Tenant Fees Bill (Second sitting)

Debate between Richard Graham and James Frith

Committee Debate: 2nd sitting: House of Commons
Thursday 7th June 2018 Public Bill Committees

[James Frith]

Q But they should be refunded pronto.

Katie Martin: Absolutely, yes.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

Q Katie Martin, I will ask you a question I wanted to ask our previous witnesses about who the best people are to try to work with tenants when there are issues effectively of breaking the law. We heard from previous witnesses that they had real doubts about vulnerable tenants turning to people such as trading standards and so on for help.

In my experience, quite a lot of tenants will turn to housing departments with questions, particularly on environmental health issues. For example, I have noticed a huge increase in the number of young mothers who go to the city council complaining about mould or damp properties. It is true that those tend to be more for housing associations than for private tenancies, where maybe the tenants feel more secure. However, do you think that if second-tier councils’ housing departments had responsibility for enforcing the measures in this Bill, tenants would be more likely to raise issues with them?

Katie Martin: I think you have hit the nail on the head about people in social housing feeling much more secure. Tenants in the private rented sector hesitate to come forward with complaints because there is a huge fear of retaliation, which is one of the reasons why we think that all of these problems should be pre-empted in the legislation rather than having to be picked up later. People do not feel like they are empowered. They are very worried about what action the landlord might take, such as not renewing their tenancy and all kinds of different things. That is definitely problematic for renters.

Tenant Fees Bill (First sitting)

Debate between Richard Graham and James Frith

Committee Debate: 1st sitting: House of Commons
Tuesday 5th June 2018 Public Bill Committees

[James Frith (Bury North) (Lab)]

I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I have one property of which I am a landlord.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

I draw attention to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. My wife and I have recently become landlords of a property.