The Renters Reform Bill in its latest amended version now runs to 15 pages, and is available on the Parliament website.
The Bill has had detailed amendments made at the committee stage in the House of Commons.
In the New Year - at a date still to be confirmed - it has its Report Stage. This allows all MPs (and not just those on the committee) to propose further changes. Once this part of the process has happened, it then has its Third Reading in the Commons, widely considered to be a formal and short process.
Then it goes to the House of Lords where the same multi-part process happens again, with a First and Second Reading, Committee Stage, Report Stage and then Third Reading before it finally goes for Royal Assent and becomes law: this could happen as soon as late spring 2024.
The National Residential Landlords Association has suggested that landlords use the Christmas break to lobby their MPs to make pro-landlord changes to the Bill while it is still in the Commons. The NRLA describes the report stage as “one final, pivotal chance for MPs to shape its content.”
The association says: “We have been engaging tirelessly with ministers, officials, parliamentarians, and industry stakeholders to secure the modifications we need. Many of you have also highlighted your concerns with your MPs, for which we are extremely thankful. But we need your help to urge MPs to seize their final opportunity to shape the Bill before it heads to the Lords.”
The two editable letter templates outline the key measures still needed in the legislation and the NRLA encourages landlords to use them to outline the issues to MPs.
The latest version of the whole Bill, which runs to 155 pages now, is here.
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I think I will sell as soon as my tenants leave. Easier than trying to make sense of this bill. 😀
R/D x 30.42 alone gives me a headache 😡
And how are you planning to make them leave? I need some tips, please.
I think the young family living in MY house are so comfortable paying £400 that they stopped planning to buy a house but instead changed the carpets in the bedrooms with laminate.
I have not been allowed to enter the house for the last few years.
I am horrified every time when I read the new rubbish proposed in the anti landlord bill.
I suppose there’s money in the business of renting homes if you are a professional landlord but there are more people like me who have a job and renting is temporary .
I don’t want to spoil Christmas for the tenants but as soon as this bill gets closer to approval they will have to buy themselves a house or rent another for the market value of £800-850 for two bed semidetached.
I got vertigo checking the prices lately and I’m glad I’m not looking to rent.
Another million of LEGAL newcomers this year and that would be cheap.
Ah but there is build to rent - no worries then.
Nikie Davies, please tell me WHERE in my comment I said I would make them leave? 🤔
I rent to young professionals who tend to stay for a year or two, then move on. If they stay longer it is a bonus for me.👍 I do not need to “make them leave”.
If you want yours out then I suggest you issue. S21 now and hope to get your house back before the election.
@Nickie Davies - I would have major concerns if my tenants would not let me access my house and made changes to flooring etc I(assuming they did so without permission) I would be worried about what else they were up to Is the rent much below market value? if so I wonder how they would react to a rent increase - would it be perceived as an unreasonable imposition and become more difficult? One of my priorities when letting is having tenants that I can work with - they trust me ie for gas certificate acess/repairs and I can deal openly and honestly. Without S21 I wonder if yours will feel their position is unassailable and they might become even more entitled and difficult.
Nikie, I think the date of concern is that of the next general election, not the dates associated with the Renters Reform legislation. Angela Rayner has said that Section 21 notices will go on their first day in office.
Personally, I am only letting now to people who are in London for a fixed term, and have documentation to show that.
It means that I have very few viewings - usually now only one and then I let to that one person/persons. My two most recent lets in the last few months have been to a visiting German academic and to visiting academics from China.
Because I am in London, I let for a minimum of three months.
In the past we had tenants who changed major things in the house without permission. They subsequently stole everything when they left - even took the kitchen.
What is the R/D x 30.42? Sorry I couldn't find that!
Nikie, get them out now while you still can. I served notice a couple of months after the White Paper. I didn't need to wait for the Bill with my **** tenants. If they haven't let you in the house for years they are far too big for their boots already, without having the RRB protecting them and it attacking you.
Nikkie issue them a section 13 notice and increase the rent if they are out of the fixed term period. If they have a issue let them refer it to tribunal, but if they fail to refer it by the rent due date they must pay increased rent or be in breach of agreement therefore allowing section 8 to be filed once they fall 2 months in arrears
@NVH Top of page 10.
