A government-supporting newspaper says the Renters Reform Bill will be back in the House of Commons next week.
Observers have been expecting the Bill to return to Parliament for some time; it was before Easter that the government wrote to Conservative MPs listing a series of amendments which met the objections of some who felt the original measure was biased in favour of tenants.
Now The Sun’s political correspondent Noa Hoffman has tweeted: “Exclusive: The Bill will be back in the Commons next Wednesday 24th. Should be announced in business statement [Thursday] all being well. Cabinet was informed yesterday.”
At the start of the Easter weekend the government told Conservative MPs that the amendments it would table to the Bill when it returns to the Commons would include:
– Accepting a proposal by the cross-party housing select committee that when fixed term tenancy agreements end, “tenants be unable to give two months’ notice to leave until they have been in a property for at least four months”;
– Reviewing the operation of the courts before ending section 21 for existing tenancies to ensure the justice system can cope with the increased workload;
– Ensuring all types of student housing, including one and two bed properties, are covered by the planned ground for possession to protect the annual cycle of the student housing market. This will ensure landlords can guarantee to prospective students that properties will be available to rent from the start of each academic year;
– Reviewing the need for local authority licensing schemes in light of the proposed property portal, an idea contained in the original Renters Reform Bill.
When it returns to Parliament next week it will have its Third Reading; it will then go through a similar process in the House of Lords to that already undertaken in the Commons, involving multiple readings and the potential for further amendments.