The Renters’ Rights Bill is now at the point where members of the House of Lords can change bits of it. Yesterday we had the first day of three sessions of Report Stage, and already the Conservatives have won three votes to weaken protections from eviction, while the government has committed to a new “mechanism” to manage rent increases.
The Labour government doesn’t have a majority in the Lords, and many members (aka peers) are themselves landlords, so it is a dangerous environment for a Bill making the biggest changes to renting in a generation.
Peers can put down amendments to encourage the government to change their mind on something, and put it to a vote if they’re not persuaded. Nearly 50 amendments were debated yesterday but there were only six votes.
Limits on rent rises
The Green Party’s Baroness Jones argued for an amendment that would make sure tenants whose home had been upgraded with a Warm Homes grant, wouldn’t face a rent increase as a result. As things stand there would be nothing stopping a landlord whose property had just been improved from raising the rent, cancelling out any bill savings for the tenant, and profiting from public money. Baroness Jones cited our polling to back up her case, and while the amendment was also supported by the Lib Dems, the government said its guidance to landlords struck the right balance. We are still sceptical.
A cross-party group of peers, including Conservative ex-housing minister Lord Young, argued for limits on rent increases based on the lower of inflation or wage growth. This is very close to what we want – but the proposal would have let rents reset to the market after four years, which could disadvantage long term tenants. The government have opposed any rent regulation that isn’t based on “market rents” and the amendment was dropped.
Many peers raised concerns about the ability of the tribunal to cope with potentially thousands of challenges to rent hikes from tenants. The minister, Baroness Taylor, accepted these concerns, and said the government would look at establishing “an alternative body or mechanism to make initial rent determinations”. This sounds similar to Rent Service Scotland, which makes an initial decision on the appropriate rent to charge, and the tenant can refer this to the tribunal if they don’t agree.
This is a big change to the government’s existing policy which was relying heavily on the existing tribunal system to manage rent disputes. We are already seeking more information on this and making sure that the mechanism is designed with tenants’ best interests at heart.
Attacks on security of tenure
The Conservatives and pro-landlord crossbenchers (party-neutral peers) won an amendment to allow landlords to evict students living in one- and two-bedroom properties at the end of the academic year (as well as those in houses with 3+ bedrooms, which was already part of the Bill). This is bad news for mature students and postgraduates living as a couple who typically want a stable, long term home – around 117,000 would be affected, based on our estimates.
The other two wins for the Conservatives were to allow landlords to evict tenants if they wanted to move a carer or a seasonal worker into the home. As well as putting some renters – especially those in rural areas – at greater risk of eviction, these grounds could be abused by landlords.
The amendments could still be overturned by the House of Commons.
Three votes were won by the government, against amendments that would:
- backdate rent increases that had been challenged and upheld at tribunal (though the government is giving itself the power to allow this to happen in some cases)
- allow evictions where the landlord wants to redevelop the property (though there is an existing ground that will allow this in effect)
- allow landlords to ask for multiple months’ rent up front from tenants if they agree (because of the power imbalance when someone is looking for a home, it is easy for tenants to feel pressured into accepting these terms).
The House of Lords returns to the Bill next week, to debate amendments relating to pets and guarantors, among other areas of renting law.
