Matthew Pennycook promises Renters’ Rights Bill will end rental discrimination and bidding wars

Matthew Pennycook promises Renters’ Rights Bill will end rental discrimination and bidding wars

0:02 AM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago 28

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Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook is warning that landlords will not be able to get around the Renters’ Rights Bill, and any landlord or letting agent caught discriminating against a tenant could be fined £7,000.

In an interview with The i newspaper, Mr Pennycook claims “landlords pitch renters against each other” in rental bidding wars and the Bill will end the practice once and for all.

He also says that landlord fears over the court backlog are ‘overstated’, and tenants complaining about a rent rise won’t be ‘hit by potential arrears’.

Mr Pennycook also admitted “there is no concrete date for when Section 21 will be abolished” but hopes it will happen by next year.

Stop rental bidding wars

Mr Pennycook says the Renters’ Rights Bill “is not a reheated version of Renters’ Reform Bill” and goes further than the Conservative government’s bill.

Mr Pennycook says the decent homes standard will apply to the private rented sector for the first time and the Labour government will ban Section 21 no-fault evictions immediately rather than waiting for the courts to be ready.

Mr Pennycook also claims the Renters’ Rights Bill will stop rental bidding wars.

He said to The i newspaper: “We’ve looked at examples of where action has been taken in Australia and New Zealand to combat rental bidding wars.

“We’ve learnt from those models and there are provisions in the Bill to clamp down on rental bidding wars.

“Landlords are often in particularly hot rental markets pitching renters against each other playing them off to see who can bid up the highest amount of rent. We think that’s wrong and the practice has got to end the landlord should clearly state the amount of rent that they expect for the property and if that rent is offered by a tenant it should be accepted.”

No concrete date for abolition of Section 21

Mr Pennycook admitted there is no date on when Section 21 will be abolished but hopes it will happen as soon as possible.

He told The I paper: “We don’t have a concrete date yet partly because we want to ensure that when we announce a date we’re very clear that we can stick to it.

“It’s our intention to abolish Section 21 no-fault evictions to overhaul the whole tenancy regime as soon as possible after Royal Assent. My target is by summer next year but we have to see how quickly the Bill progresses.”

Mr Pennycook adds he believes the concerns about the courts are “overstated”.

He said to The I paper: “We are not going to do what the previous government did which is tie reform to the private rented sector to a sort of subjective assessment of when the courts are ready. We do need to see court improvements and we recognise the concerns about significant pressure on Tribunals.

“However, if I’m honest, I think some of these concerns are a bit overstated. We’re not going to see a direct read-across from every Section 21 eviction to a Section 8 possession order. We’ll work with colleagues at the Ministry of Justice to ensure the courts are ready, but we won’t be making tenancy reform contingent on that.”

Landlords could face £7,000 fines

Mr Pennycook claims the Bill will ban rental discrimination and landlords and letting agents could face up to £7,000 fines if they discriminate against renters with children or tenants on benefits.

He said to The i paper: “In theory, those practices are already illegal but we do know that they occur.

“What we are trying to do in this Bill is to strengthen those provisions and clamp down on the abuse. For example, I’ve seen adverts that say people with benefits can not apply. There’s also the problem of intentional discrimination that can take place in person where it’s not advertised and a tenant views a property.

“We want to be able to fine landlords and letting agents that engage with these sorts of practices.  Our clear message through the legislation is that these practices are unacceptable.”

Possession grounds won’t be abused

Mr Pennycook says he will be making sure that new possession grounds for landlords won’t be abused.

He said to The i paper: “We are not going to allow those new possession grounds to be abused. In the Bill, we have tried to overhaul how those grounds could be abused and close those loopholes.

“For example, in the previous legislation when a landlord took back their property on one of these grounds to sell or to move back in they could re-let that property after three months now it will be 12 months.

“What we want to see by the changes we’ve made is that they are being used for genuine reasons rather than as a means to evict people by the back door.”

