NRLA says the Renters (Reform) Bill ‘delivers a fair deal for tenants and responsible landlords’

As the Renters (Reform) Bill heads back to Parliament, the proposals have led to criticism from both renter campaign groups and the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

MPs will debate the Bill today with 122 pages of nearly 200 amendments to debate and agree on.

But while the NRLA says the Bill is a fair compromise, with the abolition of Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions and new protections for tenants, like a Decent Homes Standard and a property portal.

Landlords would also be banned from discriminating against families or benefit recipients.

That’s not the view of the Renters’ Reform Coalition and Generation Rent – who say the Bill ‘will be a failure’ because the government has made too many concessions to backbench MPs.

‘Bill delivers a fair deal for tenants and responsible landlords’

The NRLA’s chief executive, Ben Beadle, said: “This Bill delivers a fair deal for tenants and responsible landlords. In the interests of certainty for the sector it is now time to ensure the Bill passes through Parliament.

“For renters, the Bill will abolish section 21 repossessions and fixed term tenancies, introduce a Decent Homes Standard for the sector, a new Ombudsman and Property Portal which landlords will have to join as well as measures to protect families and those in receipt of benefits from discrimination.

“Going forward, it will always be for the courts to decide if landlords have met the threshold to repossess a property based on a series of legitimate reasons.

“This includes tenant anti-social behaviour, serious rent arrears or where a landlord plans to sell a property.”

He adds: “A number of the amendments proposed to the Bill enact recommendations by the cross-party housing select committee.

“Taken together they would ensure a balanced Bill that protects tenants and ensures it is viable for responsible landlords to continuing renting properties out.”

The Bill ‘will be a failure’

The Renters’ Reform Coalition says that the Bill ‘will be a failure’ in its current form.

The group says that the Bill would need major changes to meet its aims of achieving a ‘better deal for renters’.

A spokesperson said: “We have been clear from the outset that the Renters (Reform) Bill would have no chance of achieving these aims without significant changes.

“Unfortunately, as groups representing and working alongside private tenants in England, our concerns have not been taken seriously.

“It is revealing that ministers have met with lobbyists for landlords and estate agents twice as often as they have met groups representing renters.”

‘A bill that abolishes section 21 in name only’

They added: “The result of all the government’s backtracking is that we have now have a bill that abolishes section 21 in name only – there is no guarantee it would ever fully abolish section 21, and even then, the new tenancy system set to replace it will be little better.

“This legislation is intended to give the impression of improving conditions for renters, but in fact it preserves the central power imbalance at the root of why renting in England is in crisis.”

The group says that tenants face insecurity with more than a quarter living in three or more private rented homes in the previous five years.

They also claim that poor conditions ‘are rife’ and that 22% of privately renting households don’t make complaints because they fear eviction.

There are also worries over affordability and ‘record numbers’ are being made homeless.

All concessions made to backbench MPs to be reversed

The coalition says it wants all concessions made to backbench MPs to be reversed, tenants to get four months’ instead of two, not ‘trapping’ tenants into six month tenancies.

They also don’t want the selective licensing burden on landlords to be reviewed and protecting tenant evictions in the first two years of a tenancy.

And give the courts discretion over whether an eviction should take place.

They also want rent rises restricted so there are no Section 21 ‘economic’ evictions, so the rise is not unaffordable to the tenant.

‘Government committed to end section 21’

Ben Twomey, the chief executive of Generation Rent, said: “Everyone deserves to feel secure in their own home, which is why the government committed to end section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions over five years ago.

“The Renters (Reform) Bill does not deliver the original promise that landlords will ‘no longer be able to unexpectedly evict families with only 8 weeks’ notice’.

“Renters were promised once-in-a-generation change but if this Bill passes in its current form, we could still be just a couple of months away from homelessness, even if we play by all the rules set by landlords.”

He added: “That’s why as a bare minimum we’re calling on the government to double eviction notice periods to four months, while increasing the time tenants can spend in their home without fear of eviction from six months to two years.”

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