No-Fault Evictions Abolished: New Renting Rights Announced

Legislation is finally planned to be introduced “to give greater rights and protections to people renting their homes”, including “ending no-fault evictions and reforming grounds for possession”, King Charles has said in his speech earlier today. Not great news for the private landlord sector.

This bill started life under Rishi Sunak’s premiership. It was delayed several times and has had many significant amendments since initially being mooted. It was in fact scrapped when parliament dissolved earlier this year. Labour have said since coming to power this month “We will take action where the previous government has failed.”

The Bill seeks to cover England’s 11 million + renters in the private sector and it is also planned to partially extend to Wales.

These are the headlines:

• Abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault evictions’

  Previously, the section 21 process of “no fault evictions” were removed from the draft bill, providing more security to Landlords. Labour have put them firmly back in following their manifesto pledge to abolish the clause in its entirety which is disappointing to private landlords in particular.

• Give tenants the right to challenge rent increases

  Tenants will now be given the opportunity to “fight back” against rent increases from landlords. Clearly this is already an avenue for tenants to query rent increases and we await further details of what the increased rights will look like.

  The Bill will also introduce new laws to stop rental bidding wars by landlords and letting agents.

• Give tenants the right to request a pet

• The Bill will state that Landlords must “consider and cannot unreasonably refuse” tenants’ requests for pets. A Landlord in this instance will be able to request insurance to cover potential damage from pets if needed.

• Apply “Awaab’s law” to the sector

  Awaab’s Law was introduced in the Social Housing Regulations Act 2023.  It requires landlords to adhere to strict time limits to address dangerous hazards such as damp and mould in their properties. If you have any queries relating to Social Housing, please do speak with our dedicated Housing and Regeneration Team her at Forbes.

• Introduction of a digital private rented sector database to hold information for landlords, tenants and councils 

  This was a previous feature of the Bill as initially drafted and is now going to come to fruition. The proposal is to create a digital portal to hold information for landlords, tenants and councils. It is yet to transpire how this is to be funded and indeed if Private Landlord’s will be asked to provide a contribution towards this.

• Create a new Ombudsman service for the sector

  The planned Ombudsman will investigate complaints about housing and its chief purpose will be to be to provide impartial, fair and binding resolutions to both landlords and tenants. The full scope of just what will be deemed as “complaints” and what powers the Ombudsman will have are yet to be decided upon.

If you are a Private Landlord and need any advice on your property portfolio or tenancy documentation, please do make contact with our dedicated Landlord Assist Team.