Planned new amendments to the Renters Rights Bill have been published ahead of the committee stage of the Bill, with concerns expressed over how it may impact some tenants.
Landlord associations may be among those concerned by one particular amendment, which would restrict how much rent landlords can ask for upfront from tenants. According to the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), this could pose problems for tenants with poor credit histories.
NRLA policy director Chris Norris said: “Restricting rent in advance, combined with freezing housing benefit rates and not enough rental housing to meet demand is creating significant barriers for those with poor or no credit histories.”
International students and people with fluctuating incomes will be among those who suffer, he added, warning that this will harm those the government wants to help by removing the financial reassurance that landlords need not to be deterred from renting to such people.
“Ministers must provide clarity on how tenants unable to easily demonstrate their ability to afford and sustain their tenancies should do so,” Mr Norris concluded.
This plan would overturn elements of existing legislation such as the Tenants Fees Act 2019 and the Housing Act 1988.
What this shows is that landlords can benefit from training to help them keep up with changing laws, with many aspects of knowledge about existing legislation set to become obsolete when the Renters Rights Bill passes, as it is sure to do with the government having a huge majority in parliament.
The bill will now pass to the report stage, with publication due on January 14th.
Many features of the bill, such as the ending of Section 21 evictions and the appointment of an ombudsman, were contained in the Renters Reform Bill that was introduced by the previous government in 2023 but fell when the general election was called last year.