Briefing: House of Lords Second Reading of the Renters (Reform) Bill

Nothing less than a rewrite will do. A Bill that renters could fully support must: 

1. Lengthen notice periods (where the tenant has not breached the tenancy agreement) from two months to four months.   

2. Extend the protection period at the start of a tenancy from six months to two years, in line with previous proposals.       

3. Increase the ‘no reletting’ period from 3 months to 12 months, and introduce high evidence thresholds and punitive fines for misrepresentation.   

4. Scrap Ground 8A (the new mandatory eviction ground for repeated serious rent arrears).   

5. Reverse changes to anti-social behaviour eviction grounds to protect renters from spurious accusations. 

6. Make all section 8 grounds discretionary, as is currently the case in Scotland. 

7. Limit annual rent increases within tenancies to the lowest of inflation (CPI) or median wage growth. 

8. Ensure that the information tenants and local authorities need to uphold rights are included on the property portal, including rent levels, basic safety information and the use of possession notices and resulting evictions.    

9. Remove requirements to prove discrimination against renters claiming benefits or with children is intentional, which would prevent renters from accessing justice, and focus instead on the discriminatory impact of these practices. 

10. Tackle wider discriminatory practices by capping rent in advance requests to one month and setting restrictions on the scenarios in which a landlord or letting agent can legitimately request a guarantor and the amount which can be ‘guaranteed’.