Shipley MP welcomes Renters' Rights Act becoming law

Anna Dixon MP welcomes the Renters' Rights Act

Shipley MP Anna Dixon has strongly welcomed Labour's Renters' Rights Act, which has officially become law today.

England's 11 million private renters were granted the most significant increase to their rights in a generation when this Labour government’s Renters' Rights Bill received Royal Assent.

The Renters’ Rights Act delivers on Labour’s Plan for Change manifesto commitment to rebalance the relationship between England’s 2.3 million landlords and 11 million

tenants, ending a system that has left renters vulnerable to unfair treatment and insecurity.

At the core of the Act is the abolition of Section 21 'no fault' evictions - a practice that has pushed thousands into homelessness. This seismic shift will empower tenants to challenge poor conditions and unreasonable rent increases without fear of retaliatory eviction.

The reforms will give renters the right to end tenancies with two months’ notice, while protecting legitimate landlord interests through strengthened repossession grounds that support continued investment in the sector.

Overview of the Bill:

• Abolish Section 21 evictions and move to a simpler tenancy structure where all assured tenancies are periodic.

• Ensure possession grounds are fair to both parties, giving tenants more security, while ensuring landlords can recover their property when reasonable.

• Provide stronger protections against backdoor eviction by ensuring tenants are able to appeal excessive above-market rents which are purely designed to force them out.

• Introduce a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman that will provide quick, fair, impartial and binding resolution for tenants’ complaints about their landlord.

• Create a Private Rented Sector Database to help landlords understand their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance (giving good landlords confidence in their position), alongside providing better information to tenants to make informed decisions when entering into a tenancy agreement.

• Give tenants strengthened rights to request a pet in the property, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. To support this, landlords will be able to require pet insurance to cover any damage to their property.

• Apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector to give renters safer, better value homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities.

• Apply Awaab’s Law to the sector, setting clear legal expectations about the timeframes within which landlords in the private rented sector must take action to make homes safe where they contain serious hazards.

• Make it illegal for landlords and agents to discriminate against prospective tenants in receipt of benefits or with children – helping to ensure everyone is treated fairly when looking for a place to live.

• End the practice of rental bidding by prohibiting landlords and agents from asking for or accepting offers above the advertised rent. Landlords and agents will be required to publish an asking rent for their property and it will be illegal to accept offers made above this rate.

• Strengthen local authority enforcement by expanding civil penalties, introducing a package of investigatory powers and bringing in a new requirement for local authorities to report on enforcement activity.

• Strengthen rent repayment orders by extending them to superior landlords, doubling the maximum penalty and ensuring repeat offenders have to repay the maximum amount.