Buy-to-let mortgage holders suffering, says RLA rep

Date:Friday 5th November 2010
Author: Susanna Kavka

People who take out buy-to-let mortgages are struggling to evict poor tenants, according to a representative from the Residential Landlords Association.

Richard Jones, policy director at the organisation, claimed the procedure is tipped unfairly in favour of the person residing there, which means it can be a long process to get rid of bad tenants.

He suggested it can be particularly "cumbersome" if a person decides to claim the property is in disrepair.

"Due to the slowness of the process, there are ways in which tenants who know all the tricks in the book can slow down the process," said Mr Jones.

In his opinion, if a person is not paying the rent, all a landlord wants to do is get them out and replace them with someone that will have the money, but the law makes this difficult in certain situations.

His comments were made following the news that more than 2,000 landlords have signed a petition calling for regulations to be changed, so that tenants can be evicted more easily.