About 30% of people living in the Leeds South constituency are private renters. This means that a new piece of legislation – the Renters’ Rights Act – will be of great interest to them because it is changing the law to better protect those who rent privately. There are a lot of good landlords, but also some who aren’t, and at the moment these landlords can evict tenants without having to give a reason, even if they’re good tenants who are paying the rent.
Among the reasons why some landlords do this is because they want to put the rent up so they get rid of the current tenants and then advertise the property at a new higher rent. This is unfair and it’s really bad for family stability. When households suddenly have to move, that may involve children having to change school. This is not in anyone’s interests.
That’s why the Government has passed this new bit of legislation which will be implemented in phases from 1 May this year.
The Act will get rid of no-fault evictions (known now as Section 21 evictions) and move to a simpler tenancy structure where all assured tenancies will provide more security for tenants and enable them to challenge poor practice and unfair rent increases without fear of being asked to move out. Stronger protections against backdoor eviction will mean that tenants are able to appeal against excessive above-market rents which are purely designed to force them out.
As now, landlords will still be able to increase rents to a market price for their properties and an independent tribunal will make a judgement on this, if needed.
The new law will also: make it illegal for landlords and agents to discriminate against prospective tenants who are in receipt of benefits or who have children, so helping to ensure everyone is treated fairly when looking for a place to live; give tenants strengthened rights to request a pet in the property, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse; and end the practice of rental bidding by prohibiting landlords and agents from asking for, or accepting, offers above the advertised rent. Landlords and agents will be required to publish an asking rent for their property and it will be illegal to accept offers made above this figure.
The Act will ensure that grounds for possession are fair to both parties, giving tenants more security, while ensuring landlords can recover their property when reasonable.
There will be a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman who will provide quick, fair, impartial and binding resolution for tenants’ complaints about their landlord. This will bring the tenant-landlord complaint system into line with established practice for tenants in social housing and those who use property agents.
A Private Rented Sector Database will be set up to help landlords understand their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance (giving good landlords confidence in their position), together with providing better information to tenants so they can make informed decisions when entering into a tenancy agreement. It will also support local councils by helping them target enforcement activity where it is needed most. Landlords will need to be registered on the database in order to use certain grounds for possession.
Finally, the Act will: apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector to give renters safer, better value homes and remove the blight of poor-quality accommodation; introduce ‘Awaab’s Law’ to set clear legal expectations about the timeframes within which landlords in the private rented sector must take action to make homes safe where they contain serious hazards; and strengthen local authority enforcement by expanding civil penalties and providing new investigatory powers.
There’s a lot in there, but in the years to come, I really think this legislation will be seen as a landmark.
The same can also be said for the next steps the Government is taking to deal with leasehold, including publishing draft legislation, as promised. There are a lot of leaseholders living in the city and I know from my casework that some of them have had very bad experiences at the hands of their freeholders or managing agents.
The new proposals will make it easier for existing leaseholders to convert to commonhold should they wish to do so, and will ban the use of leasehold for most new flats. Commonhold is a modern home ownership structure that is widely used around the world. It is not merely an alternative to leasehold ownership, but a radical improvement on it. At the heart of the commonhold model is a simple principle – namely that the people who should own buildings and exercise control over their management, shared facilities and related costs should not be third-party landlords, but the people who actually live in the flats and who have a direct stake in their upkeep. Commonhold ensures that the interests of homeowners are preserved in perpetuity. It transfers decision making to them so that they have a greater say over how their home is managed and the bills they pay, as well as the flexibility to respond to the changing needs of their building and its residents.
The Bill will also support existing leaseholders by capping ground rents at £250 a year, changing to a peppercorn after 40 years, and by abolishing the draconian threat of forfeiture. For too long, outdated forfeiture laws have allowed landlords to threaten people with losing their home and hard-earned equity over small debts of as little as £350, or any amount if left unpaid for 3 years. The draft Bill contains provisions to abolish forfeiture and replace it with a new, fairer and more proportionate lease enforcement scheme benefitting both leaseholders and landlords. In addition, the Bill will tackle similarly harsh enforcement powers that apply to estate rent charges on freehold estates by repealing those powers as they relate to estate rent charges which can lead to rent charge owners taking possession of, or granting a lease over, a freehold home as a result of small sums outstanding. This is simply unfair.
Taken together, these reforms will significantly improve the current system for the 5 million existing leasehold properties across the country – including many in Leeds – and their owners.
These two pieces of legislation demonstrate the power of political choices and legislation in Westminster to address problems that people are experiencing and do something about them.
I make the point because there are voices I come across who say that Parliament is useless, nothing ever happens and no one keeps their promises. In the case of renters’ rights and leasehold reform, this simply isn’t true, and it’s a really good example of how campaigning for reform to right wrongs and give people a better deal – while it may be hard work – is also really worthwhile.
Hilary Benn is our Member of Parliament. He represents the Leeds South constituency.
Email: hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk | Website: www.hilarybennmp.com
Constituency office:
Unity Business Centre, 26 Roundhay Road, Leeds, LS7 1AB
Tel: 0113 244 1097
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