It’s been a busy few months for anyone who keeps tabs on the news including the war in Ukraine, the Boris ‘partygate’ fiasco, a cost of living crisis and the Depp/Heard celebrity libel trial.

But what many will not have spotted is that the government in England plans to radically reform the private rented market.

The proposals, which are due to be officially unveiled before the current parliamentary session ends in September will significantly shake up how tenants and their landlords interact and are expected to become law in late 2023 or early 2024.

Landlord portal

Ministers want to set up a single website on which all the privately rented homes in England will be registered and listed. This will include details of the property’s owner/landlord and letting agent, if applicable, as well as key mandatory paperwork. It will also contain details of any disputes between current or previous tenants and the landlord/agent.

Redress for tenants

Currently, tenants must go to court to solve disputes with their landlord but soon a system of redress or arbitration is being proposed that will make it much quicker, easier and free for tenants to take their landlord to task if they fail to fix their home, behave badly or rip them off.

Minimum quality

Councils are to be given powers to police a new ‘decent homes standard’ for the private rented sector similar in many ways to the system already up and running for council and affordable housing.

At its most basic level, the new rules will say that a home can be considered decent if it doesn’t have one or more serious ‘category one hazards’.

The property will also need to be in a reasonable state of repair and would fail the test if one or more of the key building components – external walls, roof structure and covering, windows/doors, chimneys, central heating boilers, gas fires, storage heaters, plumbing and electrics – are old (older than their standard lifetime) and, because of their condition, need replacing or major repair.

Category one hazards include anything within a home that could cause serious harm including death, permanent paralysis, permanent loss of consciousness, loss of a limb or serious fractures.

One example – and a common one at that – would be a live wire poking out of a shower ceiling where a light is supposed to be.

Banning ‘no reason’ evictions

The government, and many housing campaigners, believe renters in the UK get a ‘rotten deal’ because their tenure is not long term.

Most rental contracts have a six-month minimum period and after that, both landlord and tenant can give a month’s notice of termination.

But landlords have an extra string to their bow – they can evict a tenant using a Section 21 ‘no fault’ or ‘no reason’ notice when they want to move back into the property or sell it, which means some tenants can face moving out very soon after they move in.

And some rogue landlords use them to evict ‘troublesome tenants’ without good reason. This type of notice is to be banned as part of the reform bill.

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Remember the content provided in this article is for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice.