Renters’ Rights Act: Implementation

Baroness Thornhill Excerpts

Wednesday 11th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

It will lead to better conditions for renters and will remove some of the barriers that stop people renting, as well as barriers that can prevent renters maintaining a tenancy. We have banned rental bidding, levelling the playing field for renters; landlords will no longer be able to encourage prospective renters to stretch themselves beyond their means; they cannot discriminate against the prospective renter because they are on benefits or have children; and rent increases will be limited to once a year at market rate, with tenants able to challenge unfair rent increases at First-tier Tribunal.

The work we have done with landlords and with tenant bodies—we have worked with both, through the whole passage of the Bill—means that we have a fair system that rewards good landlords and tenants but makes sure that bad landlords are held to account for the bad practices they have had in place.

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords—

[Lord Spellar (Lab)]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords, tenants are a group of people close to my heart. They have been promised that the Renters’ Rights Act will transform their security and will do so from 1 May this year. They will be relying on local authorities to enforce those rights. But I say to the Minister that there is still no evidence from government that local authorities have the staffing or capacity to use effectively the new powers in the Act that they gained at the back end of last year. So I ask the Minister: what confidence can the House have that on 1 May, tenants will not once again be left with protections only on paper that they cannot realistically enforce? Without that data, how do the Government know that the new burdens funding, designed to support enforcement activity, is actually sufficient?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I was with a group of over 300 councillors at the weekend, mainly council leaders and other councillors, who were very pleased to see the Renters’ Rights Act coming into force on 1 May. The noble Baroness is quite right to say that local councils will play a crucial role in making sure that this Act actually works on the ground. To help councils build enforcement capacity, we have provided new burdens funding for 2025-26 and a further funding allocation for 2026-27, which will be confirmed early this year. We have also funded the Operation Jigsaw network to deliver bespoke training on the Act, so that councils understand their new responsibilities. Detailed guidance covering the enforcement measures, like the new investigatory powers, has already been published.