Renters Rights Bill progresses
The Renters’ Rights Bill had its third hearing in the House of Commons last week. The proposed legislation builds on the Conservative Renters (Reform) Bill and aims to fulfil a Labour manifesto commitment to transform the private rental sector - with one of the key provisions being the abolition of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.
Supporters of the bill argue that it will provide renters with greater security and stability, allowing them to stay in their homes longer, build lives in their communities, and reduce the risk of homelessness. Housing Minister Mathew Pennycook emphasised that the bill would “modernise the regulation of our country’s insecure and unjust private rented sector, decisively level the playing field between landlord and tenant, and allow us to crack down on the minority of unscrupulous landlords who exploit, mistreat, or discriminate against renters.”
However, critics of the bill express concerns that it could discourage landlords from renting to tenants who would have previously been considered eligible, due to the lower financial security involved. Opponents also argue that the proposals could lead to increased costs for landlords, a reduction in investment in rental properties, and a disproportionate impact on smaller landlords with fewer resources. They warn that the bill could also create opportunities for the abuse of tenant protections.
The bill now moves to the House of Lords, where peers will scrutinise and debate its content and, if necessary, propose refinements. If all goes as expected, it will likely receive Royal Assent and pass into law in Spring 2025.
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Dominic Kidney, Fuller Gilbert Lettings Manager, said: |
Overview of bill measures
The Renters’ Rights Bill aims to:
- Abolish section 21 evictions and move to a simpler tenancy structure where all assured tenancies are periodic – providing more security for tenants and empowering them to challenge poor practice and unfair rent increases without fear of eviction. We will implement this new system in one stage, giving all tenants security immediately.
- Ensure possession grounds are fair to both parties, giving tenants more security, while ensuring landlords can recover their property when reasonable. The bill introduces new safeguards for tenants, giving them more time to find a home if landlords evict to move in or sell, and ensuring unscrupulous landlords cannot misuse grounds.
- Provide stronger protections against backdoor eviction by ensuring tenants are able to appeal excessive above-market rents which are purely designed to force them out. As now, landlords will still be able to increase rents to market price for their properties and an independent tribunal will make a judgement on this, if needed.
- Introduce a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman that will provide quick, fair, impartial and binding resolution for tenants’ complaints about their landlord. This will bring tenant-landlord complaint resolution on par with established redress practices for tenants in social housing and consumers of property agent services
- Create a Private Rented Sector Database to help landlords understand their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance (giving good landlords confidence in their position), alongside providing better information to tenants to make informed decisions when entering into a tenancy agreement. It will also support local councils – helping them target enforcement activity where it is needed most. Landlords will need to be registered on the database in order to use certain possession grounds.
- Give tenants strengthened rights to request a pet in the property, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. To support this, landlords will be able to require pet insurance to cover any damage to their property
- Apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector to give renters safer, better value homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities.
- Apply ‘Awaab’s Law’* to the sector, setting clear legal expectations about the timeframes within which landlords in the private rented sector must take action to make homes safe where they contain serious hazards.
- Make it illegal for landlords and agents to discriminate against prospective tenants in receipt of benefits or with children – helping to ensure everyone is treated fairly when looking for a place to live.
- End the practice of rental bidding by prohibiting landlords and agents from asking for or accepting offers above the advertised rent. Landlords and agents will be required to publish an asking rent for their property and it will be illegal to accept offers made above this rate.
- Strengthen local authority enforcement by expanding civil penalties, introducing a package of investigatory powers and bringing in a new requirement for local authorities to report on enforcement activity.
- Strengthen rent repayment orders by extending them to superior landlords, doubling the maximum penalty and ensuring repeat offenders have to repay the maximum amount.
*Awaab’s Law empowers tenants, backed by law, to hold landlords fully accountable for poor living conditions caused by damp and mould
Click here for the Government's guide to the Renters’ Rights Bill
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