The government has pledged to  bring forward a White Paper in the Autumn, focussing on its commitments to reform the private rental sector. 

Officially no details of its contents are to be released until agreed by politicians leading the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, but there has been a big hint dropped by government as to what the document will contain. The hint came in a government response, released last evening, to a House of Commons committee. 

The government response said: “We expect the White Paper will cover:

“- Reforming tenancy law to remove Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and to amend the possession grounds under Section 8 of the Act, so that landlords can regain their property where it is fair and reasonable to do so, for example where they need to sell or move into a property;

“- Introducing a new ‘lifetime’ deposit model to ease one of the key burdens when tenants need to move, while balancing landlords’ needs of a deposit scheme;

“- Requiring all private landlords to belong to a redress scheme, to drive up standards in the private rented sector and ensure that all tenants have a right to redress;

“- Considering further reforms of the private renter sector enforcement system so it is well targeted, effective and supports improvements in property conditions. This will include a set of measures to hold bad landlords to account for delivering safe and decent housing to tenants without penalising good landlords; and

“- Exploring improvements and possible efficiencies to the possession process in the courts, to make it quicker and easier for landlords and tenants to use.”