Renters Reform

Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about reforms to the private rented sector.

I believe insecurity of renting is one of the main problems with the current housing market where tenants are afraid to report problems and are forced to move at short notice. I have long supported calls for more rights and better protections for renters because I believe a good, safe home should be a basic right.

I therefore welcome proposals in the White Paper on Renters’ Reform, including measures to abolish section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions to stop landlords from terminating tenancies without establishing a fault on the part of the tenant, and plans to introduce the legally binding Decent Homes Standard to all privately rented homes.

However, I am concerned Ministers have been too slow to act. The Government committed to introducing renters’ reforms and scrapping ‘no fault’ evictions in 2019, yet three years on, it is still not acting with the urgency required in my view.

The Government has said it will consult on introducing the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector “in due course”. I appreciate that proposals for reform need to be considered and properly scrutinised, but renters across the country need emergency legislation, not further consultation.

More widely, I am concerned that the White Paper does not include any meaningful proposal to address the problem of unreasonable rent rises. In my view, measures such as the one-year limit to rent increases are good enough.

According to Rightmove, private rents are rising at record rates, with average asking rents outside London rising by over 10% for the first time last year. With the end of section 21, the risk of evictions through unaffordable rent rises is likely to increase, which is why I am supporting calls for effective protections against this.

I believe the Government must avoid delay and accelerate work on the Renters’ Reform Bill because tenants need protections now. I assure you I will continue to support calls for legislation to be brought forward as a matter of urgency.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP