By Ben Kerrigan-
Tenants in the Uk are to be given more power to challenge landlords over poor practise and unjustified rent increases under new proposals to be made law by the government.
The government will also make it illegal for landlords or their agents to ban renting to families with children or anyone who is on benefits.
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Known as ‘The Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper’ , the Government say the new plans marks a generational shift with the aim of redressing the balance between landlords and tenants across the country.
It will also see the decent homes living standard extended to the private sector, making homes free from serious health and safety hazards and homes must be kept in a good state of repairs.
The “no fault” section 21 evictions which allows landlords to end tenancies without any notice and given reason, will also be outlawed under the new proposals. The Government has said that more than a fifth of private renters who moved house in 2019 and 2020 did not move by choice.
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Along with these changes, the government said a new Private Renters’ Ombudsman will be made which will enable disputes between the private renters and landlords to be sorted quickly at a relatively low cost to stop cases going to court. The new measures will also help the landlords gain possession of their property in an effective way from anti-social tenants.
The Department For Levelling Up Housing And Communities white paper marks a generational shift aimed at redressing the balance between landlords and 4.4 million private rented tenants. It will seek to provide new support for cost of living pressures with protections for the most vulnerable, and new measures to tackle arbitrary and unfair rent increases as part of a wider reform agenda to improve lives and level up the country, delivering more housing and greater protections for tenants and homeowners.
The majority of tenants enjoy safe and secure rentals, but for the 21% of private renter and households who currently live in unfit homes, this ‘New Deal’ will extend the Decent Homes Standard to the private sector for the first time, levelling up opportunities. This means homes must be free from serious health and safety hazards, and landlords must keep homes in a good state of repair so renters have clean, appropriate and useable facilities.
Justifying the outlawing of the so -called ‘no fault’ section 21 evictions which allow landlords to terminate tenancies without giving any reason , the government said that more than a fifth of private renters who moved in 2019 and 2020 did not end their tenancy by choice, including 8% who were asked to leave by their landlord.
The government said it will end the use of arbitrary rent review clauses, restricting tribunals from hiking up rent and enabling tenants to be repaid rent for non-decent homes. This will make sure tenants can take their landlord to court to seek repayment of rent if their homes are of unacceptable standard
Making it easier for tenants to have much-loved pets in their homes by giving all tenants the right to request a pet in their house, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse
All tenants to be moved onto a single system of periodic tenancies, meaning they can leave poor quality housing without remaining liable for the rent or move more easily when their circumstances change. A tenancy will only end if a tenant ends or a landlord has a valid reason, defined in law
It will double notice periods for rent increases and giving tenants stronger powers to challenge them if they are unjustified. It will also give councils stronger powers to tackle the worst offenders, backed by enforcement pilots, and increasing fines for serious offences.
In addition, the estimated 2.3 million private landlords will have greater clarity and support through the following measures:
A new Private Renters’ Ombudsman will be created to enable disputes between private renters and landlords to be settled quickly, at low cost, and without going to court . Ensuring responsible landlords can gain possession of their properties efficiently from anti-social tenants and can sell their properties when they need to.
Property Portal
Introducing a new property portal that will provide a single front door to help landlords to understand, and comply with, their responsibilities as well as giving councils and tenants the information they need to tackle rogue operators. These reforms will help to ease the cost of living pressures renters are facing, saving families from unnecessarily moving from one privately rented home to another hundreds of pounds in moving costs.
We have already taken significant action over the past decade to improve private renting, including reducing the proportion of non-decent private rented homes from 37% to 21%, capping tenancy deposits and banning tenancy fees for tenancy agreements signed after 1 June 2019, and introducing pandemic emergency measures to ban bailiff evictions.
Today’s measures will form part of the Renters Reform Bill as announced in the Queen’s Speech, to be introduced in this parliamentary session. This will deliver on our commitment to give renters a better deal and make the private rented sector fit for the 21st century with safer, more secure and higher quality homes.
Levelling Up and Housing Secretary Michael Gove said:
”For too long many private renters have been at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords who fail to repair homes and let families live in damp, unsafe and cold properties, with the threat of unfair ‘no fault’ evictions orders hanging over them.
Our New Deal for renters will help to end this injustice by improving the rights and conditions for millions of renters as we level up across the country and deliver on the people’s priorities.
While the majority of private rented homes are of good quality, offering safe, comfortable accommodation for families, the conditions of more than half a million properties – or 12% of households – pose an imminent risk to tenants’ health and safety, meaning around 1.6 million people are living in dangerously low-quality homes, driving up costs for our health service.
The sector offers the most expensive, least secure, and lowest quality housing to millions of renters, including 1.3 million households with children and 382,000 households over 65. Rents are also rising at their fastest level for 5 years. This can damage life chances and hold back some of the most deprived parts of the country.
Today’s move marks the latest phase in delivering on the government’s levelling up missions, taking serious steps to halve the number of poor-quality rented homes, across both private and social tenures, by 2030.
Last week the government introduced the Social Housing Regulation Bill which means failing social housing landlords could face unlimited fines and Ofsted-style inspections.
In a major reset of power between tenants and landlords, residents will be able to demand information and rate their landlord as part of new satisfaction measures. Taken together with today’s renters reform white paper, the Bill will form a key part of the government’s mission to level up across the country and deliver on the people’s priorities.
New Property Portal
The new changes don’t end there; a new property portal will be created to help landlords understand and then comply with their responsibilities and it will give councils and tenants more information in a bid to tackle rogue landlords. All of the new measures will be part of the Renters Reform Bill that was announced in the Queen’s Speech during the opening of Parliament.
The Levelling Up and Housing Secretary Michael Gove has said: “For too long many private renters have been at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords who fail to repair homes and let families live in damp, unsafe and cold properties, with the threat of unfair ‘no fault’ evictions orders hanging over them. Our new deal for renters will help to end this injustice by improving the rights and conditions for millions of renters as we level up across the country and deliver on the people’s priorities.”
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