Generation Rent

There was no mention of private renting in the Queen's Speech today, but it would be a mistake for Boris Johnson's government to overlook it.

There are just a few days left to have your say about the government’s plans to scrap Section 21, the law that allows landlords to evict tenants without needing a reason.

The Ministry of Housing’s consultation on abolishing Section 21 closes on Saturday and today, alongside other members of the End Unfair Evictions coalition, we went down to Westminster to call on the government to give tenants the protections needed to enjoy a stable home.

Transport for London has banned adverts for holiday let companies that take homes away from Londoners, following a successful campaign against the anti-tenant adverts by Generation Rent. 

One of the great things about the Tenant Fees Act is that you can save money whether you move home or stay put. 

Since June, tenants signing an agreement on a new home in England do not have to pay letting agent fees. (As of yesterday, the ban applies across the UK.)

But there's been less fanfare for the cap on deposits at five weeks' rent, which means that a tenant renewing the agreement on their current home could get a refund if their deposit is worth more than that.

Deposits are behind some of the most common problems we hear about from renters:

• tenants' money doesn't get protected
• the struggle to get deposits back when moving home
• and many of us are unable to afford them in the first place

The good news is the government is looking at how the deposits system can be improved and is asking for renters' experiences until 5 September. This is your chance to share your experience of deposits and help change the system. 

There are now three live government consultations that could help to reshape the private rental market.

One is on reforming tenancy deposits (deadline for responses 2 September), the second is on abolishing Section 21 evictions (deadline 12 October) and the third, announced last Sunday as well, proposes giving tenants access to a government database of criminal landlords.  

It's finally here! After announcing in April its intention to abolish Section 21, the government has published its proposals for making this happen.

We've been through the consultation document, which is open for responses until 12 October, and here's a quickish summary of what's in it. 

We'll be preparing our own response, but we also want to hear what you think. And most importantly, we're looking at how to make it easy for renters to respond and make sure the government does this right.

The Mayor of London has come out firmly in favour of our campaign to end unfair evictions - and has pushed the government to give him powers to bring in rent controls in the capital.

He was elected in 2016 on a pledge to shake up London's private rented sector, and now, after a long consultation period, Sadiq Khan has unveiled his proposals.

The letting fees ban is great and all, but now fees are out of the way, you still have to scrape together a large deposit before you can move home. 

Well, we thought about that - last year we proposed a system where you could transfer part of your deposit to your next tenancy, once you'd done responsible things like pay your final month's rent. We called this deposit passporting.

We couldn't get it into the Tenant Fees Act (which came into force this month), but the government has been looking at it and today announced its support for deposit passporting!

After years of waiting, England's Tenant Fees Ban is finally here. It means that letting agents and landlords won’t be able to charge extortionate fees when you move to a new home. Here are the top 6 things you need to know about the ban: