Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how long landlords and letting agents will need to take to prepare for, and update processes, when section 21 repossessions end.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is delivering its manifesto commitment to transform the experience of private renting by levelling the playing field decisively between landlords and tenants. The Renters’ Rights Bill will replace section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions with a modern tenancy system, giving renters greater security and protections.
The Government welcomes private investment into housing, and new tenures in the private rented sector such as those offered by Build to Rent providers. These can provide tenants with greater stability and more choice. The Department will continue to engage – and work – with the Build to Rent sector to understand their needs in the process of designing any regulation.
The department will publish an impact assessment for the Renters' Rights Bill in due course. We will work closely with all parts of the sector to ensure a smooth transition to the new system and will provide sufficient notice ahead of implementation.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that ending fixed term tenancies in the private rented sector will have on lending to (1) individual residential landlords, and (2) build-to-rent developers.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is delivering its manifesto commitment to transform the experience of private renting by levelling the playing field decisively between landlords and tenants. The Renters’ Rights Bill will replace section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions with a modern tenancy system, giving renters greater security and protections.
The Government welcomes private investment into housing, and new tenures in the private rented sector such as those offered by Build to Rent providers. These can provide tenants with greater stability and more choice. The Department will continue to engage – and work – with the Build to Rent sector to understand their needs in the process of designing any regulation.
The department will publish an impact assessment for the Renters' Rights Bill in due course. We will work closely with all parts of the sector to ensure a smooth transition to the new system and will provide sufficient notice ahead of implementation.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits to the economy of the private rental sector.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We have not made an assessment to quantify the contribution of the private rented sector (PRS) to the economy. We recognise that the PRS plays an important role on providing homes to over 4 million households in England. The Government is committed to delivering a package of reforms to ensure the PRS can operate effectively and meet the needs of both tenants and landlords.
The PRS supports labour market mobility, allowing households to move easily both within and between regions, leading to a more efficient allocation of labour and skills. This is due to the relative ease with which renters can give notice and sign new tenancies, and the relative lower costs of moving, when compared to owner-occupier house sales. A key part of our future PRS reforms is to ensure the flexibility of private rental tenancies is retained, whilst balancing increased security for those tenants who need and want it, alongside driving an improvement in the quality and standards of PRS accommodation.
In addition, the Build to Rent sector continues to attract investment with analysis by Savills estimating that approximately £1.2 billion was invested into the UK’s Build to Rent sector during the first quarter of 2021.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their press release Support for renters continues with longer notice periods, published on 12 May, on what grounds they have concluded that many landlords are “highly vulnerable to rent arrears”.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The UK Government has put in place an unprecedented package of support for renters during the pandemic, including financial measures to enable them to continue paying rent to landlords.
However, we know that 45% of landlords have just one rental property and 38% have between two to four properties. For most landlords, income from rent makes up 42% of their total gross income making them highly vulnerable when their tenants build up rent arrears.
The Government has to balance supporting tenants with landlords' ability to exercise their right to justice where needed. As national restrictions continue to ease, it is appropriate that the emergency measures start to lift but we are doing so gradually.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individual tenants, rather than households, are represented by the finding in the Household Resilience Study: Wave 2, published on 21 April, that 22 per cent of private renters reported finding it more difficult to keep up with rent payments since June–July 2020.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Household Resilience Study collects data by household, rather than by individual. In November-December 2020, 610,000 households reported that they were finding it more difficult to keep up with their rent payments since June-July 2020. 353,000 households reported that they were in rent arrears and 278,000 households reported that they were not currently in arrears but were very or fairly likely to fall behind with rent payments over the next three months.
Further information about the Household Resilience Study is available (attached) at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/household-resilience-study-wave-2.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individual tenants, rather than households, are represented by the finding in the Household Resilience Study: Wave 2, published on 21 April, that eight per cent of private renters said they were very or fairly likely to fall behind with rent payments over the next three months.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Household Resilience Study collects data by household, rather than by individual. In November-December 2020, 610,000 households reported that they were finding it more difficult to keep up with their rent payments since June-July 2020. 353,000 households reported that they were in rent arrears and 278,000 households reported that they were not currently in arrears but were very or fairly likely to fall behind with rent payments over the next three months.
Further information about the Household Resilience Study is available (attached) at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/household-resilience-study-wave-2.
Asked by: Lord Carrington (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individual tenants, rather than households, are represented by the finding in the Household Resilience Study: Wave 2, published on 21 April, that nine per cent of private renters were in arrears in November–December 2020.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Household Resilience Study collects data by household, rather than by individual. In November-December 2020, 610,000 households reported that they were finding it more difficult to keep up with their rent payments since June-July 2020. 353,000 households reported that they were in rent arrears and 278,000 households reported that they were not currently in arrears but were very or fairly likely to fall behind with rent payments over the next three months.
Further information about the Household Resilience Study is available (attached) at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/household-resilience-study-wave-2.