The 4th February saw the Renters’ Rights Bill receive it’s 2nd Reading in the House of Lords and now moves to Committee Stage. Opening the debate, Baroness Taylor said:
“The private rental system needs to change. It currently provides the least affordable, poorest quality and most insecure housing of all tenures. The insecurity it engenders creates uncertainty in the lives of tenants and allows good landlords to be undercut by the minority of rogues and chancers. In short, the 11 million private renters and the 2.3 million landlords across England are being failed. The Renters’ Rights Bill brings forward the most significant changes to the sector for nearly 40 years. The bill will strengthen the security of tenure for tenants; ensure that they are paying a fair rent; guarantee a minimum standard that they can expect from a property; provide new robust avenues to redress; and more.”
The Bill was debated with some Lords echoing Landlord and Agent concerns – with many stating that careful consideration of certain clauses is required at the Committee Stage. The intended and unintended consequences of the Bill were discussed.
Sensible amendments were talked about;
- to support student renters
- clarity on court reform and the timeline
- tackling short term lets
- local authority funding
- implementation of possession grounds
- deposit amendments to allow tenants to rent with pets
A primary concern with the introduction of the Bill, is landlords withdrawing from the PRS, reducing the availability of rental homes and driving up rents. If the Bill measures are sensible, this can be avoided.
Lord Howard suggested that if the Bill passed, there would be an “even greater shortage of rental homes” in five years than there is now;
“Landlords are already creaking under the weight of tax and bureaucracy, and the rental market is shrinking. Rented accommodation will always be needed, as a number of noble Lords have pointed out, but the policies the government are proposing will result in a further reduction of the amount of rented property available. Decreasing supply coupled with the increasing demand will serve only to push up costs for new tenants.”
SWLA continue to liaise with MPs and Local Government to get the balance right for landlords and tenants. We will continue to lobby for the Renters’ Rights Bill to be fair.
Follow the Bill progress here; Renters’ Rights Bill – Parliamentary Bills – UK Parliament
