Renters Right Bill Coming Soon.

[Melboy]

Renters Rights Bill - Date TBC!

The Renters Rights Bill, which was introduced by Liberal Democrat Baroness Grender, a former director of communications for Shelter, has been put forward to improve the quality of the sector for tenants. Grender contends that private tenants are being failed by the private rental market, and believed that tenants have less rights than people who are buying fridges.

If passed, it could mean big changes for the industry, both landlords and agents. The main issues that would arise include:

Amendments to the Housing and Planning Act 2016 by opening the register of rogue landlords and letting agents to tenants:

• This would allow tenants and prospective tenants the opportunity to see clearly if they are going to be dealing with a landlord or agent who is deemed to be ‘rogue’. The register has not yet been created, but was originally planned to only be available for local authorities and Government bodies to review. This would ensure that tenants do not have to deal with landlords or agents who have previously provided poor service, which would theoretically improve their overall experience of renting privately.
• Ban rogue landlords from owning HMOs: Further to exposing rogue landlords to prospective tenants, the bill has plans to ban rogue landlords from being able to own HMOs. This would mean that anyone who is featured on the register would not be able to gain an HMO license.
• The banning of lettings agents’ fees: The fees that the bill is hoping to wipe out include: admin fees, inventory check fees; reference check fees; renewal fees; and exit fees. It is believed that the fees are ‘prohibitive’ and a ‘rip-off’ and that they are hard for tenants to afford when they also have to swallow the cost of moving.Why has this bill been proposed, have we not been through enough?

It certainly might feel like this new Bill is just another swipe at landlords and the private rental market, however, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It is looking to improve the quality of the sector for tenants, not penalise honest, hardworking landlords who are sticking to the rules.            ( That will be me (us) then! )

[Richlist]

Most of that legislation is a long way off. I'd say it's at least 2 years off because we are still members of the EU until March 2019.

There are lots of EU restrictions that will scupper some of that bill, so no need to be concerned for a while yet.

By the time it's been talked to death, sanitised by the EU, adjusted to cope with economic upheaval and what is likely to be WW3......I doubt any of us will give it a second thought.

Happy New Year.