To be fair to Nikie all she’s asking much like the rest of us is how is she going to reclaim her property. Not letting the LL inspect is a red flag that I personally would not put up with. I would recommend a no nonsense letting agent to liaise with a massive S13 rent increase along with a warning that the house will be sold next year don’t forget to wish them Merry Xmas
LL’s are not doing themselves ANY favours or the tenant by doing below market rent. When the inevitable happens the LL will always be blamed and cursed
Leon, that's what I'm doing the sec 13 notices are going out if they don't pay it's a sec 8 eviction, where there's a will there's a way
Great advices from all. A bit scary as well.
I never wanted to take so much money from the tenants just to donate it to the tax office.
They are already stealing half of my hard earned salary, I meant taking legally as an income tax.
I’m a generous person and even gave the young couple £100 when they had their little one.
I’m however not their mother and not mother Theresa . It’s my house to use when I retire in a few years as it’s cheap to maintain .
But I’m really worried that the lovely couple could change to a different breed if I tell them to leave. I would pay them three times the rent plus return the small deposit but I am worried they might think it’s “their” house and I have no interest in registering as a “landlord “ so my private life could be scrutinised by envious and nasty people.
This idiotic Sheler, Gen Rant or whatever they call themselves forget that many of us are just simple hardworking ordinary citizens ,not greedy monsters who are aiming to rob the poor tenants.
I found out recently that there are so many acquaintances with a home that they are renting like myself for one reason or another.
They all feel threatened and we kind of discussed that a very well vetted “lodger” would be a better choice than to allow your house to be filled with sitting, standing or squatting tenants, who think the house is theirs.
Hard decisions are coming soon…
Leon, issuing Section 13 (2) is all well and good. But, let say the current rent Nikie is receiving is as she says is £400.00 and she increases it to £800.00. The two months arrears should amount to £1600.00. If the tenant keeps paying the old rent of £400.00, it will take four months for the tenant to fall two months behind.
The next stage is issuing Section 8 and we all know on average, depending on the location, the County Courts take three to four months for listing and another four to six months for the actual Hearing. From what I have gathered, this tenant is not going to throw the towel in easy. Bet your bottom Dollar that they will come up with a counter claim such as disrepair, where by not checking the property regularly, Nikie will have a little or no defence, against the tenant's counter claim.
Take it from me, you do not want to go down that road. You will have to write the arrears off against the tenants claim for disrepair and start calculating the arrears all over again.
It will cost Nikie thousands of pounds in rents not collected plus legal and surveyors fees. Whereas, since the "poor" tenant who is becoming homeless, qualifies for legal aid which covers legal as well as the surveyor's fees.
Section 21 is your remedy Nikie. You are not a charity. Lets Shelter and Generation rent take care of them!!!
155 pages! To be honest I just refuse to read it in general principle. So much unnecessary red tape. Talk about deliberately killing PRS. These self serving 🤡 🤡🤡 have no plan to house these tenants either.
I've just skim read it. As you say, Nick, it ends the private rental sector. Landlords are not criminals, but this bill treats them as though they are. Nobody is going to put up with that.
I did notice the fines and penalties chapter for landords. Nothing for tenants though!
Yes, Nick who pretends to be an infamous criminal. You're running a business. Why would your customers get fined because you broke the law?
FYI James. HMRC doesn’t regard this as a business unless held in a LTD or LLP. Unearned income taxed artificially high. Also why shouldn’t tenants get fined for stealing the rent or trashing the property? I’ll wait
@Nikie Davies sounds like a disaster waiting to happen…… Popcorn and Coke anyone 🍿 🎥
When you say Coke, you mean cocaine right? Coke isn't really going to help us otherwise!
I think Gove may have some spare left over.
This legislation is a farce and not untypical of a government lacking direction, clarity or sense!
They know that legislation that is not absolutely crystal clear runs into huge problems in implementation as judges are required to interpret. This means confusion and delays in the courts, a problem the government are well aware of since they delayed the cancellation of S21.
Irrespective of the need for legislation or views on it, the Reform Bill would get an "F" for failure if anyone was marking the governments homework!
Completely agree Darren. I've now removed my problem tenant and have kept another property let as a shared house, with one couple. Though this has been at a loss it protects me from a myriad of situations.
Housing policy is a train wreck currently and I am leaving the station.
The closer we get to RRB being passed the more Section 21s being issued for fear of being straddled with lifetime sitting tenants on controlled rent so lets not be too surprised if Gormless Gove decides to freeze evictions for 6 months or more by which time the polls suggest Angie & Co will have banned them altogether.
