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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

MP behind Rental Reform proposals resigns from government

The minister who was behind the controversial Renters Reform Bill and the accompanying White Paper has this morning resigned from the government.

Eddie Hughes MP has tweeted: “I have decided to hand back by red box in return for the opportunity to spend yet more time working for my constituents in Walsall North, championing their causes in Parliament. Thank you to all in the rough sleeping & housing sectors for support during my time as a Minister.”

Although Hughes has been widely recognised as a hard working and well informed minister, the legislation and proposals he drew up have been seen as swinging power in favour of tenants.

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Hughes was an advocate of the scrapping of S21 powers for landlords, which has caused widespread controversy within the rental sector.

Some observers thought Hughes may have been in line for promotion to Housing Secretary but that job - and its position in the Cabinet - went to Simon Clarke, a former junior minister in the past. 

There has so far been no word on Hughes’ replacement at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Nor has there been any indication as to whether the rental sector proposals that Hughes made will be continued under new Prime Minister Liz Truss.

 

Shelter's chief executive, Polly Neate, has this morning tweeted a tribute to Hughes, saying: "Thank you Eddie Hughes for your work as minister. At long last we saw thinking on housing policy and homelessness policy start to join up at government level and your experience in the sector really showed."

Peter Stephenson, director of westcountry homelessness charity St Petrocks, went to social media to say: "Saddened to see Eddie Hughes step down ... we disagree about many things but I know Eddie has a genuine heart for his brief and brought an understanding of the issues that is rare amongst ministers." 

And Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns for Propertymark, says: “A change of minister will add to the uncertainty the proposals within the renters’ reform white paper have created among the landlords our member agents represent, specifically the lack of protections against anti-social behaviour with the removal of Section 21 notices and the move away from fixed-term tenancies. We’re ready to work closely with whoever replaces Eddie Hughes to ensure that if the private rented sector is to be reformed, it is fair, balanced and workable, and goes ahead without any further delays.”

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  • George Dawes

    Good riddance

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    I was rushing to reply with the same comment!!!

    Thank god he has gone.

     
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    My thoughts exactly George. Stay in your constituency and don’t come back.

     
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    Let's hope that his resignation marks a change in policy direction.

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    Dare we hope, Simon Clarke, will see the light!

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    FANTASTIC - Said many times on this forum My gut instinct is he is a driving force behind these ludicrous proposals - I thought he would have to be chipped off like a barnacle from a rock - I wonder if like Priti it was made clear there was no future for him under new regime - we can only hope

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    Wow - now that news is a good start to the day!

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    the driving force is Shelter and other government-supported groups

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    Hi Jacxk - I said A driving force not THE driving force - and although I say this more in hope than belief IF there was less belief in the righteousness of white paper within the LU dept then PERHAPS shelter et al might find they have less traction?

     
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    Surely the new Housing Minister cannot ignore the crisis on his doorstep.

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    See ya!!!!

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    Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day. :)

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    Fingers crossed 🤞

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    He was very anti landlord and I dare say had a streak of envy in him as well. I doubt anything will change though so I will keep my expectations low. Good riddance to bad rubbish

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    I won’t pretend to know the history of what’s going on here but the plight of tenants cannot be ignored. This broken system has to work for everyone otherwise more and more middle class with go homeless. It’s coming if we don’t change course.

     G romit

    Eddie Hughes, the Consaervative Party egged on by Shelter, Generation Rent, Acorn, et al seem hell-bent on putting its foot on the accelerator to send the PRS over the abyss (the the tenants that rely on it & whom the purport to support, with it).

    "There is no situation so bad that Government interference cannot make worse"

     
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    There's a lot of history Paul. For example there's a great deal of evidence to suggest that S24 was a plan hatched by Shelter, Legal & General along with a senior Treasury official.

    That being true then the tenants are being pushed into the hands of corporate landlords who happen to sponsor Shelter. The casualties here are ultimately the tenants.

     
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    You are right Paul, the government needs to wake up to the damage they are doing to both landlord and tenant

     
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    Just wish our lot in Scotland would resign too, particularly with the recent rent freezes and no evictions announcement. Furious to say the least!

