NRLA data cited in Parliamentary debate, as rental reform proposals take centre stage
The NRLA has made significant strides in advancing our proposals for rental reform this week, with a packed programme of high-level meetings. Senior Public Affairs and Campaigns Officer Ellie Bateman explains more.
In the wake of the publication of a select committee report agreeing with many of the NRLA’s suggestions on rental reform Policy and Campaigns Director, Chris Norris, and Campaigns and Public Affairs Manager, Malin Joneleit, met with the Prime Minister’s advisors to discuss the Government’s plans for the private rented sector this week.
Chris also met with officials from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) where progress on student housing and tackling anti-social behaviour was discussed – two major pillars of the NRLA campaigning on rental reform.
Elsewhere, Chris gave evidence at a departmental roundtable hosted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the short term lets market, and separately met with HMRC to discuss their planned consultation on Making Tax Digital.
Malin and Senior Campaigns and Public Affairs Officer, Ellie Bateman, met with the Centre for Social Justice to discuss the mechanisms needed to tackle anti-social behaviour in the private rented sector.
The Chancellor presented his Spring Budget this week, which included very few housing-related measures. An extension of the energy price guarantee was announced as well as a call for evidence on domestic consumers on non-domestic energy contracts, which the NRLA will respond to when launched. Ellie provided a brief summary of the key measures announced [insert link].
Also in Westminster, our briefing on the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) was cited in a parliamentary debate on the subject.
The debate focused on the need to unfreeze LHA rates and realign them with at least the 30th percentile of market rents. This comes ahead of a debate in the House of Lords next week on the impact that the continued freeze of LHA is having on renters, for which we have also provided a briefing.
We also responded to the Labour Party’s National Policy Forum (NPF) consultation, which sought views on how a Labour Government could build a more equal and prosperous Britain. In our submission, amongst other things, we outlined the critical need for a deliverable decarbonisation strategy and the importance of sustaining a supply of private rented housing to meet rising demand.
