The Tenancies Reform Bill failed to be go through last Friday week (31st Nov) much to landlords' considerable relief, due to a technicality that stopped a vote being carried out.

Two MPs Christopher Close and Philip Davies, took up the option to oppose the bill "in earnest" causing the allotted time to be overrun, which meant the Lib Dems MP Sarah Teather's proposed bill could not be voted on.

However there is no respite for landlords, as the Liberal Democrats are determined that the Bill's clauses, in one form or another, will eventually go ahead. They now  appear in the Deregulation Bill which the government states will ‘[free] UK businesses from red tape and [make] life easier for ordinary Britons’.

Within the Deregulation Bill the Lib Dems have inserted amendments to allow tenants to ' fight to limit landlords' being able to use the Section 21 notice.

Two of the most important clauses in the Tenancies Reform Bill have now been drafted into the new Bill which are, those tenants who suffered from revenge evictions are afforded six months protection. The second clause, does to a degree look to protect landlords, with key safeguards for those operating within the law.

There has been much discussion as to whether the government will allow any further parliamentary time to be spent on the original Tenancies Reform Bill, so the important clauses may get passed through the "back door" in January, when the Deregulation Bill is to be motioned in the House of Commons.

Richard Merrick of  PIMS said: "Although the Tenancies Reform Bill failed to be passed,[There shall be further reading Friday 23rd January 2015] it is obvious that in the New Year there will be a law that will go ahead including clauses around  "revenge evictions".

"Again the media and charities are calling for reforms to protect tenants against rogue landlords, however the problem is that there are few true "revenge evictions". PIMS and our members are against this practise, but it does not stop unscrupulous tenants and their "briefs" making hay if such clauses are passed without true consideration."

 

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