Increase rent once a year

In the Renters’ Rights Bill, landlords will only be able to increase rent once a year and only to the market rate.

Mr Pennycook explains a tenant will be able to challenge a rent increase.

He told The i Paper: “If a tenant feels the rent increase is unreasonable they can take it to the Tribunal and the Tribunal will be able to adjudicate on whether the rent increase is reasonable or that for that particular market area.

“The Tribunal will not be able to award a rent that is higher than the landlords asking for and we’ve put in measures to ensure that when an unreasonable rent rise has been requested and the tenant has gone to Tribunal tenants can’t be hit by the potential arrears that might result if a Tribunal makes an award.”

The full interview can be seen below


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Property One

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10:13 AM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Pennycook is either deluded (idiot) if he thinks he's making the rental market better for tenants or just another politician who likes to spew propaganda(lies dressed as a winning policy).

Peter G

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10:16 AM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

The causes of rent rises and bidding wars was not mentioned... The MPs claims of greedy landlords ignored the reduction in rental housing available due to government attacks on landlord incomes prompting mass sales of rented properties....no mention of the influx of hundreds of thousands of immigrants all looking for places to live,...no mention of the failure of government incentives to build new properties, no mention of the developers reducing the numbers of affordable homes in their building plans. No mention of these causes - none of which are the fault of private landlords. All are the results of government policies.
Until these policies are fixed he will not solve the bidding war problem - it will get worse

Paul Essex

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10:30 AM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

I think he is 100% correct, there will be no more discrimination from me as I, like many others, are choosing to not rent once properties become vacant.
No bidding wars either, I hope that makes him happy.

Cider Drinker

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10:43 AM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

While rents have never been higher, profits have never been lower and the workload more intense.

Control the demand side of the housing market. 80% of migrants end up in rental properties. Then they are encouraged to import their families.

The economy is being undermined by Russia and China and our government is rolling over.

Yvonne Francis

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11:03 AM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

I see that if I discriminate
against applicants I may face a fine of £7000. What am I meant to do? First come first served? Am I meant to accept a tenant with a record of violence against their last landlord or trashing their last residence? And in my case (I let only to students) am I meant to take non-students or students without a guarantor and from any institution? 

Like all Landlords we own our houses but with this bill we would no longer have a right to choose who lives in them. Our rights of ownership are being eroded

Steve Rose

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11:23 AM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Reply to the comment left by Yvonne Francis at 11/10/2024 - 11:03
It is my understanding that requesting a guarantor isn't banned under the legislation. There is a possibility that a judge may rule that it is a form of indirect discrimination, but personally I don't see it, so long as you ask every applicant for a guarantor (rather than, say, just those in receipt of benefits).
The chance of you or I being the subject of such a test case is negligible.
If such a ruling was made a significant proportion of remaining landlords would sell up (including me) making the situation even worse.

Steve Rose

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11:29 AM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Personally I've never countenanced bidding wars: where more than one person offers the asking price, we choose the best tenant based on other criteria.
But for those that do, how would "offers in the region of..." or "best offers up to...." fail to get around the legislation? Or will Labour ban landlords from accepting a lower rent than they demand!!

Dennis Forrest

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11:44 AM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Having just bought some shares in Grainger I wonder how they will evict tenants in future that don't pay? They can't use the excuse that they want to sell the property or move in to it themselves. Perhaps they can just use the simple excuse that they already rent out over 11,000 properties, want to expand and provide more homes for people to rent, and their business model will only work if tenants pay their rent.

Cathie French

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12:06 PM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

A landlord cannot discriminate against applicants or may face a fine of £7000
Have the policy makers considered that building insurance policies often state that all tenants must be in full-time employment?
Will the Insurance Companies be liable for the proposed £7K fine for discrimination?

JB

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12:49 PM, 11th October 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Reply to the comment left by Cathie French at 11/10/2024 - 12:06
Mortgage companies also may require working people

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