Follow the Renters (Reform) Bill Progress

Posted on December 21st, 2023

The Renters (Reform) Bill had its Second Reading in the Commons on Monday 23 October 2023 and finished Committee stage on Thursday 30 November 2023. Report stage is expected early in the New Year.

You can follow the progress of the Bill through parliament by visiting: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3462

Alongside the Bill’s Second Reading, the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) published their response to the recent DLUHC’s Select Committee Inquiry into the PRS. The Committee’s report included a range of recommendations on various aspects of their policies including court reform, notice periods and guidance for tenants. They have responded to all of the recommendations, and you can read the full report here: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/41806/documents/207184/default/

On 14 November, the Government tabled a number of amendments to the Bill – these changes are policies first outlined in the PRS White Paper, ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector’. Key changes to the Bill include:

• Decent Homes Standard – allowing regulations to be made setting out Decent Homes Standard requirements for private rented sector homes, and providing local authorities with effective and proportionate enforcement powers.
• Blanket bans – making it illegal for letting agents and landlords to discriminate against tenants with dependents or in receipt of benefits.
• Investigatory powers – strengthening local authorities’ investigatory
  powers, including new powers to require information and powers of entry. This will better equip local authorities to investigate and take any necessary enforcement action against criminal landlords.
• Rent repayment orders – ensuring that superior landlords can be liable for rent repayment orders as well as a tenant’s immediate landlord. In addition, we are extending the maximum amount of rent that a landlord can be ordered to pay from 12 to 24 months, which will allow for more proportionate penalties for criminal landlords.
• Tenancy reform – covering a range of amendments from student lets, enforcement and council tax.

Article by gov.uk (DLUHC)