The private rental sector in England remains due see its most significant reforms in decades, with the Renters (Reform) Bill starting its parliamentary journey on 17 May 2023, sponsored by the Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC).
Although it didn't make it through the previous parliament, the bill featured in the recent King's Speech, meaning the government intends to get it on the statute books within the next year.
However, recent narrative around the bill is that it cannot be implemented until additional progress is made to improve the courts, namely through additional digitalisation, exploring a prioritisation system, additional bailiff recruitment and retention, better provision of early advice and signposting to tenants and the creating of a new fast-track scheme for landlords. This may prove challenging.
The bill promises the scrapping of section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and to improve the state of the private rental sector in England, and we are interested to see whether it can assist both landlords and tenants in the private rental sector and provide a quicker method to dispute resolution via a new Ombudsman.
The proposed abolition of section 21 would be by reforming the alternative possession grounds in section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. It seeks to allow landlords to recover possession where there has been a breach of a tenancy agreement and also should certain pre-tenancy grounds be met, such as requiring the home for themselves or a family member.
The bill further proposes significant changes to abolish rent-review clauses, amend the statutory process of increasing rents, creating a right to request a pet and a nationwide landlords’ register.
Without reform, the position in England will continue to be that the private rental sector has little security for ‘good’ tenants and significant court delays for ‘good’ landlords.
Given the impact any changes could yet have on the civil justice system, ACSO will continue to monitor the legislation and its potential effect on consumers, with a full paper on the bill available on the ACSO website members’ area.