Stand up for renters: overhaul the Renters Reform Bill

Sign our open letter to Michael Gove (Con), Angela Rayner (Lab) and Helen Morgan (Lib Dem).

Dear housing leaders... 

The Renters Reform Bill has has been hijacked by grubby deals behind the scenes. And we need you to stand stronger for renters.  

Self-interested landlord MPs are making a racket. The result is a bill which is so watered down, we can’t support it. It’s your job as housing leaders to be the unwavering voice of renters. Tenants have campaigned tirelessly to get this bill on the table. But it has to be worth the wait. 

It’s time for housing leaders across all parties to remind Parliament why we needed this bill in the first place. Nothing less than a re-write will do.  

Renters won’t stand for a bill that doesn’t:  

• Scrap 21 without delay  
• Make sure tenants have more stability in their homes by extending notice periods to 4 months and preventing evictions for the first 2 years of a tenancy 
• Limit rent increases to prevent evictions by the backdoor  
• Tackle discriminatory practices like rent in advance and unreasonable guarantor requests 

When the bill looks like this, then we’ll consider supporting it.  

Yours impatiently, 

The undersigned 

• What can Michael Gove, Angela Rayner and Helen Morgan do to create a good Renters Reform Bill?
              

  As housing leaders of the major political parties, they have a powerful voice on this bill in parliament. So, while a handful of landlord MPs are fighting tooth and nail to water down this bill, they can fight back. They can make it crystal clear what tenants need to feel like this bill is life-changing. They must prioritise pushing for a strong, effective bill. Not speeding through a bill that’s full of holes.

• What would a good Renters Reform Bill look like? Here’s the list of changes we’re calling for:
              

  A Bill that Shelter could fully support must reverse the damaging concessions made to Landlord MPs and:

  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’.