Residential Tenancy Reform Recommendations

The Renters Reform Bill, which was first introduced in June 2022, outlines several new laws which will affect the residential tenancy sector. This includes:

Recently, the Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities Committee has put forward its recommendations in relation to the reforms.

The Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities Committee rental reforms report

The Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities Committee began its inquiry into the proposed rental reforms in the summer of 2022. The findings of the inquiry were published on 9 February 2023.

As part of the inquiry process, the Committee received more than 200 responses in relation to the rental proposals and held sessions with tenant and landlord groups last Autumn. Most of the respondents weren’t pleased with the proposed legislation put forward by the Government.

The Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, Clive Betts, said:

Recommendations

The published report referenced details of various aspects of the reforms and the proposals to improve the quality of housing for the tenants.

The removal of Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 is of particular focus. This would permit landlords to serve tenants with no fault eviction notices, once outside their fixed-term contracts (for more information on the scrapping of Section 21 no fault evictions, see our previous blog).

Although landlords would be provided with a new legal right to take possession of a rented property to either sell or move into it. Numerous campaign groups, including Shelter, are not in favour of this as it felt that it could “leave families in turmoil” by forcing them to move property, potentially during the school year.

The Committee stated in its report that this new law could “be too easily exploited” and warned that it could “become a backdoor to no-fault evictions”. It called for a range of modifications to this clause, including an increase to the length of tenancy that has to elapse before the clause could be used, and the period of notice that has to be given by a landlord.

The report also acknowledged concerns from both landlord and tenant perspectives concerning letting to students. The reforms put forward by the Government propose ending the assured tenancy model which, in the main, sees tenants and landlords agreeing to fixed-term contracts, instead of a periodic or rolling system. The Committee has recommended that fixed-term student lettings should be able to continue. Although it would mean private landlords of student accommodation would need to sign up for a Government-approved code of conduct.

Another element of the reforms considered by the Committee is the Decent Homes Standard, which would ensure that tenants are warm and dry all year round. This would be achieved through Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES). The Committee highlighted that stand-alone properties with a total floor space under 50m2 would be exempt from this requirement. It has called for this initiative to be introduced to the Decent Homes Standard and for financing solutions to be implemented for landlords faced with high bills.

You can read the report in full here.

The Government now has two months to comment, it will be interesting to see if the proposed recommendations are initiated in the draft legislation in due course.