Renters’ Rights Bill

Debate between Kemi Badenoch and Mike Martin

Wednesday 9th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Badenoch]

I do not mean to be patronising, but it is quite difficult when there are very clear issues that have a precedent in Scotland. The question is not why I am being patronising; the question is why the Government are ignoring what has happened when these proposals have been tried in another part of the UK. That is a serious problem. All of us here want the best for children and to see tenants do well. It is very wrong of the hon. Gentleman to ascribe negative motivations when we are pointing out problems with legislation. We on the Opposition Benches are doing our job. We do not think the Bill will work.

[Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) (LD)]

On that point, will the right hon. Lady give way?

[Mrs Badenoch]

I would like to make some progress.

The Government are pressing ahead with measures that will cause gridlock in the justice system, which will create even more problems for tenants. The people the Government are trying to help will not be able to get a home in the first place—none of us want to see that. We have to do better.

[Mrs Badenoch]

I will give way first to the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin).

[Mike Martin]

I thank the right hon. Lady for giving way. Some 25% of Conservative MPs are landlords. Does that have any bearing on the Conservative party’s position on the Bill?

[Mrs Badenoch]

We need to focus on the contents of the Bill. If anyone has an issue with landlords in this House, it is Labour Members—I notice the hon. Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) ran away before the discussion about the Bill started. They should look at themselves, and the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells had better check his fellow Members before asking that sort of question.

As I was saying, when the problems of protracted litigation in the courts are combined with the new, extended and highly convoluted notice requirements for recovering a property where the tenant has not paid the rent, a landlord whose tenant is in arrears will face many months of uncertainty and cost. Let me summarise in two words why the Bill will fail: unintended consequences. That is what we get when we start with policy rather than first principles.