A new ‘Fairer Rented Sector’ White Paper published today (16th June) outlines the government’s plans to majorly revamp the private renting sector with its 12-point plan.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities published the long-awaited document today, which is thought to become law as of next Spring.
The document features some significant changes for letting agents and landlords, including how they handle rent rises and tenants with pets or on benefits.
Amongst the set of changes are:
- Removing landlords’ rights to evict tenants ‘without fault’, but giving them more powers to evict for other set reasons
- Ensuring all privately rented homes in the UK meet the Decent Homes Standard
- Only allowing rent increases once a year
- Agents and landlords will be unable to refuse tenants receiving benefits without good reason
- Any tenant who wants to live with their pets will have a ‘right’ to do so – subject to a reasonability test
- The introduction of periodic tenancies
- The development of a ‘renting passport’, enabling poorer tenants to move home without having to pay two deposits
The White Paper comes after the government’s announcement last week of a new bill to tackle failing social landlords, in a bid to level up housing quality and tenants rights.
Original source: https://thenegotiator.co.uk/renting-reform-white-paper-june-2022-hughes/
