CIH welcomes new deal for renters

Today the government have published The Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper marking some of the largest changes to the private rented sector in 30 years.

The White Paper seeks to redress the balance between landlords and tenants with measures including:

• an end to ‘no fault’ evictions - a tenancy will only end if a tenant ends it or a landlord has a valid reason, defined in law
• helping the most vulnerable by outlawing blanket bans on renting to families with children or those in receipt of benefits
• ending the use of arbitrary rent review clauses, restricting tribunals from hiking up rent and enabling tenants to be repaid rent for non-decent homes
• giving all tenants the right to request a pet in their house, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse
• doubling notice periods for rent increases and giving tenants stronger powers to challenge them if they are unjustified
• giving councils stronger powers to tackle the worst offenders, backed by enforcement pilots, and increasing fines for serious offences
• a new Private Renters’ Ombudsman to enable disputes between private renters and landlords to be settled quickly, at low cost, and without going to court
• ensuring responsible landlords can gain possession of their properties efficiently from anti-social tenants and can sell their properties when they need to
• a new property portal that will provide a single front door to help landlords to understand, and comply with, their responsibilities as well as giving councils and tenants the information they need to tackle rogue operators

In response to the announcement, Rachael Williamson, head of policy and external affairs for CIH said:

“All renters should be able to live in decent, well maintained, and affordable homes. We welcome the government’s commitment to support this, through a Renters Reform Bill and the measures set out in this White Paper.

The focus on levelling the playing field between the landlord's right to a return on their investment while increasing support and security for the 4.4 million private rented tenants is really positive. We particularly welcome the abolition of ‘no fault’ evictions and measures to tackle arbitrary and unfair rent increases. We look forward to seeing the detail, but this is a very welcome development in the context of the cost-of-living crisis. 

We’re also pleased to see the establishment of an Ombudsman for private renters and a portal to support private landlords to understand and fulfil their obligations, and to enable tenants to better hold their landlords to account.

Giving councils stronger powers to tackle the worst offenders, backed by enforcement pilots, and increasing fines for serious offences is positive. However, we also need to see support for capacity building at the local authority level.

We will examine the proposals set out in the Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper and provide a further briefing for our members shortly.”

CIH members we will produce a member briefing on the Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper next week.