My amendment will protect tenants from unfair rent increases
5 min read
I am proud that Labour is acting where the Tories failed to help renters. My amendment would make the Renters' Reform Bill even stronger by limiting in-tenancy rent rises.
Housing in England offers the worst value for money in the developed world. We pay the most for homes compared with other advanced economies, in exchange for housing that is often cramped, old and poorly insulated.
Private renters have it even worse. As well as a greater risk of eviction and lower standards than social tenants or homeowners, English renters have the weakest legal protections in Western Europe. Introduced in Margaret Thatcher’s 1988 Housing Act, section 21 evictions give landlords the power to evict tenants at will, with two months’ notice and no reason (or ‘fault’) required.
This power imbalance has created the situation we face today. The health of one in five renters is harmed by their home. England regularly sets shameful new records for child homelessness – a stark illustration of the human cost of these policy choices.
In 2019 Theresa May pledged to end no-fault evictions. Four years and three prime ministers later, Rishi Sunak’s government eventually produced a bill, only to be watered down to appease pro-landlord Tory backbenchers, with the end of section 21 indefinitely delayed. Fatally compromised, the bill was abandoned before the general election.
In opposition, Labour was clear that we would succeed where the Tories failed – and go further. Our manifesto committed to ending bidding wars, immediately ending section 21, and raising standards to drive out health hazards from renters’ homes. I am proud that this was followed through in the first King’s Speech. The Renters’ Rights Bill has progressed quickly through Parliament and it will deliver a fairer, more secure private rented sector.
But, while there is much to welcome in this legislation, in its current form it will fail to address one of the most significant issues renters face – the high cost of renting. Rents have outpaced average wage growth for the last three years, and the Resolution Foundation predicts this could continue for another three.
Abolishing no-fault evictions is a key part of this bill, but for many renters unaffordable rent hikes are, and will remain, a de facto section 21 eviction. There is a real risk that landlords will use unfair rent hikes in a similar way, to threaten or punish renters for asserting their new rights or complaining about issues in their homes.
The Renters’ Rights Bill attempts to resolve this with a rent tribunal, where renters can appeal above-market rent increases. This tribunal would not be able to recommend a higher rent increase than the landlord is proposing – an improvement on existing tribunals in England and Scotland. But in practice very few renters are aware this mechanism exists, few are willing to go to such lengths to challenge a rent increase, and should large numbers of renters resort to it, it could quickly be overwhelmed.
Moreover, a tribunal that gives renters the chance to block ‘above market’ rent increases is missing the point – average market rents are already completely unaffordable for many families and individuals on low incomes. For these renters, who are already more likely to be struggling with poor quality housing and dodgy landlords, a ‘market level’ rent increase is an economic eviction.
I am proud that this government is acting to reform renting where the Conservatives failed. But to provide tenants with the secure homes they need, our constituents need us to get a grip on out-of-control rent hikes. That’s why I’ve proposed an amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill that would limit in-tenancy rent increases.
My amendment would prevent landlords from putting the rent up for existing tenants by more than inflation or wage growth. Instead of a fixed rent level controlled by the government, a limit would be a practical measure to smooth out rent rises and reduce the social harm caused by economic evictions.
In the long term, we must build more social and affordable housing – but to help renters who are struggling right now, limiting rent rises would immediately slow the growth of our vast housing benefit bill and support councils struggling with unsustainable temporary accommodation costs, who have increasingly been warning this is driving them to the brink of bankruptcy.
Polling consistently shows support for limiting rent rises right across the political spectrum, including from 69 per cent of Conservative and 79 per cent of Labour voters. Similar measures are common in Europe, including in France, Germany, Spain, and across the pond in US states like Oregon and California.
Putting more money in tenants’ pockets cannot be a bad thing. This is money people should be spending in their communities, investing in the economy, not donating to their landlord’s wallet. It’s right that Keir Starmer’s new milestones target quality of life rather than standard economic indicators. As the US election shows, whatever happens to GDP or wage growth, if voters continue to see greater shares of their income swallowed up by rent increases, then they won’t feel better off.
As well as leading housing organisations such as Shelter and Generation Rent, and charities like Citizens Advice and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, limiting rents has the backing of our major unions including UNISON, the RMT, the Fire Brigades Union and the NEU.
I urge my fellow MPs to support my amendment.
Paula Barker is the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
Get the inside track on what MPs and Peers are talking about. Sign up to The House's morning email for the latest insight and reaction from Parliamentarians, policy-makers and organisations.
