The government has committed to returning the amended Renters Reform Bill to the House of Commons in mid-April.
MPs return from their Easter recess on April 15 and the. Ill will resume its passage through Parliament within days of the recess ending. There’s been angry reaction from activists and charities following changes made to address concerns about out the anti-landlord bias of the Bill in its original form.
Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, says “instead of appeasing a few landlords, the government should focus on preventing homelessness. The best ways to do this would be to give renters four months notice rather than two when we are evicted, while making sure we can’t be kicked out within the first two years of a tenancy if we stick to the rules.”
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said “it’s cowardly that the government would rather betray renters than stand up to a minority of MPs hell-bent on browbeating them into watering down the Renters Reform Bill.”
Crisis chief executive Matt Downie says "the Bill does improve prevention measures on homelessness but must do more to protect tenants and support responsible landlords. There has been positive movement on homelessness prevention measures in this bill, which would see households still being supported after eviction, which we very much welcome. But with the bill still not published and continued uncertainty over ending no-fault evictions, this situation continues to cause anxiety for millions of renters across the country.”
At the start of the Easter weekend the government told Conservative MPs that the amendments it would table to the Bill when it returns to the Commons would include:
- Accepting a proposal by the cross-party housing select committee that when fixed term tenancy agreements end, “tenants be unable to give two months’ notice to leave until they have been in a property for at least four months";
- Reviewing the operation of the courts before ending section 21 for existing tenancies to ensure the justice system can cope with the increased workload;
/ Ensuring all types of student housing, including one and two bed properties, are covered by the planned ground for possession to protect the annual cycle of the student housing market. This will ensure landlords can guarantee to prospective students that properties will be available to rent from the start of each academic year;
- Reviewing the need for local authority licensing schemes in light of the proposed property portal, an idea contained in the Renters Reform Bill.
Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association says “all the rumour, speculation and off-the record briefings about the future of the Bill has caused a huge amount of concern and uncertainty for tenants and responsible landlords. The Government has a mandate to end section 21 repossessions. Our focus has been on ensuring that the replacement system works, and is fair, to both tenants and responsible landlords. The changes being proposed would achieve this balance.
Ministers now need to crack on to ensure the Bill can proceed with the scrutiny it deserves. The lack of progress and uncertainty about the future is destabilising and damaging for those living and working in the private-rented sector. It is time to bring this to an end.”
A government spokesperson states “our landmark Renters Reform Bill will deliver a fairer private rented sector for both tenants and landlords. It will abolish section 21 evictions – giving people more security in their homes and empowering them to challenge poor practices. The Bill must strike the balance between delivering security for tenants and fairness for landlords. We have listened to feedback from landlord and tenant groups and from MPs, and will bring amendments forward at Commons Report Stage after Easter recess.”
The Renters (Reform) Bill doesn’t need tweaking – it needs sinking
News that the Government is tweaking the Renters (Reform) Bill has been welcomed by landlords everywhere, not so much by the usual suspects, but this awful legislation really needs sinking.
The proposed changes, including the abolition of section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, do nothing to help the private rented sector (PRS) and only contribute to rising rents for tenants.
Homeless charity Shelter may condemn the government for this move to ‘water down’ proposals, but it’s their influence that’s leading to the abolition of Section 21.
This may be seen as a victory for campaigners and rogue tenants, but it’s a blow to the many responsible landlords who provide quality homes.
Exodus of landlords from the PRS
The consequences of this Bill could lead to an exodus of landlords from the PRS. And who will be blamed for this? The landlords, of course. But let’s consider the facts. The number of landlords leaving the PRS is already on the rise. Is this what Shelter had in mind?
Interestingly, many tenants haven’t even heard of the Renters (Reform) Bill. Yet, campaign groups like Shelter claim tenants are clamouring for change.
Are most tenants really facing the issues these groups claim?
It’s also a worry that most landlords aren’t aware of the details of a Bill that effectively hands control from the property owner to the renter. This is unbelievable.
Critics condemn Tory MPs
It’s concerning too when critics condemn Tory MPs for requesting amendments to the Bill. If these MPs are landlords, they bring invaluable experience to the table.
These MPs also represent large numbers of tenants and understand that pushing through legislation opposed by landlords will lead to increased homelessness and sky-high temporary housing bills, potentially bankrupting many councils. Last week, yet another survey revealed that tenants are happy with their rented homes. Did this make the national news? Of course not.
It’s easier for groups like Crisis to grab headlines with their ‘version’ of the truth.
Let’s not forget that the main cause of homelessness is a lack of council housing. And the leading cause of Section 21 evictions is rent arrears, damage to a property, or anti-social behaviour.
Abolishing fixed-term tenancies
The anti-landlord lobby has hijacked the argument on abolishing fixed-term tenancies with their talk of abolishing ‘no-fault’ evictions. If fixed-term contracts are a bad thing, why don’t they just say that? I guess they’d rather play games.
The Renters (Reform) Bill uses a broad brush to tar all landlords, both good and bad, with the same brush. Instead of penalising landlords, the time, effort and money should be spent on addressing the issue of bad landlords.
Let’s remove them from our industry and allow good landlords to continue providing quality homes to their tenants. Unfortunately, this solution may be too simplistic for those pushing for the Renters (Reform) Bill – especially when there are already lots of laws in place to control the PRS.
Let’s focus on weeding out bad landlords (but not with useless selective licensing, obvs) while allowing good ones to continue providing much-needed housing for our communities.
Heavily funded critics of landlords
But I’m left thinking: Are we in a situation whereby the heavily funded critics of landlords are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Will they achieve their aims – claiming they represent tenants everywhere – while decimating the PRS? Will landlords remain to see what actually happens?
Or will we be watching from the sidelines having sold our rented houses, rents have rocketed, and tenants have nowhere to live and the government and Shelter, Crisis and Generation Rent are looking at their feet?
The bogeyman you have ridiculed, undermined and destroyed may well have the last laugh.
Except no one will be laughing because the situation you’ve created will be too awful to contemplate. Perhaps the only silver lining is there won’t be a need for these campaign groups in the future because there won’t be any tenants to campaign for.