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Louise Thomas
Editor
Renters’ voices are “finally starting to be heard”, a charity has said as Angela Rayner prepares to table her bill to ban “cruel” no-fault evictions.
Anti-homelessness charity Shelter said 11 million renters in England have been “ignored or shouted down” after sounding the alarm about the broken system for years.
But, with the Renters’ Rights Bill set for its second reading in the Commons on Wednesday, chief executive Polly Neate said: “The Renters’ Rights Bill is proof that their voices are finally starting to be heard.”
Deputy prime minister Ms Rayner said she is “determined to get this bill into law as soon as possible”, adding that having its second reading within 100 days shows her commitment to the overhaul.
The bill will bring an end to Section 21 so-called no-fault evictions, under which tenants can be removed from rented housing when a fixed-term tenancy ends or during a rolling tenancy
Theresa May promised to end no-fault evictions in 2019 but plans were delayed and eventually abandoned before Rishi Sunak called a general election this summer.
Ms Rayner, who also serves as housing secretary, said the Renters’ Rights Bill will “transform the sector” and ensure stable accommodation for families.
She said: “The thousands of children and families living in unsafe housing or under the cruel threat of a Section 21 eviction notice have been waiting far too long already.
“We will deliver on our promise to renters and transform the sector into one where families can put down roots, where children can grow up in healthy homes, and where young people can save for their future.”
The latest official figures published last week showed that the number of households assessed as needing homelessness help as a result of a section 21 no-fault eviction notice rose by almost 8 per cent year-on-year, from 24,260 to 26,150 in the year to March.
And while Shelter welcomed the progress on the bill, the charity joined calls for it to go further in offering protection to renters.
Ms Neate said: “Unscrupulous landlords must be left unable to find workarounds – such as ramping up the rent to ridiculous levels – so they can still force their tenants out.
“To make renting genuinely safer, secure, and more affordable, the bill must go further. It must limit in-tenancy rent increases so they’re in line with either inflation or wage growth. Renters must be protected from eviction for two years, and discriminatory practices that drive homelessness, like demands for huge sums of rent in advance, must be stamped out.”
Campaign group the Renters Reform Coalition has called for landlords to be forced to pay compensation to tenants evicted from properties under other grounds such as to sell them or move back in.
Director Tom Darling the bill “is a significant improvement on the last government’s effort” and “will already make a difference for a lot of people”. But he said it still may fall short, calling for compensation payouts as part of a range of proposals to strengthen the reforms.
During a speech to the Commons on Wednesday, Ms Rayner is expected to set out key parts of the bill, including how it will put tenants in a stronger position to challenge unreasonable rent increases and outline that landlords will only be allowed to raise the rent once a year at the market rate.
New legislation as it stands would also give renters a one-year period of protection at the beginning of a tenancy, during which landlords cannot evict to move in or sell the property, and would double notice periods for various grounds for possession from two months to four months.
The government said the bill will also bring disputes to quicker resolution through a new ombudsman service, cutting back on the need to go though the courts.
It is also expected to give local councils stronger powers to crack down on unscrupulous landlords and give tenants the right to request keeping a pet, with landlords unable to unreasonably refuse.
But campaigners representing renters and others acting as the voice for landlords have both raised concerns about various aspects of proposed new legislation.
The Renters’ Reform Coalition has broadly welcomed much of the bill’s content, describing it as a “significant improvement” on the previous government’s attempt, but it said proposals must go further to meet an ambition of levelling the playing field between landlords and tenants.
It has called for longer protection for tenants from eviction for the first two years of a tenancy.
The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) said it is concerned about tenants being able to build up more rent debts, known as arrears, before they can be given notice to leave a property and a doubling of the notice period in such cases from two weeks to four.
Ben Beadle, NRLA chief executive, said: “Landlords should rightly expect that they can swiftly regain possession of the properties they rent when tenants reach two months of arrears as at present.
“In no other walk of life would the government allow consumer debts to build for months on end with all the damage that can cause to their credit ratings.”
