Report a maintenance issue
You may well have heard of the Government’s intention to implement the Renter’s Reform Act, so we thought we’d give you a bit of background behind it and our thoughts moving forward.
The Renters (Reform) Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 17 May 2023 and sets out the UK Government’s plans to deliver on the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitment to reform the private rented sector in England.
We thought it would be useful to list some of the key elements contained within the Bill, together with some dynamic links to some useful further information (just hover over the links and press “control “and then click!)
Reforming the private rented sector
The legislation will implement many of the measures that the UK Government included in its ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector’ White Paper that was published in June 2022.
VIEW THE POLICY PAPER: A fairer private rented sector (gov.uk)
The objective of the Bill is to ensure renters have access to a secure and decent home and that landlords retain the confidence to repossess their properties where they need to. The Bill will:
- Abolish section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and reform tenancy agreements where all assured tenancies are periodic.
- Introduce more possession grounds where tenants are at fault, for example in cases of anti-social behaviour and repeat rent arrears.
- Allow landlords to gain possession of their property if they want to sell it, or a close family member wishes to occupy it.
- Provide stronger protections against retaliatory evictions.
- Introduce a new Ombudsman that all private landlords must join.
- Introduce a new Property Portal including a database of residential landlords and privately rented properties in England.
- Give tenants the right to request a pet in their property, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse.
Further measures the UK Government will legislate for include:
- Apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector.
- Make it illegal for landlords and agents to have blanket bans on renting to tenants in receipt of benefits or with children.
- Strengthen local council’s enforcement powers and introduce a new requirement for councils to report on enforcement activity.
- Click the link below to see the bill in full:
It’s fairly obvious that the present Government (probably because the opinion polls are suggesting that they’ll lose the next General Election), will want to get this bill passed before during this Parliament. In our opinion that probably means that any changes that come in will probably be around October next year for new tenancies and 12 months afterwards for existing tenancies. Please be aware though, that any fixed term tenancies that revert to periodic tenancies after the implementation date of the Act will be classed as “new” tenancies.
There are lots of unanswered questions at this juncture. For example, how will this legislation be viewed by Buy to Let mortgage lenders? Will the process of enforcing Section 8 Notices through the Courts become quicker and less expensive? Will all of the aforementioned notices have to be presented before a judge?
One thing is for sure though-this legislation IS going to happen. Whilst some initial elements may not be implemented or new ones introduced, we have to accept that the private rented sector is going to look something more like it did in the very early 1990s, rather than how it has been since the introduction of the Assured Shorthold tenancy. There is probably any number of solicitors going back through their old files as we speak, looking for copies of old Assured Tenancy Agreements that can be adapted moving forwards!
Rest assured that we at Readings will be “keeping our finger on the pulse” of any news regarding the new Act. As a Professional firm, we have access to any number of organisations that will be working closely with the Government regarding the Act. We will also be lobbying the Government through these organisations to ensure that the interests of landlords are considered as much as possible.
It does seem as if the current Government has “had it in for landlords” for some time and we wouldn’t disagree with that. However, we know that all of our landlords offer good quality homes at reasonable rents to their tenants. The private rented sector has been incredibly important in subsidising the ever shrinking social housing sector over the last 30 years and will continue to do so in years to come. Between us, we’ve coped with so many recent changes in legislation over the last few years and we’ll deal with this change too.
If you’re a private landlord with questions that need answering, or you’re using an Agent who hasn’t engaged with you regarding this important piece of legislation, then please don’t hesitate to contact us either on 0116 2227575 or at lettings@readingspropertygroup.com.
