RENTING
How you can ensure the Renters Reform Bill has the ‘teeth needed for real change’
The Renters Reform Bill has begun its journey through Parliament, but action is required to ensure it delivers on its promise to be the “once in a generation overhaul of housing laws” tenants desperately need.
The renter reforms were unveiled last month promising to axe no-fault evictions – also known as Section 21 evictions – which allow landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason, as well as giving tenants the right to own a pet and improving the standards of private rented homes.
Renters Reform Coalition members, including Big Issue and other organisations and charities in the housing sector, are now asking tenants across England to urge their MPs to throw their weight behind the bill.
The coalition is calling for people to email their MPs and insist they attend a coalition drop-in event on 21 June as well as attending the bill’s second reading, which will be the first chance that MPs have to debate it.
The campaigners have proposed a series of changes to the bill to strengthen tenants’ rights and ensure it has the “teeth needed for real change”, according to Shelter’s Polly Neate.
The coalition is calling for tenants to be given four months’ notice when they are evicted, rather than the two months’ notice proposed at present.
Renters must also be protected from eviction under new no-fault grounds for the first two years of a tenancy, rather than the six months proposed at present. The coalition said this change is no better than the current status quo.
Campaigners also want stronger safeguards to prevent unscrupulous landlords abusing the new grounds for eviction, including a financial incentive to prevent abuse. They also called for a one-year ban on re-letting a property after invoking new no-fault grounds for
