Labour’s radical proposals for the private rental sector – including reducing landlords’ powers to demand arrears – have produced a dramatic response from the National Residential Landlords Association.

Yesterday Labour’s shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy told her party’s conference that if her party won power it would end Section 21 evictions; reduce eviction powers for landlords whose tenants are in arrears; introduce four month notice periods; introduce ‘portable’ deposits making it easier for tenants to switch properties; allowing tenants to have pets; permitting renters to make ”reasonable alterations to a property”; creating a national register of landlords; and initiating a legally-binding decent homes standard in the private rental sector.

In response to this NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says: “It is depressing that the Labour Party is once again demonising all landlords. The vast majority do a good job, providing a fifth of all housing in the country. That is why private tenants are more likely to be satisfied with their accommodation than those in the social rented sector.

“The combined effects of what Labour is proposing, in particular essentially making rent payments an optional extra, will seriously damage confidence and with it, the supply of homes to rent when demand is already high. Tenants will suffer in the long run.

“The reality is that promises of new social housing at some distant point in the future will do nothing to help renters struggling today.”

In response to Labour’s proposals the association says:

Rent arrears – Labour will pledge to end automatic repossessions for rent arrears.

The NRLA says: This would send a dangerous signal that paying rent was somehow an optional extra and begs the question where it ends. For example, would mortgage lenders no longer be able to regain possession of properties if homeowners can’t pay their mortgages? Labour should be focussed instead on preventing rent arrears in the first place by unfreezing housing benefit rates and addressing the supply crisis in the private rented sector which is the biggest driver of rents.

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Pets in rented homes – Labour will include a right for renters to have pets. 

The NRLA says: In a shared house, whose rights would prevail if one tenant wanted to bring a pet and another did not, maybe because of a fear of dogs or an allergy? What happens if a property was unsuitable for a certain type of pet? For example, a large dog in a small flat without a garden. What would happen if a pet caused a nuisance for other tenants or neighbours? Would that be classed as anti-social behaviour on the part of the tenant? Could a landlord insist on the pet being removed? If Labour want more tenants to be able to have pets’ landlords should be able to require them to have suitable insurance to reflect the greater risk of pets damaging properties.

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Increased notice periods – Labour wants to introduce a four month notice period for repossessions by landlords. 

The NRLA says: This would become a charter for anti-social tenants causing misery for fellow tenants and neighbours alike, knowing that they could stay put for four months as well as those purposefully not paying their rent in the knowledge that they have a four-month period in which nothing can happen.

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Rent controls – Labour wants to consult on proposals to control rent increases within tenancies. 

The NRLA says Labour ministers in Wales have warned of the potential for such measures to increase homelessness. Speaking last week, the Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths MS, said of rent controls: “One of the things I think that could happen is that you could see landlords exiting the market in large numbers, and that, therefore, would reduce the supply of property, which could lead to significantly increased homelessness. There are other potential unintended consequences as well. If you look at international evidence, you will see that rent control measures can create a target rather than a cap.”