New Clause 15 - Notices to quit by tenants under assured tenancies: timing

Part of Renters (Reform) Bill – in the House of Commons am 3:30 pm ar 24 Ebrill 2024.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Munira Wilson Munira Wilson Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Education) 3:30, 24 Ebrill 2024

I am delighted to speak about this important Bill on behalf of my hon. Friend Helen Morgan, who unfortunately could not be here today but who has done a huge amount of work on it, including her work in Committee. I thank the Minister for his comments about her, and for the constructive way in which he has worked with her throughout the Bill’s passage so far on specific amendments, some of which I will discuss in due course.

The Liberal Democrats support the Bill in principle because we want to ensure that the private rental market is fair for all, and we have long called for section 21 no-fault evictions to be scrapped. Barely a week goes by when I, a London MP, do not hear from yet another family who are being turfed out of their home for spurious reasons under section 21. I am sorry to say that, as many others have pointed out, the Government have been far too slow in introducing these measures. They have been dragged into it kicking and screaming at every turn, and having made the commitment five years ago and having had plenty of legislative time available in the last and current Sessions, they have delayed and delayed. Meanwhile, a cost of living crisis has meant even more people becoming homeless, and rising pressures on councils that are having to pay for emergency accommodation.

Amendment 3, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire, would increase the time that must elapse between a landlord’s taking ownership of a property and making the property available for rent to six months, from the currently proposed three. This six-month period is designed to act as a more effective deterrent for landlords wishing to evict tenants in order to remarket a property quickly, or “flip” it into a holiday let. I note that a similar amendment tabled by the Opposition would extend the time to 12 months. The Liberal Democrats believe that would risk driving landlords from the market, and that six months strikes the right balance between protecting tenants from sharp practice and not driving reputable landlords away.

“Flipping”, or quickly remarketing property for holiday letting, has caused serious injustice in some of the most beautiful places in the country, such as Cumbria. Local people living in tourist hotspots often struggle to afford a home in their area because of the rapid increase in the number of properties taken out of residential let and used solely as short-term holiday lets. That has a knock-on impact in terms of workforce pressures, especially in the hospitality and care sectors. Of course there needs to be some holiday accommodation in beautiful areas that benefit economically from attracting tourism, but we must find a balance between holiday and private rented sector accommodation.

I am grateful to the Government for accepting that point and working constructively with the Liberal Democrats by tabling amendment 66. Although their amendment does not go quite as far as we would have liked and include a six-month restricted period, it will ensure that landlords cannot remarket a property as a short-term or holiday let within three months of purchase. That is a much-needed step towards levelling the playing field in the housing market for local people in tourist hotspots and helping local economies and communities to thrive.

Amendment 37, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire, would ensure that accommodation rented from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation by service individuals and their families is subject to the decent homes standard. Servicemen and women are housed in accommodation rented from the DIO, which is currently not subject to a minimum standard. This means that individuals who have put their lives on the line for our country are not necessarily guaranteed a warm and safe place to live in return. Across the country, and specifically at RAF Shawbury and Tern Hill barracks in north Shropshire, there have been reports of service family accommodation being plagued by black mould, rat infestations and chronic overcrowding. That is no way to treat people who have put their lives on the line to serve this country. Frankly, they deserve better.

Amendment 37 would ensure that all accommodation rented from the DIO meets minimum housing standards, such as being in a reasonable state of repair and providing a reasonable degree of thermal comfort. Without the amendment, the Government would miss out on a crucial opportunity to finally bring service accommodation up to a decent standard. I am sure that Members on both sides of the House will agree that this is the absolute minimum we should be offering to service individuals, so I hope that the Minister can offer reassurance from the Dispatch Box that he and his Department are willing to move on this issue, ahead of the Bill moving to the other place, by working with my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire to ensure that the decent homes standard is applied to all military service accommodation. Otherwise, we will push the amendment to a vote.

Amendment 28 was tabled by those on the Opposition Front Bench. Some Conservative Members question why we should scrap section 21—not just in name, but by implementing this legislation at the earliest possible opportunity—but I ask them what they would say to the father in my constituency who contacted me last year. He was served a section 21 notice for having the temerity to fix a leak in his home that was causing damp and mould. His landlord had refused to do the repairs and he had two children living with very serious health conditions, whose symptoms were exacerbated by the mould. The endless delay from those on the Conservative Benches has meant that thousands more families like my constituents have found themselves homeless. Last week, I received another case of a family who are about to be evicted, just as two of their children start their GCSEs and A-levels.

Some 1.8 million renter households in this country include children. We should be putting them first, which is why the Liberal Democrats support amendment 28. Abolishing section 21 evictions would ensure that tenants living in properties suffering from disrepair, or even infestation, can report such issues to their landlords without the fear of a revenge eviction. It would also drive up standards in the rental sector and give tenants a much-needed voice. There should be absolutely no delay in the abolition of section 21 notices.

I also want to speak in support of amendment 20, which was tabled by those on the Opposition Front Bench. It would maintain the existing definition of antisocial behaviour as

“being conduct causing or likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance, rather than being defined as behaviour ‘capable of causing’ nuisance or annoyance.”

That is a small but critical difference in the definition of antisocial behaviour. Without the amendment, the Conservative Government would be writing a very ambiguous definition of antisocial behaviour into the statute book. The Government’s definition of antisocial behaviour could allow landlords to use it as a quick way to evict tenants, or as a back door to section 21 evictions. In Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire moved an amendment that worded the definition similarly.

We must have a definition of antisocial behaviour that protects tenants from unfair eviction but ensures that landlords have the tools necessary to evict tenants in cases of genuine disturbance. In his Second Reading speech, the Secretary of State promised this House that the Bill would bring tenants and landlords together to put in place

“stronger protections for the future”.—[Official Report, 23 October 2023;
Vol. 738, c. 641.]

Without amendment 20, he will fail to do so.

New clause 38, which I tabled, would introduce a technical change that I discussed earlier with the Minister. It seeks to address an anomaly in the Bill as drafted in relation to leaseholders seeking to let their properties. I am grateful to the Minister and his officials for their attention and I recognise that Government new clause 13 addresses this issue to a large extent, but as I discussed earlier with the Minister, I look forward to working with him and discussing how we can ensure that this provision is further extended to leases where freeholder or management company consent is required for a sub-letting.

I place on the record my strong support for new clause 12, tabled by Tim Loughton. I strongly endorse all his comments on care leavers and foster families, and of course he would expect me to add the families of kinship carers to that category. I urge the Government to work constructively with him on that.

The Liberal Democrats are broadly in favour of the Bill and appreciate the fact that the Government have agreed to work with us on the importance of safeguarding communities from being priced out by the popularity of the holiday let market. Despite that, we would have like the Bill to go further and we urge the Government not to ignore this opportunity finally to guarantee service individuals and their families the right to decent housing and to close the ambiguity on antisocial behaviour to ensure that it is not just another way for landlords to unfairly evict tenants.

I end by calling once again for the Government to stop kicking the can of abolishing section 21 down the road. I say gently to the Minister, who has been very collaborative in his comments, that we have seen with the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill that when the Government are hellbent on doing something for political purposes, they will ram the legislation through. They will ensure that those flights get off the ground because it serves their political purposes. So if there is a will, there is a way. I take on board the point about the courts having to be ready, but I firmly believe that if this Government want to do something, they have the means to achieve it. I therefore urge the Minister again to protect renters, particularly those families with children up and down the country who are facing homelessness every single week. This is a core reform that the Liberal Democrats have long called for and that the Government have long delayed. It is high time they stepped up and delivered it.