The Renters Reform Bill…is it doomed to fail?

With the Prime Minister revealing plans for a July 4^th general election, some remained hopeful that the Renters Reform Bill (the Bill) may be picked up in the “wash up” of legislation rushed through before the dissolution of Parliament.  However, it was not to be, and the Bill will fall away on 30^th May, when the King will officially dissolve the current Parliament.

This will not come as a shock to some, as the reforms to the court system, required in order to allow the proposed legislation to function, have not taken place prior to the forthcoming general election.

Landlords and tenants will have mixed feelings about the failure of the Bill to pass into law.  For landlords, this means that the current protections available to them in relation to no fault evictions under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 will remain, for the time being.  For tenants, the risk of no fault evictions still looms.

It remains to be seen whether a new Government will pick the Bill back up, rewrite it completely, or scrap it altogether. It is likely a new Government will feel pressurised to deliver a fairer private rented sector and Labour has indicated that it is still keen to abolish the no fault eviction regime. However, for now, uncertainty around the private rental sector still remains for both landlords and tenants.