Renters (Reform) Bill - the student ground
With the Government's Renters (Reform) Bill scheduled to be debated in the Lords next week the NRLA's head of policy James Wood investigates the detail of the Bill in a new series of articles. This week he takes a look at how the changes will affect student landlords.
Amendments to the Renters (Reform) Bill should make it easier for student landlords to regain possession of their properties, with the draft legislation to be debated in the Lords next Wednesday (May 15), following nearly a year in Parliament.
The Government confirmed it would introduce new ground for possession for student landlords in October last year, after representations from the NRLA that the student sector could be decimated without changes to the bill.
The announcement was made in response to a report by the influential cross-party Housing Select Committee which was published earler that year, backing the NRLA's calls.
Initially this ground was only going to be available where the student property was a house in multiple occupation (HMO) that was let exclusively to students. There was also some concern that it might not apply where the landlord let individual rooms.
This ground has now been substantially altered and effectively applies wherever the property is let exclusively to full-time students, or the landlord reasonably believes that they will become students during the tenancy.
The new student ground
The new student ground is being introduced as part of the plans to abolish section 21, with amendments announced ahead of the debate in the Commons last week.
However, complicating matters, landlords will ONLY be able to use the ground where they have given prior notice that they can seek possession because:
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At the beginning of the tenancy, each tenant was either a full-time student or the landlord reasonably believed that the tenant would become a full-time student during the tenancy
and
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The landlord intends to let to people who are full-time students or the landlord reasonably believes they will become full-time students during the tenancy.
As student landlords typically agree tenancies well in advance, they should probably consider providing this notice when they agree their next set of tenancies, even ahead of commencement of the Bill after it recieves Royal Assent.
What comes next?
The passage off the Bill through the Lords is expected to be relatively smooth.
While it is likely a number of peers will table amendments for debate, these are highly unlikely to be adopted by the Government.
The Conservatives have a large enough majority in the Commons and reserve the right, once the Bill returns to the House, to reverse any changes made in the Lords that would alter its stated policy intentions and it is expected to continue its progress through Parliament largely unchanged.
It is difficult to predict exactly how long the remaining stages of the Bill will take to complete, but it could be complete relatively quickly.
After this the Bill will be sent to the King for Royal Assent and will move into law, although it will not immediately come into force - something we will talk about in more detail later in the series.
- The NRLA will regularly update members on progress, as well as starting to publish new resources to help members affected by the Renters (Refom) Bill. Keep an eye out in our enewsletters and on our campaign hub for all the latest news and guidance.
