MPs have voted through the Renters’ Rights Bill almost entirely unaltered except for changes designed to help leaseholders to rent out homes within un-remediated blocks and regulate standards within homes rented by military personnel.
But otherwise, all of the contentious measures within the bill will now become law ‘very shortly’ once the King has given the draft legislation Royal Assent.
During the final parliamentary debate, the Bill’s main sponsor Matthew Pennycook described the private rented sector as ‘unjust and broken’, saying: “Today is a momentous one because the Renters’ Rights Bill will soon have completed all its stages and become law”. But he also raised eyebrows by claiming the Bill would reward landlords with ‘simpler regulation’.
“The need to decisively level the playing field between landlord and tenant is pressing and we promised to succeed where the previous government failed by legislating to transform the experience of private renting.”
Pennycook and his counterpart in the Lords, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, brooked no amendments to the Bill during all its stages even when it came to relatively sensible alternations to enable landlords to request tenants take out pet damage insurance or allowing them to request a separate pet deposit.
Despite Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly pushing him for a timetable for the changes to come in, Pennycook did not reveal any dates, saying only that tenants and landlords would get clarity ‘soon’ and he was committed to a ‘smooth transition’ and particularly for the new rental contract system.
Cleverly added: “The Bill in its current form will, in some areas, be counter productive and drive landlords from the market as well as putting up rents for tenants and Labour’s own impact assessment for this bill supports this concern.
“We will be holding the Government to account for the consequences of this Bill.” Cleverly is scheduled to speak at The Negotiator Conference on 28th November, heading a stellar line-up of industry speakers, two days after the Autumn Budget.
The legislation, which is expected to gain Royal Assent within days, will ban Section 21 evictions and rent in advance, bring in open-ended rental contracts, limit rent increases, ban bidding wars, introduce a Decent Homes Standard for all rented homes, extend Awaab’s Law to private landlords and introduce a database of rented properties a new ombudsman to handle tenant complaints about landlords.