Reforms to renters’ rights have finally become law – five years and four prime ministers after they were first promised.
The legislation that received Royal Assent on Monday 27 October is Labour’s version, after the party took office with a promise to improve and complete the set of proposals the Tories pledged then watered down, then abandoned altogether before the general election last year.
Previously it was known as the Renters’ Reform Bill, but Labour renamed it as the Renters’ Rights Bill.
Following Royal Assent, it is now known as the Renters’ Rights Act.
It aims to “decisively level the playing field between landlords and tenants”, according to housing minister Matthew Pennycook.
However there is one more crucial date – the commencement date – which is when the measures will actually take effect.
We don’t know when that is, but these will be the first changes:
No-fault evictions banned
Crucially, the legislation includes a blanket ban on no-fault evictions under Section 21 (S21) of the 1988 Housing Act.
S21 notices have allowed landlords to evict tenants with two months’ notice without providing a reason.
Housing campaigners say they are a major contributing factor to rising homelessness.
Former Conservative prime minister Theresa May made the pledge to scrap S21 notices on 15 April 2019, and it was also in her successor Boris Johnson’s manifesto.
But the Tories went on to announce an indefinite delay to the plan to ban them, pending court reforms, following pressure from backbench landlord MPs.
After the general election, Labour confirmed in its first King’s Speech that it would end no fault…
