MPs return to the Commons today after a substantial Easter recess - and with progress on the Renters Reform Bill on the agenda.
Although no date has been set for the next stage - a Third Reading in the Commons - but just before Easter the housing minister Jacob Young wrote to Conservative MPs suggesting progress was imminent.
In that letter Young set out amendments to the Bill in a bid to reach a compromise - those amendments have been sharply criticised by activist groups Generation Rent and Renters Reform Coalition.
The amendments include:
- A ‘moratorium’ on tenants serving their two months’ notice in the first four months of a tenancy – with certain exceptions, such as significant hazards in the property, domestic abuse and death of a tenant. This will in effect mean a six-month initial period at the beginning of a tenancy during which both parties are committed;
- Assessment of the courts and barriers to possession prior to abolishing Section 21 for existing tenancies;
- Review local licensing schemes with an aim of reducing burdens on landlords, given the introduction of the property portal. This includes both selective and HMO licensing;
- Ensuring the new mandatory possession ground for student lets applies to any property let to students, rather than just HMOs, provided the landlord includes their intention to use this ground in the tenancy agreement;
- Ensuring that properties cannot be used as short-term lets after using the move in or selling grounds for the three-month period during which properties cannot be marketed or relet as long term rentals; and
- Amending local authorities’ homelessness prevention duty, so that it applies where a tenant has been served a valid Section 8 notice.
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