Back in June 2022 a white paper was published to ensure improvements to the rights and conditions for millions of renters.
The white paper is to help provide fairer polices within the rent sector for tenants and measures published include:
Helping the most vulnerable by outlawing blanket bans on renting to families with children or those in receipt of benefits
For the first time, ending the use of arbitrary rent review clauses, restricting tribunals from hiking up rent and enabling tenants to be repaid rent for non-decent homes. This will make sure tenants can take their landlord to court to seek repayment of rent if their homes are of unacceptable standard
Making it easier for tenants to have much-loved pets in their homes by giving all tenants the right to request a pet in their house, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse
All tenants to be moved onto a single system of periodic tenancies, meaning they can leave poor quality housing without remaining liable for the rent or move more easily when their circumstances change. A tenancy will only end if a tenant ends or a landlord has a valid reason, defined in law
Doubling notice periods for rent increases and giving tenants stronger powers to challenge them if they are unjustified
Giving councils stronger powers to tackle the worst offenders, backed by enforcement pilots, and increasing fines for serious offences
In addition, the estimated 2.3 million private landlords will have greater clarity and support through the following measures:
A new Private Renters’ Ombudsman will be created to enable disputes between private renters and landlords to be settled quickly, at low cost, and without going to court
Ensuring responsible landlords can gain possession of their properties efficiently from anti-social tenants and can sell their properties when they need to
Introducing a new property portal that will provide a single front door to help landlords to understand, and comply with, their responsibilities as well as giving councils and tenants the information they need to tackle rogue operators
The fairer private rending sector white paper will ensure millions of families benefit from living in well looked after homes as part of the biggest shake up of the private rented sector in 30 years.
With 21% of private renters living in unfit homes this will come as nothing but good news to those unable or waiting to get on the hosing ladder. Going forward, homes must be free from serious health and safety hazard and landlords but keep their homes in a good state of repair so renters have appropriate and usable facilities.
These reforms will help to ease uncertainty some renters are currently facing, saving families from unnecessarily moving from one privately rented home to another hundreds of pounds in moving costs.
Levelling Up and Housing Secretary Michael Gove said:
For too long many private renters have been at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords who fail to repair homes and let families live in damp, unsafe and cold properties, with the threat of unfair ‘no fault’ evictions orders hanging over them.
Our New Deal for renters will help to end this injustice by improving the rights and conditions for millions of renters as we level up across the country and deliver on the people’s priorities.
This move marks the latest phase in delivering on the government’s levelling up missions, taking serious steps to halve the number of poor-quality rented homes, across both private and social tenures, by 2030.
The week before the white paper was published, the government introduced the Social Housing Regulation Bill which means failing social housing landlords could face unlimited fines and Ofsted-style inspections.
In a major reset of power between tenants and landlords, residents will be able to demand information and rate their landlord as part of new satisfaction measures. Taken together with the renters reform white paper, the Bill will form a key part of the government’s mission to level up across the country and deliver on the people’s priorities.
More Reading
Alongside the white paper, today we have also published the following documents:
The white paper and it’s following information was published here on the 16th June 2022
Comments