Landlords will soon be banned from removing tenants without cause as the government prepares to launch a long-delayed package of measures for renters including stopping no-fault evictions within months.
Ministers will bring the renters’ rights bill for its first reading in the Commons next week, sources have told the Guardian, as they look to rush through key parts of its housing changes.
At the heart of the bill, according to several people with knowledge of its contents, will be an immediate end to so-called section 21 evictions, where a landlord can oust a tenant for no reason, to be brought into force as soon as the bill is granted royal assent.
It will also include other protections such as requiring landlords to give more notice before they evict a tenant and preventing them from inciting bidding wars by encouraging prospective tenants to bid more than the listed rental price.
And ministers will seek to enact Awaab’s law, which will force landlords or agents to carry out crucial repairs within a specified period of time, with the exact period likely to be decided after a consultation.
The bill marks a major victory for renters’ rights campaigners, who have warned for years that the lack of tenant protections in the UK has exacerbated the housing crisis and added to the financial instability of millions of renters.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “The renters’ rights bill will be introduced in due course and we have committed to engaging with the sector throughout the process. We will take action by abolishing section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions immediately, end rental bidding wars to stop the predatory practice of pitting renters against each other and empower renters to challenge poor conditions.”
The bill forms a central plank of Labour’s plans to reform the housing market, which also include a massive housebuilding push, liberalisation of the planning system and new protections for leaseholders.
Michael Gove, the former housing secretary, originally proposed ending section 21 when in government but then modified his proposals in the face of heavy lobbying from landlords and Conservative backbenchers.
One of Gove’s biggest climbdowns was to propose delaying the repeal of section 21 until after the justice secretary had carried out an assessment of whether the courts were ready to handle a predicted rise in disputes between landlords and tenants.
Renters’ rights campaigners complained that this would lead to an indefinite delay. In the end, the entire bill was dropped after Rishi Sunak called the election.
Under Labour’s revived proposals, the no-fault eviction ban would start as soon as the bill becomes law. The government is also planning a series of other protections for renters, including longer notice periods before they have to move out of a property if a landlord wants to sell it or move back in.
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Ministers also want to bring in a law to stop landlords and letting agents starting bidding wars by asking or encouraging renters to bid more than the listed rental price, though they plan to allow renters to make a higher offer of their own accord.
Such measures have been enacted in parts of Australia and have proved difficult to police because it was impossible to say whether a tenant had bid more than an asking price out of free will or having been quietly encouraged to do so. In 2023 the Australian state of Victoria tightened its bidding war ban so that properties had to be rented at the listed price.
The government is also planning to resurrect a measure from Gove’s bill that would prevent landlords from asking for excessive rent upfront.
The government has rejected some of the moves that campaigners have called for, however, including capping rent increases. A Labour-commissioned study last year recommended capping annual rent increases at whichever was lowest out of consumer price inflation or wage growth, but ministers are understood to have decided against such a plan.
Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter, said: “The government’s plans to finally draw a line under section 21 evictions will allow renters to breathe a huge sigh of relief.” But she added: “To make renting genuinely safer, secure and more affordable, the new renters’ rights bill must limit in-tenancy rent increases, extend notice periods and root out discriminatory practices that drive homelessness.”
Landlords organisations, which led a highly successful lobbying campaign against some of the provisions in Gove’s bill, said the Labour bill would give the market much-needed clarity but warned that it could also strain Britain’s stretched courts system.
Ben Beadle, the chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “The end of section 21 will leave the courts needing to process possession claims where landlords have a legitimate reason … Without reforms to ensure the courts process cases much more swiftly, they risk becoming overwhelmed, which will not serve the interests of tenants or landlords seeking justice.”