Despite a string of pledges on rental sector reform delivered in recent days by government ministers, including Housing Secretary Michael Gove, activists in Generation Rent are upset that legislation will not see the light of day this year.

With little over three weeks left until Christmas, Gove has now pledged that the Renters Reform Bill, containing measures such as the scrapping of Section 21 eviction powers for landlords, will be introduced in 2023.

However, Generation Rent has tweeted: “Michael Gove says we won’t see the Renters Reform Bill until 2023, when it will have been 4 years since the original promise to #EndSection21. In that time thousands more people will face homelessness at the whim of their landlord. #RentersAreWaiting”

In a series of mainstream media appearances last week Gove made clear the government’s intentions.

For example, on BBC Radio 4’s Today show he said: “We’re going to be bringing forward more legislation to improve the position of people in the private rented sector. We want to make sure that people in the private rented sector are confident that local government is on their side. We will bring forward legislation that will give them better protection. It will come in the next calendar year, so 2023.”

The details of the Renters Reform Bill, contained in a parallel White Paper, were released back in June but the government – at that time led by Boris Johnson – did not set out a timetable for implementation.

The measures included a ban on Section 21 evictions and the extension of the Decent Homes Standard to the private rental sector.

It also pledges an end to what it calls “arbitrary rent review clauses, give tenants stronger powers to challenge poor practice, unjustified rent increases and enable them to be repaid rent for non-decent homes.”

It will be illegal for landlords or agents to have blanket bans on renting to families with children or those in receipt of benefits. And it will make it easier for tenants to have pets, a right which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse.

All tenants are to be moved onto a single system of periodic tenancies, which in the government’s words mean “they can leave poor quality housing without remaining liable for the rent or move more easily when their circumstances change.” A tenancy will only end if a tenant ends or a landlord has a valid reason, defined in law.

There will be a doubling of notice periods for rent increases and tenants will have stronger powers to challenge them if they are unjustified.

The government says it is also “giving councils stronger powers to tackle the worst offenders, backed by enforcement pilots, and increasing fines for serious offences.”

There will also be a new Private Renters’ Ombudsman to enable disputes between private renters and landlords to be settled quickly, at low cost, and without going to court.

What the government calls “responsible landlords” will be able to gain possession of their properties efficiently from anti-social tenants “and can sell their properties when they need to.”

There will be a new property portal that will “provide a single front door to help landlords to understand, and comply with, their responsibilities as well as giving councils and tenants the information they need to tackle rogue operators.”

In recent weeks the new housing ministers appointed by the latest Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, have made clear that the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is still working on the fine detail of the Bill and that this would be introduced into the Commons shortly.