So it's ok to rent for 5 months, give a months notice and tennant will hopefully be out by 6 months. You then free to advertise the property and rent for another 6 months.
On the other hand, landlord protections should have been strengthened too: recovery of unpaid rent is still far too slow and ineffective. There are perverse incentives as well where it makes more sense not to bring the property up to standard, and some landlords are pretty much trapped at rents 30% below market.
That would be me, got a massive quote to upgrade with tenants in situ, so I said to hell with that it can fall in, I'll wait for Covid to be over and then I'll have to serve notice on tenants and do a big job then. It would be helpful if the council came along and said I'm not up to standard as it would be a great excuse. I wonder can I report myself. What I actually had decided to do was buy another property, move the existing tenants into that, renovate and move them back. But property is so ridiculous priced it wasn't worth it.
And I don't mean literally fall in, but tenant's taking out batteries out of smoke alarms, and general wear and tear takes it's toll. There's only so much repair you can do and only so much a paint job can spruce up.