Understanding the Renters Reform Bill
By Tim Wade – Manager Gallant Richardson Colchester
What the Renters Reform Bill plans to achieve
The Renters (Reform) Bill is set out to achieve the government’s commitment to bring in a better deal for renters, this specifically includes abolishing section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and reforming landlord possession grounds. It is planned to legislate for reforms set out in the private rented sector white paper published in June 2022.
Why the government are looking to introduce this new legislation?
The private rented housing sector is an important and vital part of the UK housing market, there is strong demand for flexible rental accommodation and it often serves as a stepping stone for many to their dream of home ownership.
To give some context to the high demand for private rental property, the number of properties being rented has doubled since 2004, this peaked in 2016 and has remained at roughly this level since.
In most instances, the landlord/tenant relationship works well, although sadly some renters face a lack of security as a result of section 21 evictions. The resulting short-notice moves negatively impact children’s educational outcomes, make it challenging to hold down stable employment, and prevent families from putting down roots and investing in their local area.
Poor quality housing is also an issue, with almost a quarter of private rented homes not meeting basic decency standards. The government’s intention is to tackle these issues in the private rented sector by legislating to apply a Decent Homes Standard.
Responsible landlords also face challenges, particularly when trying to evict tenants who wilfully do not pay rent or exhibit anti-social behaviour. Landlords also suffer by being undercut by criminal landlords. Reforms aim to celebrate the overwhelming majority of landlords who do a good job and give them peace of mind that they can repossess their property when a tenant is behaving badly, or their circumstances change.
The government’s objectives with the Renters Reform Bill
The Bill aims to improve the system for both the 11 million private renters and 2.3 million landlords. The reforms have been developed in consultation with landlord and tenant groups over the past five years. The Renters (Reform) Bill is hoping to achieve –
- Abolish section 21 evictions and move to a simpler tenancy structure where all assured tenancies are periodic – providing more security for tenants and empowering them to challenge poor practice and unfair rent increases without fear of eviction.
- Introduce more comprehensive possession grounds so landlords can still recover their property (including where they wish to sell their property or move in close family) and to make it easier to repossess properties where tenants are at fault, for example in cases of anti-social behaviour and repeat rent arrears.
- Provide stronger protections against backdoor eviction by ensuring tenants are able to appeal excessively above-market rents which are purely designed to force them out. As now, landlords will still be able to increase rents to market price for their properties and an independent tribunal will make a judgement on this, if needed. To avoid fettering the freedom of the judiciary, the tribunal will continue to be able to determine the actual market rent of a property.
- Introduce a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman that private landlords must join, which will provide fair, impartial, and binding resolution to many issues and prove quicker, cheaper, and less adversarial than the court system;
- Create a Privately Rented Property Portal to help landlords understand their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance (giving good landlords confidence in their position), alongside providing better information to tenants to make informed decisions when entering into a tenancy agreement. It will also support local councils – helping them target enforcement activity where it is needed most.
- Give tenants the right to request a pet in the property, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. To support this, landlords will be able to require pet insurance to cover any damage to their property.
- Apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector to give renters safer, better value homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities. This will help deliver the Government’s Levelling Up mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030.
- Make it illegal for landlords and agents to have blanket bans on renting to tenants in receipt of benefits or with children – ensuring no one is unjustly discriminated against when looking for a place to live; and
- Strengthen local councils’ enforcement powers and introduce a new requirement for councils to report on enforcement activity.
For further information and the full implications of the planed Renters Reform Bill, there is a useful guide from the Government.
Considering a Move to Colchester
With strong demand for properties both for sale and to rent in Colchester at the moment, we have many first-time buyers and renters looking for a home in Colchester and the surrounding areas.
If you are considering a move please feel free to call our office, either for an informal chat about the market and how we might help you with this or to book a market appraisal.
To see the very latest homes coming to the market, click ‘New to market homes’, this lists all of the very latest homes as they come to the market.
You can also see our ‘Recently Sold Properties’.
Tim Wade – Gallant Richardson
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