Openrent standard contract clause for rent arrears

Can anyone help me understand what does the following clause from openrent standard contract means? In the current scenario of 6 months minimum notice, does this hold any value?

12.4 If the Rent or any part thereof shall be in arrears for at least 14 days after the same shall have become due (whether legally demanded or not) or if there shall be a breach of any of the obligations on the part of the Tenant, the Landlord may re-enter the Property (subject to the Landlord obtaining a Court Order for Possession) and immediately thereon the tenancy shall terminate without prejudice to any other rights and remedies of the Landlord.

Thanks.

The short answer is no.
I think the relevant part here is “(subject to the Landlord obtaining a Court Order for Possession)”
Current Government Regulations mean that unless your tenants have a minimum of 6 months rent arrears you now have to give them 6 months notice. If they don’t leave at the end of the 6 months notice you can then apply for a Court Order for Possession. This won’t necessarily be granted, plus you will

have a long wait as the courts have huge backlogs. If the court does grant a possession order there will be a further notice period for your tenants and you will have to pay for bailiffs to evict them.
Crazy isn’t it? Regretfully bad tenants are taking full advantage of these stupidly long notice periods.
Everything is stacked against Landlords.
If I were cynical, I would say the Government is making Landlords pick up the bill for the tsunami of homelessness caused by low pay, unaffordable rents and the lack of council housing ( thank you Margaret Thatcher).

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Hi @F113, I’m not legally trained, but as far as I understand, this clause is included because tenancy agreements ought to have some clause saying that the landlord can repossess the property under the proper conditions (e.g. having a court order), otherwise it may not be possible to evict the tenant. Without being aware of the wider law on evictions, these clauses may not be as readily intelligible as other clauses. This is always going to be a complex thing to communicate in a tenancy agreement, but we are looking at clarifying this.

There’s a bit more info from Tessa Shepperson who has written for our Landlord Hub from time to time:https://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2017/06/28/tenancy-agreements-33-days-tips-day-25-ending/

Sam

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Pay tax on your earning which you use to buy a property, pay tax on buying the property, pay tax on the income from the property and then also act as the safety net for the tenants (which should be government’s job in first place). To evict a non paying tenant waiting for more than 6 months is absolutely not fair. I wonder what would happen to me if I’m not paying my mortgage or utility/cc bills for that long.

Thanks @Sam. So it’s there for pure legal context. More than 6-8 months process to evict a non paying tenant…