Renters’ Rights Bill

Lord Cashman Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cashman (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, as a non-affiliated Member of your Lordships’ House I congratulate the Government on the Bill before us. Having listened to the contributions thus far, wiser counsel will come from other noble Lords on improving and revising the legislation. I can only offer a narrow but, I believe, important perspective on an overlooked sector.

I particularly wish to associate myself with the comments and contributions of the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett. I also heartily congratulate my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Wilson of Sedgefield, on a deeply moving and important maiden speech, along with the noble Baroness, Lady Brown of Silvertown. She reminded me of Silvertown, where my mother used to buy second-hand clothes for us as children from Rathbone Street market. Their contributions gave us memories that empower us, especially when dealing with legislation that is to effect positive social change.

As I have said, I am no expert in this field, but as the Minister will know, I have taken a keen interest in the paucity of rights for people who live in houseboats. I declare a personal interest in that friends of mine are currently moored at Chelsea and are deeply affected by developments there. I am grateful to the Library for the extensive research that it undertook on my behalf in relation to the rights, or rather lack of rights, of houseboat dwellers. My focus is residential houseboats moored on the Thames and other inland waterways in England and Wales, and not canal boats, which are currently part of a review being undertaken.

I have been informed by colleagues in the other place and the Minister, for whom I have the highest regard, that a simple amendment which would extend the rights enjoyed by mobile homes under the Mobile Homes Act 2013, which amended previous legislation, would fall outside of the scope of the Bill before us. I am grateful to the clerks for their initial advice, but I take this opportunity to inform the Minister and others that I will return to this subject and, I hope, with an amendment that achieves the necessary protections and falls within the scope of the Bill.

I believe that the rights and protections afforded by this Bill and other Acts of Parliament apply to residents of houseboats because such houseboats have tenancies. Their licences are precisely that: a means of renting mooring fixed either to a pier or to the riverbank. Yet those living on houseboats have absolutely no security of tenure. Although they pay council tax, energy bills, water bills and insurance bills, they do not have the same statutory rights as other tenants. This must be addressed. They have no protections when the owners of moorings propose to increase fees or, more worryingly, as we have seen at Chelsea, little redress when the owners of moorings propose not only to increase fees or develop the sites but to refuse to renew their licences or, indeed, review their tenancies. The situation faced by houseboat owners and residents is not dissimilar to that faced by mobile home residents, but while there is now legislation designed to provide some protections to mobile home residents, there is nothing designed to apply to residential houseboats.

That is the sad reality facing houseboat owners at Chelsea Reach, a historic community that dates back to the 1930s, and other sites that have faced or are about to face development or disappearance. This scenario is played out on moorings the length and breadth of the country as people fight to retain their homes and, if and when they are evicted or are unable to remain because of excessive increases in charges and licence fees, have to physically remove their homes and often dispose of them.

Previous Governments have declared that the issue is not “big enough” to legislate for and that it is not widespread. However, the problem is spreading as developers circle sites; the problem will grow, and evictions and homelessness will grow with it. From Vauxhall to Chelsea, to the Isle of Wight and beyond, people have had to face the choice of battling through the courts, with all the costs that go with it, for basic protections or quitting their moorings and taking their homes with them—or, in some instances, taking a sledgehammer to the interior of their houseboat to prevent the bailiffs taking the property.

There is a moral imperative for the Government to take action. I will not go on at length, but it is enough to say that it is often necessary to take preventive action to stop a small wrongdoing from becoming widespread. I urge the Government to work with me and others—and I ask the Minister for that assurance—to see how we can amend the Bill to afford the same rights to those houseboat owners and residents as afforded to those covered by the Mobile Homes Act 2013.

In conclusion, let us extend those basic rights, with the accompanying criteria, so that people can enjoy permanent and ongoing tenancies; security of tenure; protection from harassment; written agreements; conditions of residence; and pitch fee protection. I contend that what I am asking for on behalf of others is reasonable and moderate. I ask the Government to commit to delivering these basic rights to these forgotten and often overlooked residents.