Housing pledges for the lettings industry from the new Labour government

The new government’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves has committed to abolishing Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, that allows landlords to legally evict tenants for no given reason with a notice period of two months. Originally part of the Conservative’s Renters (Reform) Bill it was delayed due to the backlog in the courts and eventually the bill failed to pass before the general election was called. The Labour government has also pledged to extend ‘Awaab’s Law’ to the private rental sector. This law was passed after the tragic death of Awaab Ishak aged just two, as a direct result of exposure to mould in the social home his family rented from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing. The law requires social housing landlords to adhere to strict time limits to address dangerous hazards such as damp and mould in their properties and forms part of the Social Housing Regulation Act. A Warm Homes plan will also be introduced and minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030. Tenants will be empowered to challenge unreasonable rent increases (although few details have been provided on how they will do this). Reforming leaseholds by banning new leasehold flats and ensuring commonhold is the default tenure is another pledge. Reeves also re-committed to the Labour manifesto promise to build 1.5 million homes before the end of this Parliament. Rightmove’s most recent analysis shows that approximately 120,000 more rental properties are needed on the market to bring rent growth back to more normal levels of around 2% per year, based on current levels of demand.