Final push for renters' rights law before party conference season

Natalie Harris and Ian Morgan of Pinsent Masons were commenting after the Renters’ Rights Bill returned to the House of Commons, where it is due to enter so-called parliamentary ‘ping pong’ on Monday. This means the Bill will pass back and forth between the Commons and the House of Lords – until consensus is reached on its final wording.

The Bill provides for a suite of reforms relevant to the private rented sector in England. Much of the focus on the Bill has been on provisions that, if implemented, would ban section 21 evictions, known as ‘no-fault’ evictions. However, other important changes proposed would extend 'Awaab’s Law’, which sets timescales for repairs, to private rented sector properties. Awaab’s Law is already being phased in for social housing, starting next month. Landlords would also be barred from operating blanket bans on renting out to people on benefits or with children.

Harris said the Bill, if finalised as currently drafted, runs the risk of “incentivising” tenants to challenge rent increases, under a reformed rent review process.

Harris said: “Where a tenant challenges proposed rental uplifts unsuccessfully, any rent increase will not be backdated to the original rent review date. Instead, the rent increase will take effect from the date the rent is determined, so the new regime incentivises residents to challenge increases. Investor concerns around this are heightened as there isn’t confidence that the resolution process will work quickly enough. The government has recognised this concern by including the ability to backdate rent increases through further regulation but this will be of little comfort to those looking to invest in the sector and is particularly unhelpful given the viability challenges for new residential schemes.”

The Bill was introduced into the UK parliament in September 2024 by the Labour government after the previous Conservative-led government was unable to push through reforms of its own in the sector – its Renters (Reform) Bill did not make it through the parliamentary ‘wash up’ period prior to the 2024 UK general election.

There are some areas of the Bill that could change during the ping pong process.

One of the issues concerns the operation of a proposed ‘no re-letting period’ after landlords trigger certain grounds for termination of a lease. The government had proposed a 12-month so-called ‘no re-letting period’ but the Lords had proposed reducing this to six months where the landlord intends to sell but receives no ‘suitable offers’. The property industry will be watching closely to see where this ends up following the ‘ping pong’ process.

Another outstanding issue concerns landlord rights of possession in respect of private sector student lets.

A challenge facing landlords and tenants in recent years has been a court backlog that has made it difficult for a speedy resolution to be achieved in circumstances where there is a dispute over eviction.

Morgan said it remains to be seen how, if at all, this thorny and difficult issue will be resolved, especially given the concern in some quarters that the repeal of section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions may have the unintended consequence of an uptick in contested eviction proceedings requiring court hearings.

“Various solutions have been mooted, including some kind of enhanced digital process, and it will be interesting to see whether any announcements are forthcoming in that regard, remembering that the passage of the Bill into law and implementation of it will not happen at the same time,” Morgan said.

The Commons is due to consider the Lords amendments to the Renters’ Rights Bill on Monday 8 September. It is possible, but not certain, that the Bill will be finalised before the UK parliament’s next scheduled recess, for party conference season. The final day the Commons sits before recess is Tuesday 16 September.