Latest news with #SamMezec
BBC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
'Cowardly politicians' blamed for Jersey tenancy law delay
A States minister has blamed "cowardly politicians" for delaying a vote on whether to change the island's rental tenancy Sam Mezec, the housing minister, brought forward plans to improve protections for landlords and tenants including limiting rent increases to 5%.Politicians were due to vote on the principle of whether the law should be changed, with details of what the law would look like being debated in Wednesday, States members voted to refer back the plans to the housing scrutiny panel as they felt they couldn't make an informed decision. Deputy Inna Gardiner called for the proposed changes to be referred back to the panel and said politicians were unclear on what they could and couldn't said: "It was really, really not clear what the members were deciding on when discussing the principles, and members said during their speeches that the scrutiny report with evidence would help them make informed discussions."In September we will have one debate, principles, second reading, third reading, with all possible amendments and input from the scrutiny panel, so the members can have a clear picture of what it means in practice." Mezec said the delay was down to "cowardly politicians" playing "dirty tricks."He said: "Members were too cowardly to decide one way or another to decide which way they wanted to go, so they decided to delay making a decision until after the summer instead."I knew there would be dirty tricks pulled. This is what happens when you have politicians who don't have the courage of their convictions, I think the public will be in despair watching this kind of thing."He added: "What this means is there is a summer break where myself and my officers will be in union street working trying to make the best of this situation when its entirely possible in the summer that these people will vote the whole thing out anyway, in which case we would have wasted summer."It's another example of government working inefficiently because of bad decisions made by States members."
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Jersey chief minister denies tenancy reform 'rebellion'
Jersey's chief minister has denied his ministers are rebelling over proposed tenancy Deputy Lyndon Farnham admitted that eight or nine ministers and assistant ministers were expected to vote against the plans being brought forward by the housing minister on Minister Sam Mezec's proposed changes to the rental tenancy law would see new protections for tenants and landlords, including rent increases being capped at 5%.Bringing in new rental tenancies laws was part of the government's common strategic policy which sets out its main priorities. Deputy Jonathan Renouf referred to comments made by the chief minister in April, in which Farnham said the majority of ministers would support Deputy Mezec's plans with only one or two Renouf asked the chief minister if "he was still confident that only one or two ministers would vote against the plan and if not how big a rebellion is he expecting from his own ministers".The chief minister responded: "I'm not expecting a rebellion because we are more grown up around this Council of Ministers table. "We have processes and procedures for dealing with bona fide disagreements where views are strongly held between ministers and it's called an agreement to differ."He admitted the situation "had evolved" since his previous comments were made."But there is not a rebellion. It's a very grown-up, mature way of how we do business around the Council of Ministers table."When asked what the rebellion would suggest about the chief minister's ability to lead, he said: "It says we are an extremely pragmatic Council of Ministers."In this small island, that's the right way to go about things."
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Jersey politicians clash ahead of tenancy law debate
Jersey politicians on opposing sides of an argument around the rights of tenants and landlords have clashed ahead of a debate on changing the island's tenancy changes to the existing legislation put forward by Housing Minister Deputy Sam Mezec would enable tenants to challenge rent increases and there would be a limit on the use of fixed-term Sir Philip Bailhache, who is also a landlord, called the changes "fundamentally unfair" and lodged amendments to "delete" Mezec's there is no limit to how often and by how much a landlord can increase the rent on their property and tenants have no right to appeal any changes. 'Unnecessary bureaucracy' Landlords can also issue a three-month notice period to evict a tenant without reason. The proposed tenancy law would see changes including rent increases capped at 5%, limited use of fixed-term tenancies, and shorter notice periods for bad Philip called the changes "unnecessary bureaucracy"."It's unfair on landlords to restrict their rent increases to 5% a year when inflation may be considerably higher and their own expenses of maintenance and renewals and so forth will not be capped at 5%," he said. "I don't think it will make life better for tenants because it is true that rents are high but that is a reflection of the value of property in the island."He added the changes could make landlords leave the market, reducing the number of rental properties and increasing Phillip said members of the government who own properties for rent would be able to "look at the issue objectively". 'Lack of compassion' Mezec said Sir Philip had not attempted to discuss his concerns about the law changes with him ahead of lodging his "ill-informed amendment". He said: "It [his proposals] strikes the right balance of protecting landlords when the tenant is causing a problem, but [also] protecting tenants when it's the landlord causing a problem."He added that increasing rents at times of high inflation was "enforcing hardship on tenants"."Surely this is a burden that ought to be shared," he said. "I think that it shows a lack of compassion and understanding for the experience of people who rent their homes in Jersey where it's already extortionately expensive compared to lots of other places in the world." Patrick Lynch, from the charity Caritas Jersey, said people had come to the charity for advice after having up to 30% increases put on their rent. "If those are limited then those ways of increasing rents that perhaps are not fair will be stopped," he said."That will be a benefit to the people who really just cannot afford those at the moment."As a result of viewing the legislation I think its very balanced for both sides." 'Difficult for landords' Guy Morris of Jersey's Landlords Association warned a survey showed 70% of island landlords would consider selling one unit of their portfolio if the changes came in to force. "It's going to make it really difficult for landlords to make ends meet in the future, he said."Landlords' costs have gone up by substantially more than the Retail Prices Index in recent years." He added that changes included limiting rent increases to once a year were already being done by "most responsible landlords".Later, politicians will have an in principle debate on whether the law should be actual details of the law will be discussed in September, including Sir Phillip's amendments.
