The government’s long-awaited Renters Reform Bill will be published next week, housing secretary Michael Gove confirmed.
The legislation will “change the way in which the relationship between landlords and tenants work, providing tenants with new protection which should ensure they are better protected against arbitrary rent increases,” he told Sky News last night.
The legislation seeks to ban ‘no fault’ Section 21 evictions, end the use of arbitrary rent review clauses used by landlords in contracts with tenants and create a new private renters’ ombudsman to allow disputes between private renters and landlords to be settled without going to court.
The paper was first proposed in the Queen’s Speech last May, but former Prime Minister Theresa May first said her government would scrap section 21 evictions in April 2019.
More than half a million properties, or 12% of households, are an imminent risk to tenants’ health and safety, meaning around 1.6 million people are living in dangerously low-quality homes, according to government data.
The move comes as a rising number of landlords say increasing government legislation ranging from green energy improvements to existing tax restrictions are driving up costs causing them to leave the market.
Around 140,000 landlords retired last year, while a combination of high house prices and buy-to-let tax changes, means “the next generation of landlords has been stemmed,” data from Hamptons found last month.
Propertymark head of policy and campaigns says: “This announcement and the long-awaited introduction of legislation from the government to reform the private rented sector in England will help bring much-needed clarity for letting agents and their landlords.
“The legislation is likely to focus on improving standards and the quality of property in the sector so Propertymark will be scrutinising the proposals, pushing for amendments where necessary and championing the role of letting agents to ensure the reforms are workable and fit for purpose.”
Meanwhile, the government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill in May is making its way through parliament.
In broad terms, this wide-ranging legislation devolves powers to local areas in England that want “more control over budgets, transport and skills”.
It also bids to “improve the planning process” and “provide a legal basis for the setting and reporting” against the administration’s levelling up mission.
Speaking on Sky Gove said it was a “misnomer” to say the government is scrapping housebuilding targets, adding that it is still committed to building 300,000 homes every year.
However, it emerged in December that Gove had pressed the Competition and Markets Authority in a letter to open up a probe into the housing sector, after the government was forced to row back from its target to build 300,000 homes a year following threats of a rebellion from its own MPs in November.
Gove wrote to the CMA: “Housing plays a key role in achieving our Levelling Up ambitions. Buying a home is one of the most important decisions a family takes, with huge financial implications, so making sure this market is working in the interests of consumers is of the highest importance.”
In February, the CMA said that it would open the first markets investigation into the housebuilding industry in 14 years.
