Renters’ Rights Bill

Lord de Clifford Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord de Clifford (CB)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Wilson of Sedgefield, and the noble Baroness, Lady Brown of Silvertown, for their passionate and moving maiden speeches. This Bill will be welcomed by tenants, not only to improve security of tenure of their homes and the quality of properties being rented to them.

The Bill encourages tenants to seek redress against poor landlords for issues they have with their properties, such as repairs, unfair rents and unfair evictions. It increases the reliance on courts, local authorities and ombudsmen to decide on these issues, as has been covered by many Peers. Currently, all these are under pressure, and I look forward to hearing from the Minister what plans are in place to deal with this increased workload.

Also, with the increase in reliance on these bodies, is there a risk that the complexities for tenants on who to contact increases? There are currently 10 organisations that they could contact about these issues. Some clarification for tenants in future would be useful.

Change always creates uncertainty, and this Bill certainly does for landlords, who are already making decisions based on this Bill and its many unintended consequences, some of which I will address.

I welcome the need and reason to give notice to protected tenants, but I ask the Minister for clarification on an issue that came forward to me: if a landlord has a rented property under a shorthold tenancy and has the need to employ a carer for themselves or for a carer to live in that property, could they give notice under ground 5E with only four weeks’ notice? This issue was raised with me—I do not expect an answer tonight.

I am sure that the tenants’ rights and protections to challenge punitive practices such as rental bidding will be circumvented by landlords and letting agents by increasing the asking price of the rented property, especially when the demand is in certain areas, therefore again putting tenants off from putting in offers, as was already mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Thurlow. The principle of being allowed to take rents in advance is welcome, but one simple rule does not work for a sufficient number of tenants—mainly those who do not have credit history. For example, overseas individuals and families coming to this country to work or study, individuals starting new businesses with less than three years’ worth of accounts, and students with no guarantor may all have the funds to pay rent in advance, but they cannot due to this Bill and will be overlooked in preference of those tenants with regular incomes. I ask the Minister: has any amendment been considered on how we can help these types of prospective tenants?

The reduction of the effective minimum term of three months for tenancies means more uncertainty for landlords. Landlords and letting agents will incur most of the costs of letting a property at the beginning of the tenancy and will therefore be out of pocket on a regular basis. Why do the Government feel the need for such a short starting period to tenancies? Do not landlords deserve some protection for the cost of moving a tenant into a property?

Pet ownership has increased in the past five years, and the importance of pets to individual families has also increased, so the right to request a pet is helpful and welcomed. Would it not be wise to first define a pet in the Bill? Could I suggest that a term such as “companion animal” is used? In the veterinary profession, this category typically includes dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and other small mammals. I think that this would help within the Bill. I thank the Minister for noting my interest in this area as well.

It is acknowledged that pets bring additional dirt and increased wear and tear to properties and, on occasion, cause damage and infestation of fleas. That is why holiday letting markets charge extra amounts when pets are allowed. The Bill has tried to address this concern by asking tenants to pay for pet insurance; as pointed out by the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, this product does not exist. I look forward to further discussions on this point with the Minister and in Committee.

There is a shortage of supply of rental properties, and there has been for many years, especially in rural areas, as covered by the noble Earl, Lord Leicester. With the changes in the Bill, rural landlords in areas with good communication to major cities and holiday destinations are changing the use of properties to holiday lets or renting to city weekenders on a common law tenancy basis, which gives the landlord a lot more flexibility. This further reduces the availability of affordable supply of property to local individuals, workers and families, and this is an area we need to address. I look forward to contributing further to the Bill in Committee .