Why the Renters’ Rights Act falls short?

If the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) is attempting to improve life for tenants, it looks to be falling short and here is why I think that is. 

Whilst there were many grounds for eviction under section 8, Shelter reported 90% were for rent arrears. Whilst data was not collected for the reasons behind Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, it is likely the majority of these were also for rent arrears.

Whilst the number of bailiff evictions was pretty low, about 1 in 200 tenancies, it is reasonable to think this figure will not change despite the RRA.

This is because ‘no fault’ evictions will reroute into Section 8 evictions. Also, because the figure is low, it is unlikely to change drastically.

The government propose to collect stats to show the impact of RRA, but not report till 2028. This is not acceptable as it allows those responsible for the damaging act to escape culpability. For the well-being of good tenants, help is needed now. It’s likely the RRA will have zero impact on the number of evictions and figures should be collected and reported now to highlight this issue.

What the act will likely do is make it much harder for many tenants to find a home. This is because the act did not help landlords remove defaulting tenants, instead, it allows for tenants to grow more arrears before action, the very reason Shelter claims they are being evicted in the first place.

All landlords can do to protect themselves is to seek rental guarantors. Prospective tenants who don’t have guarantors will find themselves at the bottom of the pile when looking for a home, and because the RRA is shrinking the number of rental properties, this is wholly counterproductive for the RRA. All tenants have to be looked at as potential defaulters.

If the system allowed for the quicker removal of defaulters, then the requirement for a guarantor would be negated.

The government appears to have failed to understand that the main reason for eviction was arrears and a lack of rental property. The RRA has likely made matters worse.

The people who made these bad decisions will now no doubt call for rent controls when the real answer is for them to provide sufficient homes. The legislators are causing a reduction in available homes and subsequent rise in market rates. They and their failure to understand a basic problem is the real issue.

What does the Property118 community think?

Thanks,

Paul