A Labour left winger wants the government to introduce additional controls over landlords beyond those in the Renters Rights Bill.
Clapham MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy wants what she calls “a protected period from eviction after a government grant is used to retrofit a privately rented property.”
And the measure has won support from ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and suspended Labour MP Rachael Maskell.
Writing on an activist website called Labour List, Ribeiro-Addy cites Generation Rent polling about how tenants can challenge rent rises under the Renters Rights Bill. She says the problem is compounded if landlords have received grants to improve the energy efficiency of the homes they provide for tenants.
She writes: “Seven in ten private renters have never heard of the First-Tier Tribunal (the system renters can use to challenge rent hikes).’ Meanwhile, less [sic] than one in five would be ‘very likely’ to challenge a rent increase. In any case, there is nothing to stop landlords from evicting tenants to sell their property and cash in on its increase in value, delivered with public money.
“This issue is even more concerning where landlords receive government grants to make improvement works, means-tested based on their tenants’ lower income.
“I heard one story of a family whose landlord had substantial energy efficiency upgrades installed with support from a grant. Once the upgrades were done, the landlord hiked up the rent by £500 a month, meaning the family faced a massive shortfall between their housing benefit and the rent, ultimately leading to their eviction.
“The success of this policy can’t rely on an unstable combination of the goodwill of landlords and an inaccessible, opaque redress system.”
The MP has now tabled a motion in the Commons backed by 13 others NPs, including Corbyn and Maskell.
In the Labour List article, Ribeiro-Addy explicitly links the issue to winning votes for Labour.
She writes: “Private renters were the tenure type most likely to vote Labour in 2024. These votes were based on a promise to reform our broken renting system. They must not be taken for granted.
“Generation Rent’s polling also asked renters about their support for the government’s policies in this area.
Net support increased by 41 points from +14% to +55% when renters were given a scenario where the government would protect them from rent increases versus when they were told their rent would increase because of improvements.”
This is the wording of her Commons Early Day Motion: “That this House recognises that nearly four million private renters regularly struggle to pay their energy bills, with private renters more likely to experience fuel poverty than any other tenure type and poorly insulated homes costing tenants on average £570 per year, while energy use in UK homes causing an estimated 40% of carbon emissions; believes the Government’s ambition of uprating all private rented homes to EPC C or above by 2030 is welcome; but warns that renters will not be sufficiently protected from rent hikes or evictions as a result of their home increasing in value following energy efficiency improvements; further believes the Renters’ Rights Bill is a positive first step in addressing the power imbalance between tenants and landlords, but does not offer sufficient protections for renters in the case of retrofitting; is concerned that, without further protections, renters, particularly those on low incomes, will not enjoy the benefits of a warmer home and lower bills; and believes the Government should protect renters from rent increases through classifying grants as an improvement contributed by the tenant, not the landlord, at the First-tier Tribunal rent assessment process and protect renters from eviction through introducing a protected period from eviction after a government grant is used to retrofit a privately rented property.“
