Renters (Reform) Bill (Sixth sitting)

Eddie Hughes Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 21st November 2023 Public Bill Committees

Given how threadbare the case for new mandatory ground 8A is, one is forced to conclude—the Minister will know that I have not bandied this charge around casually—that the Government have chosen to incorporate it in the Bill purely at the behest of those voices in the landlord lobby who have been forced to accept, but are by no means happy about, the wider reforms contained in this legislation. We are extremely concerned about the implications of leaving new ground 8A in the Bill.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

I am interested in the argument that the hon. Gentleman is making, although I am slightly confused by some elements of it. Given the fact that he suggested that the likelihood of its occurrence were vanishingly small, why does he think that any landlord would lobby the Government to include something that, based on the statistics he has quoted, they have never had experience of? I can only say that in my experience, anecdotally—I do not have anything that I can reference for it—a number of people have adopted this approach previously, and it is frustrating for both the courts and landlords. However, I follow the argument that the hon. Gentleman is making; it is very interesting.

[The Chair]

Order. Interventions must be brief.