The legal uncertainty that we are being subjected to is one reason that so many Section 21s notices are being issued, and, as you say, that number is going to go up.
The most responsible action that could be taken now by both the Tories and Labour would be to say that any legislation or new measures will not apply to existing tenants at all. That would create stability in the private rental sector.
David: Agreed, this is a very real danger and no doubt the NRLA will whimply welcome it!
Hopeless bunch of traitors.
England has a long history of implementing the worst forms of capitalism.
England held one-third of the world under this highly successful economic system. In reality, it was a money-grabbing system under the guise of reform.
The Renters Reform Bill is no different. It's all about money grabbing using the old Victorian divide and rule system.
While successive governments have sold, and still hypocritically sell, millions of state-owned homes at under-market prices, they now bleat that their minions, local government, are not making an effort to provide new housing!.. And the PRS are failing societal norms.
As an ex surveyor in Westminster I undertook rtb surveys. They were a win-win for the tenant and the central government that gobbled the money up as fast as a pig in a trough. However, it left society's housing without a safety net, especially for the low-paid and vulnerable. One tenant I recall I did an RTB survey for had a council flat on Dorchester Sq and made around £200,000 profit back in the early 1990s. Others in Pimlico estates also made monstrous profits after selling their properties a few years after purchasing them. However, at the time, the government used the media, as they are now, to place their policy on a moral pedestal. People need to own their own homes!
In truth, it has always been about money and always will be—fast wind to the Renters Reform Bill. As landlords, we see the reform bill in the light of money. I am a landlord, and I do not disguise the fact I make money. I make money because capitalism dictates I have no other option unless I decide to live in poverty. However, the system of which I am a part causes rifts between the government, landlords like myself and tenants. And that's the rub. The UK's system of self-interest with little time or respect for others' needs. This eventually leads to aggressive unrest that results in costly government control of a society that starts to fray and crumble.
I find it hard to see a successful outcome in the next 15 years. I've said it before - that war begins due to failed negotiations and only ends through successful negotiations. The present housing situation is not a crisis; it results from self-interested parties unwilling to properly sit down together and discuss and understand the frailties of limited finance, excessive poverty and charitable dogma without practical solutions.
Forced to sell up or run at loss.
With out mortgage interest tax relief its not possible to make a profit.
Plus legal costs after this bill is past will give the tenant to much control.
By next year 50% of Private landlords will be gone resulting in a shortage of rented accommodation.
Therefore Rent will go up and the tenants will suffer. Currently each property up for rent has over one hundred interest renters. Private landlords need help now or rents will be going up dramatically.
Gove has created the worst housing, homeless crisis and the huge number of rough sleepers in living memory.
Mr Gove Shame on you but congratulations your Policy of creating homeless has been 100% successful.
Why are you still in a jobs well time for you to go and I am sick of seeing you on TV you have some kneck.
As the saying goes, he has the perfect face for radio.
Gove knew removing S21 would smash the Private Rented Sector, for his chums to take over the Big Banks and Institutions simple.
Homeless is only collateral damage a bit like the genocide in Palestine madness.
What “they” have done with the RRB and upcoming cancellation of S21 is to weaponise tenants to use against landlords.
There is no Government incompetence or lack of awareness or unintended consequences etc, the upcoming chaos is all quite deliberate, it is planned, it has a purpose which is to drive as many landlords out of the PRS as possible. The next stage is the chaos will become a crisis and the more pain and suffering for tenants and small landlords the better. The next stage after a couple of years of tenant and landlord misery and suffering is for the Govt to announce they will “rescue” the PRS by massive tax payer handouts to private BTR corporations to build more housing. Thus Govt ministers will enrich their corporate friends and then retire from Govt to take a well paid position with a BTR corporation or such.
The upcoming “reform” has been designed well in advance and the expected chaos is a feature not a fault, everything is going to plan.
They are using the same methodology as they did to privatise British Rail, starve it of investment, cause transport chaos, demonise BR in the controlled media, cause massive dismay with the public and then the final stage, Govt privatised BR in order to “rescue” it.
They also are in the exact same process with the NHS, think about it!
I agree, Alan. Their policy will save the government a lot of money while also keeping PRS under their control.
