17th
May 2023
The anti-landlord pro-tenant Renters Reform Bill is being introduced to Parliament today (Wed 17th May), four years after it was first pledged by the government in 2019.
As ‘threatened’ in the Bill’s White Paper ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector’, many of the measures are pro-private renters making it far more difficult to evict tenants, a compulsory Decent Homes Standard regulation for landlords and a mandatory Ombudsman scheme.
The government claims that 11 million private renters in England will benefit greatly from and be confident of a “safer, fairer and higher quality homes thanks to a once-in-a-generation overhaul of housing laws.”
The Bill finally delivers the Conservative’s 2019 manifesto pledge which the government says will: “empower renters to challenge poor landlords without fear of losing their home.?“
The Bill will also apparently “protect” the two million or so landlords to repossess properties when they need to such as , if they wish to sell up, to move in a close family member, anti-social or criminal behaviour of tenants and from tenants wilfully falling behind with their rent.
It will also introduce reduced notice periods for those tenants with reckless behaviour such as damaging the property or tenancy agreement breaches.
The government’s ‘trumpets’ the reforms in the Bill’s launch as in the launch statement it - “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.”
There will be 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.”
Landlords will now have to join a new Ombudsman in the PRS and there will be a new digital Property Portal which will ‘very helpfully’ list landlords’ obligations “and help tenants make better decisions when signing a new tenancy agreement.”
Housing Secretary Michael Gove says: “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.
“This government is determined to tackle these injustices by offering a New Deal to those living in the Private Rented Sector; one with quality, affordability, and fairness at its heart.
“Our new laws introduced to Parliament today 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.
“This will ensure that everyone can live somewhere which is decent, safe and secure – a place they’re truly proud to call home.”
Tenants will very shortly be handed the legal right to request a pet in their home, which by law landlords will have to consider and cannot ‘unreasonably’ (whatever that means) turn down.
However they will be allowed to tell the tenants they must have pet damage insurance policy and provide a copy of it to ‘waylay’ any fears.
The Bill will outlaw agents and landlords from having blanket bans on renters on benefit or those that have children.
It will give councils more powers on enforcement cases which they will have to report on its progress and eventual outcomes.
Richard Merrick of PIMS,said: “ I have strong reservations over whether the Ombudsman service will drastically reduce the number of landlord tenant court cases.
”The majority of cases are repossessions and most likely for substantial rental arrears, and the eventual outcome is that landlords will in the end receive little or nothing.”
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This Bill is highly likely to be passed in 2023 The vast
majority of landlords shall become subject to this new legislation - so
understand the impact of the new eviction laws and ask yourself do you
want to trust certain tenants with the extra protection that the new
laws shall afford them
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Removing Tenants and Eviction
Banning Restrictive Clauses in Tenancy Agreements
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Greater Levels of accountability and compliance - CAPPING RENTS
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So the Section 21 shall cease
to exist and be replaced with New Grounds under a fault based eviction
using the Section 8 Notice - The Governments stance is the new
Eviction grounds shall be "comprehensive, fair, and efficient, striking a
balance between protecting tenants’ security and landlords’ right to
manage their property". PIMS View is pure hot air.
PIMS NEW- SECTION 21 NOW S8
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