Finding out if your landlord is a criminal
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.
Government consults on ending Section 21
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.
Sadiq Khan publishes vision for London’s rental market
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.
A win on deposits and one step closer to regulating landlords
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!
Everything you need to know about the Tenant Fees Ban
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:
Revealed: Agents breaking laws on tenant fees
You read that right: before the ban on letting fees has even come into force (this Saturday, folks), letting agents are already flouting existing laws on fees. Since 2015 agents have been supposed to display details of the fees they charge tenants online, but we’ve found 21 that are not.
Local councils could be collecting £5000 in fines for these offences, so the fact that agents are still getting away with it does not fill us with confidence that the fees ban will be enforced effectively.