The chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association says the controversial Renters Reform Bill will only succeed if landlords’ feel satisfied with its provisions.
The Bill - first introduced into the House of Commons in May - today begins its Second Reading, the next stage in the lengthy process of its passage through both Houses of Parliament before it becomes law.
Today’s events follow many months of speculation over whether the Bill would have to be modified or ditched to meet the requirements of some Conservative backbench MPs.
NRLA boss Ben Beadle says: “The uncertainty over whether the Bill will proceed or not has made it difficult for landlords and renters to plan for the future.
“As they consider the Bill, MPs and Peers will need to make sure it secures the confidence of responsible landlords every bit as much as tenants. Should the Bill fail to secure the confidence of landlords the shortage of homes will only worsen, ultimately hurting renters.
“It is crucial that problems with the Courts are addressed alongside the Bill progressing through Parliament. As the cross-party Housing Select Committee has warned, an unreformed court system risks undermining the Government’s planned changes to the sector.
“Ministers have pledged to guarantee improvements to the court system, and we will continue to work with them to ensure this happens.”
The Bill delivers the Tories’ 2019 manifesto commitment to abolish section 21 evictions which will - in the government’s words - “empower renters to challenge poor landlords without fear of losing their home.“
The new Bill also claims to “protect” over two million landlords, making it easier for them to recover properties when they need to – so they can sell their property if they want to, move in a close family member, or when tenants wilfully do not pay rent.
Notice periods will also be reduced where tenants have been irresponsible – for example breaching their tenancy agreement or causing damage to the property.
There will also be a “reformed courts process … for the minority of evictions that do end up in the courts, more of the process will be digitised – reducing delays.”
A new mandatory Ombudsman for landlords will be introduced while a new digital Property Portal will list landlords’ obligations “and help tenants make better decisions when signing a new tenancy agreement.”
Tenants will also be given the legal right to request a pet in their home, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse.
Landlords will be able to require pet insurance to cover any damage to their property.
The government will also bring forward legislation as part of the Bill to:
- apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time;
- make it illegal for landlords and agents to have blanket bans on renting to tenants in receipt of benefits or with children:
- strengthen councils’ enforcement powers and introduce a new requirement for councils to report on enforcement activity.
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Best of British luck with that
This is an anti-landlord piece of legislation, with the description written by Polly Bleat and approved by Ben Beadle. All about landlord responsibility and nothing about tenants’ responsibility. Landlords have had enough, Ben and are selling up. They feel very let down by the NRLA.
Are we certain Ben is not a “ 5th Columnist “” 😳😳
@ Simon Logan - Now there's a thought!
You can see from this website that it does not have the backing of the vast majority of landlords. It is doing irreversible damage to the private rental sector and therefore harming tenants' interests as much, if not more, than landlords' interests.
So it’s Computerisation the root cause of all without which we wouldn’t have half those Regulation’s in the first place.
Without which Parliament and University graduates couldn’t be involved as they would have to do some real work instead making Computer programs to digitise every invented spurious rule they can dream up and pay themselves £150k pa.
It will be all digital Compliance, Fines, Penalties, Re-Payment Orders, Confiscation Orders until the Big Boys take over with their Boxes in the Sky.
So all this interference has caused Homeless and Higher Rents now put it on Statute.
The legislation certainly does not take into account that the median age of landlords is 58, and that there are thousands of landlords over the age of 75. Research shows that older people are less likely to use or have experience with all types of computer-based systems.
All of the legislative provisions are ill-thought out - or perhaps simply have the aim of driving out landlords to increase owner occupation.
However they tweak the RRB they have lost the confidence of LLs - if they ever had it! The triple whammy of S24, high interest rates & the RRB has many older LLs planning their escape. There will be a new generation of LLs who will work in the new PRS but I think it will be a smaller cohort & only excellent tenants on good wages will get a house. What will happen to the 1000s who don't meet this new criteria? Temporary accommodation, homelessness, rogue LLs & living with parents beckon.
I'm not convinced there will be a new generation of landlords.
With the over taxation, loss of Child Benefit and punitive CGT why would a new generation invest in BTL?
There are plenty of financially better options these days with no risk of being branded a criminal for genuine oversights.
My son wanted to be a landlord and it seemed to make sense for our long term plans. He became part owner of 4 of our properties between 2015 and 2019. Financially it's been horrific for him and has certainly put him off the idea of buying any more.
Jo - my son also thought he wanted to be a LL & I proved to hime there were better options! Having said that I am in the process of selling a house to a younger LL who is building a portfolio, so there are people out there who still think it's a good long term plan. I am sure there is money to be made over the long term - just not for those who lived through the good times.
Excellent post, my thoughts exactly 👌🏻
If they want our backing they'll have to give us something to win it
Perhaps start behaving like true conservatives?
They don't realise they need our backing! They think we will just carrying housing the UK population whether it makes us money or not!
Sell sell sell. Before the ship sinks
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