Rental Reform White Paper - a summary

The government has announced the most fundamental changes to the private rental sector in over 30 years. Should landlords be worried?

Image credit Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free.org

The long awaited Rental Reform White Paper was published yesterday, setting out the government's plans for a radical reshaping of the relationship between landlords and the country's 4.4 million private tenants.

The Renters Reform Bill is a game changer

​Polly Neate, CEO, Shelter

The governments sets out its main aims as -

• Tenants should have good quality, safe and secure homes
• Tenants should be able to challenge bad practice by landlords
• Landlords should be able to take possession of their property when necessary
• An effective dispute resolution process outside of the court system must be established
• ​Local councils should have the enforcement tools to end bad practice

Proposed actions - 

• All Assured Tenancies and Assured Shorthold Tenancies will convert to periodic, or open ended, tenancies, putting an end to controversial Section 21 evictions
• Landlords will be able to take possession of their property in the event of persistent rent arrears or antisocial behaviour and when he needs to sell
• Rent increases will be limited to once per year, with tenants having the ability to challenge an excessive increase to a First Tier Tribunal
• ​Privately rented properties will have to meet the Decent Homes Standard
• The establishment of a single Ombudsman who will be able to offer impartial and binding resolutions in cases of landlord-tenant disputes, which will be quicker and cheaper than the courts
• The creation of a new Property Portal which will give all parties access to full information on their rights and responsibilities and to enable local authorities to identify bad practice
• The strengthening of councils' enforcement powers
• The ending of blanket bans on families with children or in receipt of benefits or other vulnerable groups
• Offering support to landlords letting to tenants in receipt of benefits
• Allowing tenants to request pets in the property, which the landlord cannot reasonably refuse. However, landlords will be able to request that these tenants buy pet insurance

​Many of the provisions in the White Paper reflect what is already considered to be best practice by the majority of property investors and property managers. Indeed, a good relationship between landlords and tenants is one of mutual benefit.

What the proposals will achieve is to ensure that those best practices are more widely adopted than is currently the case.

With over 4 million people living in privately rented accommodation, the sector is a key part of England's housing mix. The implementation of high standards will ensure that it remains so.

Details are available on the Government website A Fairer Private Rented Sector. The full White Paper is available in pdf

​Kindly note that the proposals relate only to England. Housing policy for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland falls within the devolved powers.