Renters’ Rights: Eleventh hour amendments lodged

A series of amendments to the Renters’ Rights Bill, including proposals on fixed term tenancies, the courts rent increases and insurance, have been proposed by the Conservatives, following its Second Reading in the Lords. Here NRLA policy director Chris Norris explains more about what has been proposed and – more importantly – the likelihood of success. 

Late amendments are nothing new when it comes to Government Bills, yet ‘eleventh hour’ is still a fair charge to lay at the door of the Conservatives, who laid out proposed amendments to the Bill after Second Reading on Tuesday. 

In all 11 amendments  have been put forward. Some of these proposals are sensible, some, while they might seem attractive on the surface, would simply be unworkable in practice. 

And most, sadly, are unlikely to be accepted, given the late stage in which they have been lodged and the massive majority the present Government enjoys. 

That said there are calls we can get behind; last minute tweaks that would be easy to make but could make a huge difference to landlords and tenants, including changes to the court process, as well as tweaks to proposals around rent increases. 

Changes to the court process 

The most important of these are proposals around changes to the court process. 

The new amendments mirror calls made by the NRLA since the Bill was first mooted, asking for the section 21 repossession process to be retained until courts have been reformed. 

The Conservative amendment would require a formal assessment by the Lord Chancellor into the possession process to ensure capacity is there to cope with change. 

Rent increases 

We also share common ground when it comes to appeals over rent increases. 

Another new amendment wants to reverse changes introduced by the Bill that would mean a tribunal judge could only agree to a rent staying the same or decrease the amount a tenant must pay following an appeal. They also want rent to be backdated in instances where a judge finds in the landlord’s favour – and a review of the tribunal when it comes to assessing rents.  

We agree that this would go a long way to assuage the concerns of landlords who, quite rightly believe that, as the Bill stands, there is nothing to dissuade tenants from spurious or vexatious challenges ; with increases off the table, and a potential backlog of many months, they literally have nothing to lose. The worst that can happen is their rent stays the same. 

Our solution is to require tenants to check whether rents are in line with market rates through the Valuation Office (VOA) before a tribunal case can be made, to prevent the courts being overrun with claims. 

Redress – and impact assessment 

The precedent set in Wales means we can also agree that landlords should only have to sign up to a redress scheme if they are not using an agent. 

We can also agree – in theory – with their calls for the Secretary of State to publish a report on the impact of the Act on the housing market, although we would question the need to do this annually as proposed. 

The fixed term 

What, sadly, is more of a slippery fish, is the set of proposals on the fixed term. We have also been outspoken about the problems the loss of the fixed term will cause, and the need for change to support the country’s army of student landlords - and the supply of homes to let. 

However, the proposals put forward in the Conservative amendments will be unable to progress as – quite simply – the very title of the Bill prohibits them. 

Without wishing to bore readers to tears, a Bill can’t be amended in a way that is incompatible with its purpose, which is set out in its ‘long title’. In the case of the Renters’ Rights Bill, its long title describes it as:  

‘A Bill to make provision changing the law about rented homes, including provision abolishing fixed term assured tenancies and assured shorthold tenancies; imposing obligations on landlords and others in relation to rented homes and temporary and supported accommodation; and for connected purposes.’ 

The Conservatives want the Bill 

• To allow student landlords to retain fixed terms 

• To allow smaller landlords with fewer than five properties to retain fixed terms and  

• To allow fixed terms where the landlord and tenant mutually agree 

All of which is undeniably a rebalancing towards landlords’ interests, and whilst in an ideal world we would retain fixed terms, this Bill and this Government is committed to their abolition.  

We know this will be frustrating to you, as, on the face of it, these would be welcome changes, but we must be clear, changes to the fixed term are the backbone of the Bill and the Government will not drastically change such a key component. 

What we need to do know is focus all our efforts on areas where there is at least a chance that we might be able to bring about change, no matter how late in the day, and we will continue to lobby Government on these issues ahead of committee stage. 

More information

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• Extra dates have been added for our new Renters’ Rights course, after training sessions sold out in record time. For more information and to book click here.  

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