Mortgage Repossessions Bill receives Royal Assent

The Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants) Bill has received Royal Assent.

This Bill protects tenants when their landlords are repossessed by their lender. Where a landlord has not taken out a buy-to-let mortgage and has not received consent to let, the lender typically has no knowledge that the property has been let. The court is then unable to take account of the tenant's circumstances. Tenants often do not realise that possession proceedings have been commenced. This means they are unable to discuss their situation with those taking repossession action against their home.

Tenants can then find themselves with little or no time to find a new place to live. A recent impact assessment undertaken by this Department estimated that up to 330,000 households in England and Wales were at risk of short notice eviction if their home were repossessed due to their landlord not having lender 'consent to let'.

The new law allows judges to delay the repossession of a property by up to two months, to give tenants the time they need to find a new home. It has the backing of a wide variety of organisations including Shelter, Citizens Advice, the Chartered Institute of Housing, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.