At the heart of the bill – which is aimed at giving renters greater protections and cracking down on a unscrupulous landlords – is a ban on Section 21 evictions.
They are used by landlords to evict tenants with two months’ notice and without any reason needing to be given.
It is understood that ministers would seek to enact the ban immediately after the bill became law – rather than waiting to check whether the court system will be ready to deal with new cases , as the previous government proposed.
The last government warned that getting rid of no-fault evictions will increase pressure on the courts, as landlords will need to go through a legal process to regain possession of their properties when they have legitimate grounds to do so.
The bill would also seek to give renters greater rights to challenge rent increases and introduce new laws to end the practice of rental bidding wars by landlords and letting agents.
It would also expand Awaab’s law – named after the toddler who died after exposure to mould in his family’s social rented home – to the private sector, requiring landlords to fix hazards within a certain timeframe.
New clear and expanded possession would also be given to landlords to reclaim their properties when they need to.
