The Welsh government plans to go ahead with increasing the tenant notice period to six months where they aren’t at fault – despite landlords and letting agents arguing against the move.
The change was introduced during the pandemic but will become a permanent fixture from 1st June 2023.
Julie James, minister for climate change, said: “The vast majority of landlords and letting agents were against extending six-month notice periods to existing tenancies, and of those that were in agreement most favoured applying the change at a later date.”
But she added: “I have decided that the societal and individual benefits accruing from the extension outweigh the negative impact on individual landlords, particularly in view of shorter notice periods of one month or less applying where there is a breach of contract.”
Tim Thomas, policy and campaigns officer for Propertymark, reckoned this move will only serve to knock the confidence of the landlord community.
He said: “Letting agents and their landlords showed great flexibility at the outset of the pandemic in their support of extended notice periods, but again we have a government pursuing permanent changes to what were supposed to be temporary measures.
“The Welsh government says extending notice periods for existing tenancies from June is necessary to bring down the rising cost to taxpayers of temporary accommodation. What it fails to understand is the knock-on effect this strengthening of tenants’ rights will have on the confidence of landlords. New tenancies will also have to comply by 1 December.
“The private landlords our member agents represent have become important housing providers, but they need to know they can regain possession of their property when they need to do so. The best way to support tenants is to focus on policies that can increase the supply of housing rather those that will constrain it.”
