Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 30
Fifth Report - Reforming the Private Rented Sector
Published 9 Feb 2023
Paragraph 153
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Reforming the Private Rented Sector All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The success of the Government’s reforms depends to a great extent on tenants knowing their rights, and on landlords knowing that they know them. For this 64 Reforming the Private Rented Sector reason, the Government should update the How to Rent Guide to include details of tenants’ and landlords’ rights and responsibilities, including, in particular, how tenants can seek redress, and produce foreign language versions of this guide. It should then assess the level of compliance among landlords with the requirement to provide tenants with a copy at the start of a tenancy and, if necessary, consider ways of increasing awareness of it. A tenant whose landlord fails to provide them with a copy of the guide should be able to complain to the ombudsman, and, where the ombudsman upholds such a complaint, it should have the ability to award compensation. More widely, the Government should review the adequacy of advice and support services to tenants, particularly the most vulnerable, and report back to us on how it plans to make sure tenants have the knowledge and confidence to hold their landlord to account.
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Fifth Report - Reforming the Private Rented Sector (HC 624), paragraph 153, 9 February 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 20 October 2023 (deadline 9 April 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes "the thrust of the report" and accepts or reflects the Committee's aims in several areas, but declines a number of recommendations, including on student tenancies, a Housing Court and rent review clauses.
- On antisocial behaviour, it "fully agree[s] with the intent" of the recommendation but proposes a different approach: it will lower the threshold for Ground 14 and maintain judicial discretion instead of making the ground mandatory.
- On courts, it says "We do not agree that introducing a Housing Court is the best way", and it "would not be practical" to prioritise rent arrears cases. It will not proceed with the abolition of section 21 "until reforms to the justice system are in place".
- It does not support retaining fixed terms for students, saying it "would unfairly lock students into contracts". It will instead introduce a new ground for possession to facilitate the yearly cycle of student tenancies.
- On enforcement funding, it will ensure that "where necessary" new costs to local authorities "are fully funded", in accordance with the New Burdens Doctrine. It has "no current plans to criminalise non-payment of a civil penalty".