My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for last week’s very helpful drop-in briefing session, which was particularly helpful for those of us who cannot claim expertise in housing law. I come to the issue from my long-standing concern about poverty. A growing proportion of those in poverty live in the private rented sector, and as many as 46% of children living in the sector are in poverty after taking account of housing costs. The failure to uprate local housing allowance annually as a matter of course does not help, especially at a time of spiralling rents, which the Bill will do little to curb. Issues of affordability and security are of particular importance to those whose housing options are limited by lack of money, or by vulnerable circumstances such as those stemming from domestic abuse or disability. For all too many, homelessness is then the outcome.
I would therefore like to be able to welcome the Bill, and indeed there are some welcome provisions, including the expansion of the homelessness prevention duty, and the creation of a decent homes standard for the PRS. Nevertheless, the 20 leading housing organisations which make up the Renters Reform Coalition are clear that it fails to achieve the White Paper’s promise of quality, affordability and fairness, and comes from the Commons watered down and fundamentally weakened. Their concerns are echoed in most of the many other briefings received, for which I am grateful.
I applaud the aim articulated by the Minister at our briefing to create a fairer balance of power between landlords and tenants. However, according to the coalition, the Bill
“preserves the central power imbalance at the root of why renting in England is in crisis”.
Moreover, as the National Residential Landlords Association stresses, quoting the Law Society, without investment in housing legal aid
“the Bill will not achieve its aims”,
and neither tenants nor landlords may be able to enforce their legal rights, a point raised too by Crisis and the Large Agents Representation Group. To enforce their rights, tenants first need clearer information, as the TDS Charitable Foundation argues. If local authorities are to deploy their enforcement powers effectively, they need adequate resources to do so.
To put it charitably, the indefinite pause on the abolition of Section 21 is disappointing to say the least, and increases the vulnerability faced by, for example, older tenants, renters with children, and domestic abuse survivors. Justice challenges the idea that the courts are not ready. I hope that at a minimum, we might be able to subject total abolition to a clearer timeline.
However, I was also struck by the coalition’s plea to us to focus on the inadequacies of the new tenancy system proposed by the Bill. In particular, it is concerned that first, the notice period remains at only two months,
despite over 100 council leaders urging an increase to four months, and the Government’s initial highlighting of the short eviction notice period as an important factor in why reform is needed. Secondly, the coalition is concerned that the period of protection against eviction under grounds 1 and 1A remains at six months rather than the two years proposed in the Government’s original 2019 consultation. This will not provide the greater security promised. Its third concern is the lack of strong legal safeguards to prevent abuse of the new grounds for eviction. In addition, my inbox has been flooded by emails from students who fear that their exclusion from the Bill’s safeguards will mean, among other things, that they will in effect remain subject to Section 21-type evictions in all but name.
One provision that I warmly welcome is making illegal the introduction of a blanket ban on renting to tenants in receipt of social security benefits or with children, which will widen the protection that already exists in theory for those with protected characteristics. However, if the Government’s aim that
“no family is discriminated against”
is to be achieved, I hope that they will consider amendments put forward by Shelter to ensure that landlords cannot indirectly discriminate against social security claimants by making a new tenancy unaffordable. This is all the more important given the provision in the data protection Bill that could mean landlords’ bank accounts being made open to scrutiny if the LHA is paid directly to them, thereby making them even more reluctant to rent to tenants on social security. I am pleased to see the noble Viscount, Lord Younger, in his place as I make that point. The amendments would place a limit on rent in advance, restrict the scenarios under which a landlord could legitimately require a guarantor, and remove the requirement to prove intent to discriminate.
In addition, reflecting the principle enunciated earlier by the Minister, Justice recommends that the provision should be extended to prevent blanket bans on other groups which have experienced discrimination, such as prison leavers and non-UK passport holders. The latter, I would suggest, points to the abolition of right-to-rent checks.
Another group particularly vulnerable to the power imbalance that exists between landlords and tenants is disabled people. Disability Rights UK, Inclusion London and many other groups have raised concerns about the proposed change to the definition of anti-social behaviour as grounds for eviction. As we have heard, instead of
“conduct causing or likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance”,
the Bill proposes to define it as behaviour “capable of causing” nuisance or annoyance to a person, and so hearsay evidence will become admissible. They fear that the new wording could be open to interpretation in such a way as to cover some behaviour of, for example, neurodiverse people and those with learning disabilities or experiencing mental distress. The admissibility of hearsay evidence could open disabled people up to potential abuse, harassment or even extortion.
The briefing also raises concerns about the implications of the new wording for those experiencing domestic abuse, as do Generation Rent and the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance—DAHA. The former points out:
“Victims and survivors of domestic abuse are more likely than other tenants to have ASB complaints made against them”.
Given the considerable concern, can the Minister please explain the justification for the new wording? As the “capable of causing” formulation is being removed today from the Criminal Justice Bill, will she undertake to reconsider its usage here in this Bill?
Two other main issues have been raised in relation to domestic abuse victims and survivors. One concerns what has been dubbed the “tenant trap”, introduced by the government amendment that means that tenants cannot end a contract during the tenancy’s first six months, as we have already heard. It was welcome that the Minister in the Commons confirmed that there will be an exemption for domestic abuse victims and survivors, as the Minister here mentioned in her opening remarks, but we do not yet know what it will be. Can she tell us more, including whether the exemption will be included in the Bill itself? It is important that it is. Can she assuage the anxiety of DAHA that it will require tenants taking court action, which is likely to take too much time and money for it to be an effective remedy for those who have good reason to leave a property before six months?
The other issue relates to the new repeated rent arrears ground for eviction. Both Generation Rent and DAHA warn that victims and survivors of domestic abuse are particularly likely to be in rent arrears, especially if they have been and/or continue to be subject to economic abuse. Moreover, because this ground for eviction is mandatory, judges will not be able to use their discretion where, for instance, the arrears can be linked to abuse. I hope that the Minister will be willing to take another look at that issue. We cannot have a Bill which purports to offer greater housing security threatening even greater insecurity for those in vulnerable circumstances, such as domestic abuse survivors.
Another group of renters who face especially vulnerable circumstances is those living with a tenant who has died. Surely the idea that the death of a tenant can constitute grounds for eviction is unconscionable, when we think of what the bereaved survivor will be going through. Marie Curie argues that the Bill offers an opportunity to bolster protections and rights for grieving private renters, but that, in its current form, it would actually make the situation of bereaved renters worse. I hope that the Minister can also take a look at that.
In conclusion, on Report in the Commons, the Minister referred to his willingness to
“listen to suggestions for how we can improve the Bill
”.—[Official Report, Commons, 24/4/24; col. 987.]
Unfortunately, in too many cases, that listening has resulted not in improving but in weakening the Bill, so that it neither provides tenants with the security originally promised nor adequately tackles what the impact assessment calls the “systemic issues” that underpin their poor experience. It would be a real shame if the improvements the Bill does contain are overshadowed by the clauses that take us backwards. I hope that we will be able to make changes in line with the Government’s original intention to strengthen tenants’ security and achieve a fairer balance of power between tenants and landlords.
6.33 pm