictions having resumed in England on the 1st June, there had been plenty of coverage in the press about how ‘bloodthirsty’ landlords would be banging down the doors of the courts and waving repossession orders in the faces of their soon-to-be-evicted tenants.

Obviously, this hasn’t happened…

Instead, there has been a slow but steady resumption of processes, with landlords at the front of the queue of a group of people calling on the Government to use this as an opportunity for reform.

Mediation (between landlords and tenants) has been something that has proved quite successful this last 18 months, as landlords have been unable to serve eviction and tenants might have been unable to make rent.

Understanding each other’s sides of the story, and working together for a fair outcome is in everyone’s’ best interests.

Unfortunately though, it hasn’t always been possible to engage and maintain constructive dialect, which is why the Government really do need to step in and offer real support to both sides of the industry.

This means cold hard cash to help pay off rent arrears, and potential reform to protect both sides of the arrangement going forward.

Without tenants, there would be no landlords, but without the ‘big bad’ landlords, as some parts of the press would paint them to be, there would be no affordable and safe properties to let for tenants.

A symbiotic relationship that needs a symbiotic approach.

Perhaps getting back to normal is not what we really need to do, maybe we need to create a new normal for the rental market…

Housing minister Christopher Pincher said: “As Covid restrictions are eased in line with the roadmap out of lockdown, we will ensure tenants continue to be supported with longer notice periods, while also balancing the need for landlords to access justice.”

A fine balancing act indeed, but surely one that can be achieved. Quite simply, it has to be.

If the last 18 months are anything to go by, any sweeping and generalising myths about landlords being impatient and cruel should have been displaced. They’ve sat on their hands and twiddled their thumbs for the longest time.

With the support of companies like ours, they are now ready to get their money back, repossess their assets and recover some of the losses of the last year and a half.

Where the courts are needed, they’ll be used.

Where mediation works, great stuff, let’s use it.

Whenever we’re needed, #TeamCES will be there.