King's Speech: LGA statement on Renters’ Reform Bill

Responding to the Renters’ Reform Bill announced in the King’s Speech, Cllr Darren Rodwell, Housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said:

 “This Bill will help to achieve better standards in the private rented sector through increasing the rights of tenants and enabling them to better hold landlords to account. It will also increase councils’ oversight of and ability to enforce against the small minority of landlords guilty of criminal behaviour. 

 “The removal of ‘no fault’ evictions is a significant step towards tackling our national homelessness crisis. Whilst the LGA remains concerned by the delay to its implementation as a result of backlogs in the court system, we believe the Government should consider publishing the evidence base for the delay and bring forward the abolition of Section 21 at pace.

 “We also support measures that will enable councils to keep the proceeds of financial penalties to reinvest in enforcement activity. However, this funding won’t cover the costs of the new duties in the Bill or the scale of the proactive work that is needed to improve standards for tenants.

 “We will continue to work with government to ensure that councils have the right powers, skills, capacity and resources to undertake effective enforcement activity. This includes removing the requirement for Secretary of State approval for larger selective licensing schemes.”