Landlords, letting agents and tenants all have a keen eye on the government’s ‘flagship’ Renters Rights Bill, a piece of draft legislation which has been making its way through Parliament for ¾ of a year already. Beleaguered commentators from the industry and those concerned by the changes will already be aware that this represents a ‘beefed up’ version of the abandoned Renters (Reform) Bill, tabled by the previous government in 2023, which did not make it to the statute books before the most recent general election.
Currently the bill is in the ‘Report Stage’ in the House of Lords.
Their Lordships have been critical arguing the Commons hadn’t listened to their concerns about fixed term contracts, student housing and holiday lets.
In particular Lord Hacking blasted the government for having rejected more than 300 amendments. What is more, the House of Commons is shortly scheduled for its summer recess, meaning little time for parliamentary ping-pong between the Houses.
This all means we are still some time away from the enactment of the final, finished article.
It seems unlikely the bill willbe passed into formal effect until late 2025, or even early 2026.
The Bill itself includes significant changes to the rental sector – primarily private. Out will be ‘no fault’ Section 21 eviction notices, long the fear of shorthold tenants who can receive notice of 2 months under the current rules with no reason needed for eviction.
In will come longer notice periods and a wider set of ‘faults’ or reasons which landlords and letting agents can use as the basis for repossessions.
Other far-reaching changes include a change to tenancy structures, empowerment of tenants via strengthened rights on matters such as hazardous living conditions, and a new mandatory ombudsman scheme.
These represent some of the biggest changes to the sector in a decade if not more, and much of the change is regarded as being pro-tenant. It is unclear at this stage what the ultimate impact will be on the court system, which is already struggling to handle the weight of the caseload from landlords seeking to act pre-emptively and utilising no fault evictions now while the option is still open to them. In other words, if the infrastructure is already creaking under the weight of the expectation attached to these changes, one wonders about the actual impact when the changes are passed.
This is particularly note-worthy if the amount of lead-in time is short.
Leasehold Property Solicitor