  • Matthew Payne

    Trouble is Simon Clarke has less experience in the property industry than most trainee negotiators. He's very young, so not many life miles on the clock, was a trainee solicitor before becoming a career politican working for Dominic Raab. He only got this job as a reward from Liz Truss for supporting her through the campaign, as did most of the other new cabinet ministers, very few of them were appointed for being the best person for the job. There is very little chance he understands what has been going on in our world for the last decade to be able to confidently resolve where we find ourselves, more likely he will do as he is told by the PM/civil service.

    So as per lets "hope he sees the light", there is no more chance him being able to do that than me being able to do the same in an industry I know nothing about or have ever been exposed to. You have to have lived and breathed the darkness to be able to do that, its not something you can Google, "Whats happened in the property industry over the last 10 years?". "I am a cabinet minister and need to understand what challenges need solving, who should I ask?" He will of course have Shelter, Acorn and the like lobbying him to death every day, so that will inevitably shape his fledgling opinion.

    So I have no huge expectations of anything much before the 2024 GE and a new government. (We actually need a Housing Tsar, removed from government who can independently and publicly advise on a joined up strategy - party politiking always gets in the way when left to a Minister)

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    Just a thought - there is usually a backstory when anyone like this is prised out of their cushy little earner of a job and lets face it this chap hung in there for a long time. So on the 5th they had a review of the WP which some of us watched . Prior to that there was the request for feedback and clearly (despite the fact that we all have little faith that anyone really listens) a lot of Landlords and also organisations such as propertymark and agents themselves will have submitted input. I did. I do wonder if that Committee are sifting through all the feedback they got (and most on this forum will know the issues ad nauseum) it is POSSIBLE that they have gone back to Mr Hughes and put a few awkward questions his way? Faced with the economics 101 of the situation and a few awkward questions from the new minister in charge of the LU dept it MAY have been made clear that there was no future for his particular brand of housing politics? I do not know - probably wishful thinking on my part but it is a thought - pushed not jumped???? BTW for anyone who has not seen the debate is avail to watch on the parliamentlive tv event index also they are debating again today onwhatson.parliament.uk committees - sorry this site does not let me put in the full link

    Matthew Payne

    I would love to buy into that Catherine, but they have never listened to any other consultations where flaws in proposed legislation were as clear as day to most of us. I suspect that most departments will be having spring clean of junior ministers over the coming days, its housing today. The PM has packed her cabinet with her mates, cabinet ministers will be doing the same with their own teams, so they can at least sleep with one eye closed.

     
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    Hi Matthew - you may be right - Marcus Jones appears to have been given the order of the boot as well. We can only hope that if Ms Truss wants to overturn lots of Boris stuff she overturns the WP as well

     
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    I've got high hopes of Liz truss, unlike Jimmy Cranky in Scotland, I think she lives in the real World.

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    Robert l hope you are correct. Unfortunately it's gone too far with people running courses for continuous professional development and legalistic infrastructure coming on stream. Plus the monstering of landlords and the big institutions getting into BTL.

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    I have already writen a long letter to my MP hoping this signals a return to true Conservative values and reforms to all the bad legislatioon causing the present housing crisis.

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    Now we need is for Ben Beadle to go so we can get someone to stick up for LLs and keep S21.

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    No loss just a shame Michael Gove didn’t go as well the Author of THE WHITE PAPER although early in the day yet.
    The Tenants must surely recognise that the people purporting to be their friends are the culprit’s, most of all existing problems were caused by interference and deliberately so.

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    Michael Gove is no longer in the Cabinet. There was speculation that he might resign as an MP, but he has said that he will continue as an MP.

     
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    I have young adult children who rent where they live, as well as being a landlord. I think the situation needs to be fair not just to the young ones who will doubtless end up renting for many decades before they can buy their own properties but also to landlords. Landlords who have often scrimped and saved and worked hard to buy the properties they rent out must not be penalised to fill the tax coffers emptied by Brexit and covid.

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    Anyone who had the support of
    Shelter was obviously bad news. Good riddance.

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