“They deserve to enjoy that stability just as homeowners do and we should reward landlords that provide the excellent service that so many of them do. This will be the biggest change to the experience of renting in the country for generations.
“I believe the measures in the Renters’ Rights Bill are sufficiently comprehensive and balanced to achieve that change and give all tenants a better place to call home.”
In response, Baroness Jane Scott, representing the Conservatives, accused the government of rushing through the bill.
The Renters’ Rights Bill is expected to come into force this summer, at least partially, as Labour fast-track the bill through parliament.
That followed the Tories’ failure to get its own Renters Reform Bill over the line while in government despite a 2019 manifesto promise to scrap no-fault evictions. Conservative MPs also voted against Labour’s bill at last month’s third reading in the Commons.
Baroness Scott told the Lords the Tories were trying to “balance the see-saw” with their version of the bill but accused the government of “driving landlords from the market” with the changes it has made.
“I know we did not get everything right,” said Baroness Scott. “Many felt that the measures introduced by the bill went too far in favour of tenants and too far against the landlords in a way that would work to the detriment of the rental market, and I have sympathy with that. However, we listened to the concerns that were raised and we were making changes to the bill as it progressed.
“If the Renters Reform Bill did not quite balance the see-saw, the Renters Rights’ Bill tips it over. This is not the same bill that the last Conservative government introduced, and the government are rushing it through without any care for the repercussions that will reverberate throughout the sector.”
But not all peers felt that the prospect of a landlord exodus from the private sector would be a bad thing.
Lord Richard Best – a peer with extensive experience in the housing sector – said that the expansion of the private rented sector has meant it has filled the gap left by the steep decline in social housing despite not being “well-equipped” for the task.
Lord Best said: “Private renting is seldom the best option for those needing low rents, good quality and long-term security.
“Nor does the enlarged private-rented sector (PRS) suit the taxpayer: the sector’s higher market rents have propelled more renters into housing benefit at escalating cost to the Exchequer.
“The PRS has found itself performing a role in place of councils and housing associations, which suits neither the tenants nor the public purse. The bill could help achieve some rebalancing between the private sector and the social sector.”
Labour’s bid to build 1.5 million homes while in power, including a “new generation of affordable homes”, could have an impact.
But Lord Best argued that the government should consider an exemption from capital gains tax to encourage landlords who are selling up to offload their property to a social landlord.
The peer suggested the support would “pay for itself” by slashing the housing benefit bill.
He added: “If the PRS were to continue to shrink by about 2% annually, the outcome could be positive, with both an additional 500,000 home owners and 500,000 more social tenancies.”
Big Issue founder and crossbench peer Lord John Bird was among the peers scrutinising the bill.
Ahead of the debate, Lord Bird wrote in the Big Issue noted that Harold Wilson’s Rent Act of 1965 had seen “landlords scurry away” and called for renewed efforts to build social housing and a “cleverer way to end this tyranny of housing”.
Following the debate, Lord Bird said: “There’s a see-saw over housing, but it’s the tenant that gets caught in a vice and put at the mercy of governments and landlords to – hopefully – look after their interest. This historical pickle impels us to decision time. We must do all we can to protect the flimsiness of a tenancy agreement made by those struggling to get security for themselves and their families.
“For too long, tenants in most agreements have only one role, and that is to pay off the landlord’s mortgage. That can’t be right in this day and age. We have to end the vulnerability of tenants who are caught in a trap that at the moment only enriches the landlord at their expense.”
What is in the Renters’ Rights Bill?
Rent reforms have languished in Westminster since Theresa May’s government promised to axe section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions back in April 2019.
But the Tories’ Renters Reform Bill failed to pass into law before the party was kicked out of power at last summer’s general election.
Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill has the same headline aim: to scrap section 21 evictions which allow landlords to evict a tenant without giving a reason and are considered a leading driver of homelessness.
The bill is aiming to shift the power balance between tenants and landlords, giving tenants greater rights to keep a pet, banning bidding wars and preventing landlords from charging more than one month’s rent in advance.
The legislation aims to boost standards in the private rented sector by introducing a decent homes standard and extending Awaab’s Law to ensure private landlords fix health hazards to strict timeframes.
A new private renting ombudsman will also be introduced while landlords will be blocked from discriminating against renters with children or in receipt of benefits.
A landlord register and periodic tenancies – rather than fixed-term tenancies – will also be included in the Renters’ Rights Bill.
However, the bill does little to address affordability in the private rented sector at a time when renters are facing record-high private rents across the UK, rising above inflation and wages.
The government rejected amendments that would have limited rent rises to tenants’ earnings or wider price rises as well as calls for rent controls at the bill’s final Commons debate.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook previously said “the government sincerely believes the introduction of rent controls in the private rented sector could harm tenants as well as landlords as a result of reduced supply and encouraged investment”.
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