Renters’ Rights Bill

Baroness Grender Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Northbrook (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as a landlord of rental properties in Hampshire. I support all the amendments in this group. I fear that the Government may not support Amendment 283, even though it was in the original Bill that was presented when we were in Government.

I will focus on the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, which would require the Government to conduct a formal review of the Bill’s impact on the court system within two years of its enactment. This review, supported by the National Residential Landlords Association, would assess case volumes, the court’s ability to manage demand, the efficiency and timeliness of proceedings, and the administrative burden on the courts. It would require the Secretary of State to consult legal practitioners, court officials and other relevant experts to ensure that decisions are based on reliable evidence.

Crucially, this amendment does not seek to delay the abolition of Section 21. Instead, it would ensure that the Government monitor the impact of these changes and, if necessary, take action to address the extra pressures on the justice system.

With the abolition of Section 21 no-explanation repossessions, landlords will become more reliant on the courts when seeking to gain possession of a property using the legitimate grounds under the Section 8 process. However, as many other noble Lords have said, this shift raises serious concerns about the capacity of the justice system to handle the increased caseload. The Law Society notes:

“The bill in its current form, may lead to an increase in contested hearings in the short term, as landlords that would previously have used no-fault provisions will instead have to show good reason for eviction”.


The Housing Minister has said that the Government are working to ensure the courts are “ready” for the system replacing Section 21. As other noble Lords have said, they have given no indication on what this means in practice or how it will be achieved. The court system was already struggling. As the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, has said, the Housing Minister told the Bill Committee in the Commons that

“the court system is on its knees”.—[Official Report, Commons, Renters’ Rights Bill Committee, 22/10/24; col. 9.]

Government data shows that the average time to process and enforce a Section 8 possession case—the grounds-based route to possession—is over seven months. That is seven months in which a responsible landlord might be left unable to recover their property in cases of serious rent arrears or anti-social behaviour; seven months where neighbours may have to endure disruption; and seven months in which tenants who are genuinely in need of housing will not have access to the market because homes that should be available are instead tied up in legal delays. It is only right and fair that responsible landlords have confidence that the system will not leave them in limbo when they have legitimate grounds for possession.

Tenants also face major barriers to justice. As the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, has said, close to a majority of the population of England and Wales do not have a housing legal aid provider in their local authority area.

Given all this, Richard Atkinson, the president of the Law Society, has rightly concluded that

“the bill will not be effective without further investment in the justice system. We urge the government to provide greater funding and more clarity to the enforcement provisions so that justice is accessible to renters and landlords alike”.

No mention is made in the impact assessment of what the extra costs of improving the Courts & Tribunals Service will be, or of implementing the new IT system that other noble Lords have met with the Minister to hear about. Does that mean that nothing extra will be spent on improving systems in the Courts & Tribunals Service?

[Baroness Grender (LD)]

My Lords, I wish to ensure that there is an awareness within the context of these amendments of the current state of play. According to a briefing from Generation Rent, which I thank for the information, only a tiny minority of tenancies ever get anywhere near a court—currently, about 0.3% end in repossession in the court. While the courts are indeed very overcrowded and have a lot of cases coming before them, it is important to understand where in the hierarchy tenancies currently are.

In addition, the vast majority of tenants, the minute they receive a notice—whatever the notice is—tend to see the writing on the wall and leave, because there is such a strong power imbalance, and therefore it never makes it to court. Although I recognise that we are hearing about the situation when something reaches court, the likelihood of anything actually reaching court is, as we will discuss in further amendments later today, often very remote, from both sides of the argument.

[Lord Northbrook (Con)]

I am sorry to disagree with the noble Baroness but, sadly, from practical experience, I think what she is saying is not necessarily the case.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Grender (LD)]

I am delighted to be supporting the noble Lord, Lord Best, and I wholeheartedly agree with his perceptive analysis of this Bill. We on these Benches enthusiastically support the fundamental principles of the Bill and the Government’s commitment to redress the imbalance between landlords and tenants. I welcome the elegant bridge the noble Lord has built between landlords and tenants on the issue of rent.

I share the disappointment of the noble Lord, Lord Hacking, that there was an emptying of the Chamber. I see this group of amendments as a critical part of the discussion about what can help—in particular, with the tribunals. I look forward to us welcoming back shortly the people who are very interested in pets.

As the noble Lords, Lord Best and Lord Hacking, and my noble friend Lady Janke have so clearly articulated, there is a fundamental challenge that the Bill in its current form does not adequately address: the profound and escalating crisis of rent affordability. While the Bill introduces welcome measures on security and standards, it risks falling short of its aims unless the issue of rent is resolved. Rent inflation continues to far outstrip both wage growth and inflation, and pushes millions of renters into precarious situations, as described by my noble friend Lady Thornhill, because the highest cause of homelessness is eviction from the PRS. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, more than a third of private renters are in poverty after housing costs, and according to Generation Rent, half of all private renters have no savings at all. We are talking about people who can ill-afford any shift, however small a percentage.

The Bill commendably aims to abolish Section 21 no-fault evictions. This is a crucial step towards greater security, but, as the Renters’ Reform Coalition—I thank it for its briefings—and others have rightly highlighted, without adequate protection against excessive rent increases, landlords can still force tenants out through eviction by price. This is effectively creating a Section 21 process by the back door. The amendments in this group are reasonable and measured in their aim to resolve this issue.

I am afraid that we do not go as far rent control on this—with apologies to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones. It would be a shame if this is perceived as a shift in that direction and that becomes the focus of the debate right now, because I genuinely believe that, with the amendments in this group, we are moving towards a solution—whether it is the Bank of England base rate or by the CPI—by attaching some kind of mechanism that helps to ensure that rents go up proportionately but fairly for everyone. By all means, we can discuss the Scotland experience yet again, but I feel it is not necessarily relevant to what is trying to be achieved here.

The primary mechanism in the Bill for tenants to challenge what they perceive as unreasonable rent increases is through application to the First-tier Tribunal. While the intention behind this is sound, the approach places the onus squarely on the tenant. I recognise that the highly competent noble Lord, Lord Young, is able to fill in a form at speed and be extremely muscular and assertive in riding the waves of any opposition. However, for countless renters—I think of a friend who is a renter who is holding down three very low-income jobs, does not have a smartphone and is trying to maintain a rent to keep her two children at primary school—the very concept of them feeling that they can assert themselves thanks to the changes made by the noble Lord, Lord Maude, to what is on a website is for the birds. Navigating a tribunal process is, for many, a daunting prospect—not for the people here who have described it in the last group of amendments but for the people out there who are renting and who are on the lowest incomes and often at the lowest ebb in their lives. They may lack the necessary means, confidence, awareness of their rights or resilience to engage with what is potentially—and feels to them—a very complex and time-consuming legal mechanism, however speedy it was for the noble Lord, Lord Young.