The measure, aimed at strengthening the Renters’ Rights Bill, includes a “protected period” during which tenants couldn’t be removed from upgraded homes.
The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and suspended MP Rachael Maskell have backed the proposal.
Writing for Labour List, Ribeiro-Addy points to Generation Rent polling showing limited tenant power to resist rent hikes. She argues that landlords benefiting from retrofit grants shouldn’t be allowed to hike rents or evict tenants under the guise of energy efficiency improvements.
Fewer than one in five renters say they’d feel confident challenging a rent hike—raising concerns about the limited protections in place even under the proposed Renters’ Rights Bill.
She wrote: “Seven in ten private renters have never heard of the First-Tier Tribunal (the system renters can use to challenge rent hikes).’
MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy argues the situation is particularly troubling when landlords benefit from government retrofit grants, which are awarded based on the lower incomes of their tenants. She warns that nothing currently prevents property owners from evicting renters to sell upgraded homes for profit, despite the improvements being funded by the public purse.
She continued: “I heard one story of a family whose landlord had substantial energy efficiency upgrades installed with support from a grant. Once the upgrades were done, the landlord hiked up the rent by £500 a month, meaning the family faced a massive shortfall between their housing benefit and the rent, ultimately leading to their eviction.
“The success of this policy can’t rely on an unstable combination of the goodwill of landlords and an inaccessible, opaque redress system.”
She has been supported by 13 MPs including Corbyn and Maskell and in her article she states that this motion will ensure more Labour voters, and writes: “Private renters were the tenure type most likely to vote Labour in 2024. These votes were based on a promise to reform our broken renting system. They must not be taken for granted.
“Generation Rent’s polling also asked renters about their support for the government’s policies in this area.
“Net support increased by 41 points from +14% to +55% when renters were given a scenario where the government would protect them from rent increases versus when they were told their rent would increase because of improvements.”
The Early Day Motion states: “That this House recognises that nearly four million private renters regularly struggle to pay their energy bills, with private renters more likely to experience fuel poverty than any other tenure type and poorly insulated homes costing tenants on average £570 per year, while energy use in UK homes causing an estimated 40% of carbon emissions; believes the Government’s ambition of uprating all private rented homes to EPC C or above by 2030 is welcome; but warns that renters will not be sufficiently protected from rent hikes or evictions as a result of their home increasing in value following energy efficiency improvements; further believes the Renters’ Rights Bill is a positive first step in addressing the power imbalance between tenants and landlords, but does not offer sufficient protections for renters in the case of retrofitting; is concerned that, without further protections, renters, particularly those on low incomes, will not enjoy the benefits of a warmer home and lower bills; and believes the Government should protect renters from rent increases through classifying grants as an improvement contributed by the tenant, not the landlord, at the First-tier Tribunal rent assessment process and protect renters from eviction through introducing a protected period from eviction after a government grant is used to retrofit a privately rented property.“