BBC News
03-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Minister warns regulations department at 'breaking point'
A minister has warned a team in his department is at "breaking point" and would struggle to implement new tenancy reforms if the States votes to approve them in principle next Steve Luce, the environment minister, said it would be up to his "fully stretched" department to enact parts of the changes put forward by housing minister Deputy Sam Mé proposals aim to increase protections for tenants and said a move to allow landlords to end the tenancy with seven days' notice if the tenant "has caused or permitted a repeated or serious nuisance" would require inspections by officers in the regulations team. He said: "The regulation department is fully stretched. We have a huge number, 39 different laws to administer, and every time a new law comes on it's more work for the same number of officers and we are really at breaking point."The minister was concerned at the additional workload the changes could have on his said: "Anything to do with getting a complaint together and putting it before a court requires a huge amount of time and effort visiting sites, creating the data and making sure all the different angles are covered so that when you present a case in court it stands up. "That's a huge amount of work every time you go to court." Luce said Mezec had spoken to officers in the regulation department "about how it would work".He added his team had regularly similar challenges every time a new law requires regulation."New laws require more work for us and we will need more resource," he said. 'A concern but not a surprise' The head of the environment scrutiny panel, Deputy Hilary Jeune said the Ministers comments were a concern but not a surprise."We constantly hear from the environment minister and from the department that there is a lot of pressure being put on them to carry out their functions and the regulation department is under a lot of pressure.""I think the whole council of ministers and the States Assembly at large need to understand the role of regulation, the importance of regulation so we can all ensure there is enough resource for it."The BBC has approached Housing Minister Sam Mezec for comment.
BBC News
24-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Jersey government 'must raise awareness about gazumping'
A woman who lost a thousand pounds after being gazumped when buying a house has called for the government to raise awareness about the issue. Gazumping is where a homeowner accepts a higher offer from a third party despite accepting a bid from someone else. Verity O'Connel was gazumped in 2019 and, as her own property had already been sold, she had to move in with family and put her possessions in storage. She said such situations were a "huge potential blocker" for people trying to buy property. The States Assembly voted earlier this month against a public consultation on bringing in presale agreements to prevent gazumping. It said the next government should address the issue. At present in the vast majority of cases, no pre-sale agreement is currently entered into, meaning buyers or sellers can pull out of a transaction until the deal is finalised in the Royal Court.A report in 2018 by the Residential Property Transactions Review panel found that "creating a pre-sale agreement... would create a greater deal of certainty in the transactions process and compensate losses incurred by either party".Housing Minister Sam Mezec said: "How and when a review of the property transaction process is undertaken is something that will need to be considered in the next political term in light of the priorities and resources available to the next government."Ms O'Connell said: "I appreciate they [the government] might not be able to look at this right now because a lot of work is going into things like rental legislation. "But this could be a huge potential blocker to people trying to get onto the property ladder. It's about making sure people are aware and warned because we certainly weren't."Our apartment had sold and we had a young baby and so we had nowhere to go."It cost us £1,000 in lawyer fees and we had to start the whole process again." Deputy Max Andrews brought forward a proposition for a public consultation on bringing in pre-sale agreements for land and property transactions to help prevent gazumping and gazundering (where a proposed purchaser lowers their offer at the last minute). His proposition was Council of Ministers said in response to the rejected proposition that "given the complexity of the issues and availability of resources for the remaining term of government, it would be a more prudent approach for the next government to give this issue consideration in a more comprehensive and planned way." Deputy Andrews said that was said: "I think its a very poor excuse for the Council of Ministers to turn around and to say this is for the next government to work with. This is a matter of public interest; we are seeing people being gazumped and gazundered and most of the politicians have decided not to take any action."
