Yesterday The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by a tenant who believed a court should take account of their human rights, as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights.

This came about following the unfortunate case of McDonald v McDonald, where a young woman with mental health issues rented accommodation from her parents. After getting into financial difficulty she was unable to pay her rent, meaning that her parents were unable to maintain the loan interest payments on the property.

Consequently, the lender who provided the parents with the money for the property sought to reclaim possession of the house at the end of the period over which the loan had been provided.

This tenants case was then dismissed in the lower courts so she escalated the case to the Supreme Court, disputing that being required to leave the property breached her right to a private and family life as outlined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Although a sad situation to be in, this is very good news for landlords; as it would have completely undermined their ability to reclaim possession of their properties at the end of a tenancy. Furthermore, it would have severely damaged the confidence of landlords to rent properties and lenders to provide the funds for the new homes to rent our country so desperately needs.

Did you know that:

1. The number of households evicted from rental accommodation in England and Wales rose by 5% in the first three months of 2016?

2. A total of 22,376 private rented households in England were evicted in the last 12 months; twice as many as in the same period five years ago?

The acute shortage of property is not helping the situation either, as demand continues to outweigh supply. This story just goes to show that people need homes and will therefore continue to stretch their cash to put a roof over their heads. However, suddenly the realisation that once the bills start to come in, the debts start to mount up and when they sit down and calculate it; two and two certainly do not equal five!

There is really only one way for landlords and agents to protect themselves in these circumstances and that is to:

thoroughly reference applicant tenants from the beginning and then make sure they are covered with a solid Rent Guarantee Insurance policy.

So that even if the best tenants turn bad you and your property will be fully protected against any eventuality.

Our motto at LandlordReferencing.co.uk is “Prevention is Better Than Cure”. So if you haven’t joined our community yet we urge you to do so now, to prevent bad tenants from entering your property in the first place! Please click here to join us now.

Related topics:

Changes to High Court Process for Repossessions

To Litigate or not to litigate that is the question (An idiots guide to litigation)

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