Works both ways I guess. In the next year or so I’m moving out of my 4 bed maisonette and renting it then I’ll rent a new place with no stairs
Buyings for mugs
A relative of mine thought of doing that, George. She was considering renting an apartment or bungalow in the Hawthorns (retirement village) in Eastbourne because the rent includes all meals, activities, excursions, housekeeping, bills, Wi-Fi, parking, and property maintenance.
She didn't do that in the end; she sold her house and bought a non-retirement flat.
Alan Bonde. Regarding your take on the PRS of the 23rd I couldn’t agree more with what you said 100% but with one provision shall we change the tense all this has already happened. How long have I been shouting from the roof tops, many landlords haven’t woken up yet or complied but they will be hit for sure they can’t only keep their heads down or hide so long. I know so many that are required to be licensed for example but are not, how do I know don’t we have a Public Register. Its Boxing Day but the gloves are off.
Alan Bonde, very succinct and completely true. I worked for British Gas for a long time, and exactly the same techniques were used. Like the Electricity industry it has become largely foreign owned with lots of MDs paying themselves big big money. Sunak the Stooge is highly deceitful and completely disingenuous.
To gain access just do the annual gas test and look around
That’s still legal afaik
Ok but we are supposed to do 4 checks per year, anyway even if only once and you see they have a bed in the living room what you going to do about it ? Pull your hair out.
Andy Jones on Property Reporter Romans group Director Corporate & Build 2 Rent, commenting on the impact of THE RENTERS REFORM BILL.
Come on how stupid do you think we are its not impacting on you.
Hardly the appropriate people to be commenting on impact of the TRRB are you.
The Bill is designed to help you take over THE PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR and drive out private traditional landlords by unfair Regulation, licensing, Administration additional one sided Compliance and every means possible that don’t apply to you and we the existing landlords are ignored and pushed out.
Happy New Year to you and all ?.
WRITE TO YOUR MP- really!
A joke.
Quite apart from the NRLA agreeing to S21 abolition and then trying to look good by encouraging Llds to use their template letters to MPs...
I wrote to my MP, pointing out tenant demand increasing while supply decreasing, so rents rising resulting in harm to tenants.
So I itemised a large number of changes still needed to the Bill:
- which the Government has missed out from its 'beefed-up' Section 8 if S21 is to be lost; and
- many things that would help Llds keep renting, like making Section 8 Discretionary Grounds to instead be Mandatory.
- Also things I've mentioned here before like need for a 'divorce' ground if relationships break down irretrievably; and how to deal with a tenant who develops dementia and thus becomes a threat to themself and to other tenants.
I made the considerable effort as she was actually one of the few MPs on the House of Commons Committee doing the detailed consideration at the Committee Stage (which I since heard from a good source who watched proceedings rushed through their consideration at the end, so getting it done a week before the 5/12/23 deadline).
So she should have been on a very good position to propose changes, with no time pressure.
Eventually I got a reply: she was the Labour Party Whip on the Committee; is still the Whip on all matters concerning Gove's Dept. (DLUHC), so she couldn't get involved!
Either at Committee Stage, or any other like the report stage.
Could hardly believe it.
Instead she probably didn't want to get involved on the side of a Lld - even though I pointed out how it would help tenants (and used Jo Westlake's example of how use of S21 can help tenants in debt).
I have doubts she bothered to even read my letter.
But I bet she voted on amendments anyway, as long as in accordance with Labour Party Policy.
In the past she has been a waste of time on local issues, also breaking General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR); making her liable for a formal complaint to Parliament which so far I have held off doing.
An MP who has a valid excuse not to get directly involved in debates (one of the three MPs who are The Speaker and two Deputy Speakers) has -at least- sent my letter to DLUHC. I'll see if I get a reply, or a civil servant 'non-reply' reply.
Another MP who has been relatively good in the past, and who is now free from being a Minister (and so tied to Government policy lines) hasn't got back to me yet. One to chase in the New Year. But he isn't standing at the next election.
Ironically it may be a member of the unelected House of Lords who could be more help; that's if I can identify one who has an interest and who will give landlords a decent hearing.
I'm trying hard, and it is taking loads of time. But it appears we are dealing with mindless/stupid/spineless muppets.
So 2024 looks like the time to S21 the worst tenants, only tolerated as I've had S21 if things got really bad.
[How I can approach 3 MPs is a long story, but legit.]
Of course sec 8 needs to be mandatoty no pay no stay get out now right now, no ifs buts or any other BS non payment is theft
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