What is the Renters’ Rights Bill and why do we need it?

The Renters’ Rights Bill was introduced to parliament yesterday, for its ‘first reading.’ It is (another) huge opportunity to ensure security, safety, and fairness for renters across the country, following the failure to pass the Renters (Reform) Bill in the last parliament. This new bill was promoted by Labour as part of the effort to ‘clean up the mess left by the last conservative government, who let down renters time and time again.’

Ahead of the bill, there were promises to immediately ban Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions and to protect tenants from discriminatory treatment and poor living conditions. Now, Labour needs to deliver on these promises.

A strong bill for renters is needed now more than ever. The current situation is dire with tenants facing insecurity, discrimination, soaring rents and poor living conditions - many of whom fear being evicted if they speak out.

• last year alone, over 26,000 households were at risk of homelessness as a result of a Section 21 ‘no-fault’ eviction
• a quarter (25%) of private renters do not ask for repairs due to fear of eviction
• half (51%) of private renters have experienced damp and/or mould in the last year
• a third (34%) of private renters spend half or more of their income on rent
• three in ten renters state they could not afford a rent increase. A further quarter (24%) say they would have to cut back on essential spending, fall behind on bills or need to borrow money to afford a rent increase

We urgently need positive change for England’s 11 million private renters.

How the Renters’ Reform Bill failed to deliver

If you are feeling like we have been here before, it's because we have. The last conservative government introduced their Renters (Reform) Bill in May 2023. This was over three years after they promised to improve conditions for renters, including a ban on ‘no-fault’ evictions during their 2019 election campaign.

This ‘better deal’ never materialised. During the bill process, the government ignored tenants and tenants’ rights groups, giving in to landlords. As a result, the bill was weakened so much that we could no longer support it.

While on the surface it posed as a better deal, the proposed bill maintained the fundamental power imbalance between landlords and tenants in the private renting sector.

As it turned out, the bill (fortunately) never passed into law anyway. After 14 months of repeated delays and concessions, the bill was not in a fit shape and had to be dropped ahead of July’s election.

Now, Labour have introduced their bill, which has the potential to right all the wrongs in the private rented sector. But will this bill do what the last bill couldn’t, and fully deliver for renters? Here is what we think and what we know so far.

What are the main points of the bill?

There are many positives about this bill from our perspective. Based on Shelter’s renting asks, here is a rundown of what we think is good.

• an end to Section 21, ‘no-fault’ evictions. This is long overdue
• notice periods increased from two months to four months – which means that when evicting a tenant for a valid reason, most landlords will have to give four months’ notice
• tenants will be protected from eviction within the first year of a new tenancy. This is called the Protected Period. This is an improvement on the previous attempt, but we think this could be longer (two years) so that tenants have genuine stability and better protection from the frequent moves that cause so much harm
• no re-letting - if the landlord evicts the tenant on the grounds to sell the property, they will not be able to re-let the property for 12 months. This is to stop landlords from pretending to sell their property and then putting it back on the rental market for more money
• like the last bill, there is a landlord register, which landlords will be required to be on. This could give councils back the powers to crack down on landlords and give tenants the information they need to challenge unfair landlord practices
• discrimination bans - it will be illegal for landlords and letting agents to refuse to let to parents and people claiming benefits, which has been a major barrier for people being able to find somewhere to rent. Also, going forward, the Secretary of State will have powers to extend protections to other groups of renters
• Awaab's law applied to the PRS and Decent Homes Standard - this requires repairs for serious hazards to be fixed within a given timeframe and applies the decent homes standard to the rented sector. Awaab's law is new

How can the bill be improved?

We believe several things are missing, which we will be campaigning on as the bill is debated. To truly create a strong bill for renters, the following needs to be included:

• a limit on rent increases – introducing fair limits to rent increases during a tenancy would protect people from unfair rent hikes that would effectively kick them out for no reason. Without this measure, the government cannot truly say they have outlawed ‘no-fault’ evictions. We want the bill to limit in-tenancy rent increases, so they are in line with either inflation or wage growth
• a cap on rent in advance – there is no mention of capping how much rent a landlord can ask for in advance of a tenancy. This is a major blocker for people on low incomes and is vital if the government truly wants to stamp out discrimination in private renting
• there is nothing to stop landlords from asking for guarantors – or someone to 'guarantee' the rent. Getting a guarantor is a big challenge for many low-income renters or people who receive housing benefits
• we are also calling for an end to the discriminatory and dysfunctional right to rent policy which locks marginalised renters out and has been found to have racist outcomes

The next steps after the Renters' Rights Bill announcement

Now that we’ve seen and dissected the bill, Shelter will work hard to defend the strong parts (such as the increased notice period, and the 12-month no re-let period) and to push for more radical changes to be included (rent stabilisation, anyone?). This will lay the foundations for our campaigning throughout the whole bill process.

Next up is the second reading which will take place on the 9 October. It will be the first opportunity for MPs to debate the main principles of the bill and, hopefully, show their support for private renters up and down the country.

While there are a lot of things we are happy with, this bill could go further to ensure the security, safety and fairness of private renting. That’s exactly what Shelter will be pushing for in the next stages of this bill.