Renters’ (Reform) Bill aims to protect both tenants and landlords

The government has outlined its Renters (Reform) Bill, which it says will strike a balance between protecting both landlords and tenants.

Natalie Tatton Solicitor in our dispute team provides an update.

It says that eleven million tenants will benefit from safer, fairer and higher quality homes and over two million landlords will find it easier to recover their properties when necessary.

Landlords will be able to sell their property if they want to, or if they want to move in a close family member, or when tenants wilfully do not pay rent.

Notice periods will also be reduced where tenants have been irresponsible – for example, breaching their tenancy agreement or causing damage to the property.

These changes are designed to balance the increased protections for tenants introduced over the last decade, including giving councils stronger powers to drive criminal landlords out of the market by introducing Banning Orders through the Housing and Planning Act 2016; and shielding tenants from excessive deposits and fees through the Tenant Fees Act 2019.

The reforms will strengthen powers to evict anti-social tenants, broadening the disruptive and harmful activities that can lead to eviction and making it quicker to evict a tenant acting anti-socially.

To ensure the new tenancy systems works for landlords and tenants, it will be introduced alongside a reformed courts process. For the minority of evictions that do end up in the courts, more of the process will be digitised – reducing delays.

A new Ombudsman will provide quicker and cheaper resolutions to disputes, while a new digital Property Portal will enable landlords to understand their obligations and help tenants make better decisions when signing a new tenancy agreement. This is designed to give confidence to good landlords, while driving the criminal minority out of business.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove said: “Too many renters are living in damp, unsafe, cold homes, powerless to put things right, and with the threat of sudden eviction hanging over them.

“Our new laws will support the vast majority of responsible landlords who provide quality homes to their tenants, while delivering our manifesto commitment to abolish Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions.”

Tenants will also be given the legal right to request a pet in their home, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. Landlords will be able to require pet insurance to cover any damage to their property.

The government will also bring forward legislation as part of the Bill to:

• apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time, giving renters safer, higher quality homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities

• make it illegal for landlords and agents to have blanket bans on renting to tenants in receipt of benefits or with children – ensuring no family is unjustly discriminated against when looking for a place to live

• strengthen councils’ enforcement powers and introduce a new requirement for councils to report on enforcement activity – to help target criminal landlords.

If you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of commercial property law please contact Natalie on 01228 516666 or click here to send her an email.