The government has finally had the much-anticipated first-reading of the Renters (Reform) Bill in Parliament. They have also published a first draft of the Bill. While it will be amended during passage through Parliament the core elements of it will not change a huge amount. Interestingly, while Renters’ Reform was previously described as a working title with the expectation that it would be changed on publication, the government has elected to stay with the original titling, albeit with added brackets.

Much of the Bill mirrors the Fairer Renting White Paper about which I have previously written extensively. I will dig into more of the details as the Bill passes through Parliament but at this stage I am more aiming at an overview of key provisions.

Section 21

Naturally the most important element of the Bill is the ending of section 21 evictions of tenants on Assured Shorthold Tenancies. In the future all evictions will need to be based on an approved reason provided by the landlord through a notice under section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. The section 8 structure is largely unchanged although the various grounds for possession in Schedule 2 of the 1988 Act have been extensively re-worked.

No ASTs

However, the ending of s21 is actually a tiny part of the changes. They are far more radical. The Bill deletes the concept of ASTs altogether so in future all tenancies will be periodic. In addition rental periods will be restricted so that they can only be 28 days or one month. Anything else is prohibited. If a landlord attempts to create a fixed term tenancy or seeks to serve a notice to quit then they can be penalised by the local authority.

New Grounds

As mentioned above, the grounds for possession are extensively altered. There are new grounds for sale and for landlords wanting to move back in themselves. A lot of the prior notice grounds have been removed. There is a huge increase in the number of grounds for possession to deal with a range of needs for social landlords and to deal with other scenarios where a private landlord would find themselves in breach of the law if they allowed the tenancy to continue. The promised new ground for possession for repeated arrears is there as are the expected changes to ground 14 to allow eviction for behaviour “capable of causing” a nuisance.

I will come back to the grounds in more detail in another post as they are substantially changed.

No Fixed Terms

As expected, there is to be no fixed terms for tenancies at all. Therefore tenants will be able to give two months’ notice to leave a property at any time. Effectively they could move in and give notice the same day. This is likely to be the change that most substantially alters the sector on a day-to-day basis. It has implications for short-letting, for agency fee models, and for how landlords set rents. I expect that this will be the focus of a lot of lobbying as the Bill proceeds.

Other Aspects

The other main provisions from the White Paper, are all in the Bill. My previous posts should be consulted on these. But the Portal, Landlord Ombudsman, and restrictions on refusing to rent to tenants on benefits are all there.

Written Statements

There is a new provision which requires all landlords to give a written statement in a form prescribed by the Secretary of State. A financial penalty can be levied for not doing this. This will be a risk area for a lot of landlords and agents but in reality brings England into line with the other parts of the UK.

Pets

There are quite specific provisions relating to pets. All tenants will be allowed to keep a pet if the landlord consents. That is subject to a provision that the consent cannot be unreasonably refused or withheld and refusal or consent must be given within 42 days of permission being sought. Landlords will be allowed to insist that the tenant obtains pet insurance.

Detail and Timing

It is worth noting that a lot of the provisions are pretty light on actual detail. Instead they allow ministers to pass regulations to fill in the gaps and bring them into effect later on. This is quite frustrating as it is impossible to know when those provisions will be brought into effect, or indeed if they will ever be brought into effect. It also means that the detail of these provisions will largely evade Parliamentary scrutiny as regulations are less closely examined than Bills.

In terms of overall timing, my understanding is that the Bill will be carried over any King’s speech with the aim of it getting Royal Assent in spring 2024. That does not mean it will be in force at that time and it is likely that there will be a further wait for the key provisions to come into play and, undoubtedly, some form of transition for existing tenancies.

There is a lot more here and I will write more on it as I start to digest the Bill but there is clearly an enormous amount of change about to hit the private and social rental sectors.