Landlords face new rent restrictions

The Renters Rights Bill, introduced in Parliament, aims to enhance tenant protections by prohibiting landlords from increasing rents more than once a year and banning ‘no-fault evictions’. Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook said: “We want to drive out disreputable landlords from the sector,” emphasising that reputable landlords have “nothing to fear”. The legislation also seeks to address issues like damp and mould, ensuring landlords cannot evict tenants for raising complaints. However, the National Residential Landlords Association cautioned that these changes could lead to a legal backlog. Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, remarked that the end of section 21 evictions will bring relief to millions of renters, saying: “11m of them will breathe a sigh of relief when these unjust evictions are finally consigned to the history books.”