By now, if you've been a landlord at any point within the last five years, we'd be surprised if you weren't aware of the Renter's Reform Bill.
Introduced by Theresa May during her time as Prime Minister in 2019, the controversial Bill was planned to transform the private rented sector, promising more security for tenants and introducing some new challenging rules for landlords such as the abolishment of section 21 and removing fixed term tenancies.
With the sudden announcement of a general election in July this year, it meant that there was no time for the Bill to be officially be passed by Parliament, and as such, the proposed bill has been scrapped - for now.
Why did the Renter's Reform Bill take so long to pass through Parliament?
There have been years of debate about what the Bill should look like following the 2019 announcement, with the proposed legislation finally presented to Parliament in May last year.
It was then five months before the second reading in the Commons, with many backbenchers objecting to the plans, causing significant delays to the progress of the Bill; the reason it was still passing through the House of Lords when the election was called.
As any parliamentary business not completed by the end of ‘wash up’ cannot become law and cannot be carried over to the next Parliament the Bill was consigned to the scrapheap.
What happens next?
Once the election has taken place the new Government will decide how to progress with plans to reform the private rented sector. Both the Conservatives and Labour have previously committed to abolishing Section 21, one of the cornerstones of the Renters (Reform) Bill, but it will be down to the new administration as to how they progress this – and what priority it is given.
We hope to have more clarity on what approach the different parties may take once election manifestos are published in the coming weeks.
What does this mean for landlords?
Whoever triumphs at the polls on 4 July will need to start from scratch when it comes to developing new legislation around private rented housing. This, in turn, means even greater uncertainty for landlords who have already been waiting for five years for answers on how they must run their businesses going forward.
Despite a challenging industry, it's clear that the need for housing will never end, especially now where the current the demand is higher than ever. In the midst of a cost-of-living and housing crisis, some landlords have exited the market, but there is still hope for landlords who want to continue or even enter the market.
Recent figures from RightMove show that there are now 15 tenants competing for each private rented property, The number of people in temporary accommodation is never-ending, with the latest stat of 109,000 households in temporary accommodation, recorded in September 2023 - an increase of 10.3% from 30 September 2022.
Guaranteed Rent as a Solution
Solutions like the Elliot Guaranteed Rent scheme are giving landlords the confidence to stay in the market due to factors such as the financial stability being on our scheme will bring. Regardless of whether a property is empty or if tenants are in arrears - our landlord's rents are always guaranteed monthly throughout the duration of their lease agreement. Not to mention the hassle we take away including tenancy agreements, maintenance and upkeep, safety regulations and more, allowing landlords to free up their time to do as they wish.
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