Renters Rights Bill Becomes Law

Ruth Cadbury, Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth, has hailed today as a ‘great day for renters’ as the new Renters Rights Bill becomes law.  This bill gives extra protections for the 100,000 residents living in rented accommodation in the Boroughs of Hounslow and Richmond, as the Renters Rights Bill has officially receives Royal Assent and becomes law.  This is delivering the biggest reform of renting in over forty years.

More than eleven million private renters across England, including over 2.7 million in London and around 97,000 in the Borough of Hounslow and 47,000 in Richmond upon Thames.  These renters will now benefit from stronger rights, greater security, and fairer treatment in their homes.  The new law abolishes Section 21 or ‘no fault evictions’, ending the practice that allowed landlords to evict tenants without a good reason. It introduces periodic tenancies so renters can stay as long as they need and gives councils new powers to crack down on rogue landlords.

The Act also ends rental bidding wars that push up costs, extends Awaab’s Law to private tenants to force landlords to fix dangerous damp and mould quickly, and applies the Decent Homes Standard to private rented homes for the first time.  It makes discrimination against tenants with children or those receiving benefits illegal, creates a new Private Rented Sector Database and Ombudsman to improve transparency and ensure swift and fair dispute resolution, and strengthens renters’ rights to request pets so landlords can no longer refuse without good reason.

Speaking in full Ruth Cadbury MP said:

“This is a great day for renters across London who will benefit from these new rights thanks to the Renters Rights Bill. I voted for this bill repeatedly and I was proud to support it.

I have seen firsthand the scale of the housing crisis in London and housing is the most common topic residents raise at my advice surgery. Whether it’s repeated and excessive rent hikes or evictions for no good reason I know that the current rental market is broken.

While many landlords take care to look after their properties, I also know that some landlords locally have ignore complaints around repairs and fail to fix mould and damp.

 Tenants have told me that when they report these issues they are ignored or even face revenge evictions. I’ve also heard from key workers in our NHS who’ve been unable to rent locally as landlords have refused to rent to families with children. This new act will end this and will protect those renting.

England’s weak housing laws have long hampered our productivity and made it harder for businesses in London to recruit and retain staff. Despite some of the reporting this bill will not impact landlords who are responsible and who treat their tenants fairly. It is simply about protecting the hundreds of thousands of Londoners who rent.

I was pleased to vote for this bill in Parliament and I know it will make a huge difference for those renting locally. This comes in addition to the work being down by the Mayor of London and Hounslow council to build more council and social rent homes locally ’’