Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to reform the private rented sector.

The government is committed to rebalancing the relationship between tenants and landlords to deliver a fairer, good quality and more affordable private rented sector.

In April this year the government announced that it proposes to consult on the future of Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. This would provide tenants with more stability, protecting them from having to make frequent moves at short notice, empowering them to challenge poor property standards and enabling them to put down roots and plan for the future. Our consultation on how the new system should operate closed on 12 October. We are now carefully considering the responses received and will publish our response in due course.

In January 2019, the government committed – in response to the Strengthening consumer redress in housing consultation – to requiring all private landlords to belong to a redress scheme, so that all tenants have access to redress when things go wrong. This will require primary legislation, which will be introduced at the earliest appropriate opportunity

The government will also shortly lay regulations to introduce mandatory five yearly safety inspections and tests on electrical installations in private rented sector properties.