NO LONGER A PROPOSAL: THE RENTERS’ RIGHT BILL TO BECOME LAW VERY SOON

After many months and hundreds of proposed amendments (almost all rejected), the Renters’ Rights Bill was back in the Commons for final approval on Wednesday – and there is every chance that by the time you read this it will have received Royal Assent and come into law, writes Phil Cooper.

Despite this, we still don’t know the government’s timetable for implementation.  Housing minister Matthew Pennycook has said only that landlords and tenants will be given ‘sufficient notice’ to prepare, but that could be days, weeks or months.

It is likely that the headline changes to tenancies, and in particular the end of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions will follow quickly.  This is one of the main planks of the Bill, and crucially can be implemented without much money being spent by government (although the courts will need time to prepare for enforcement).  Will the widening of the scope of Section 8 notices to compensate happen equally rapidly?

The abolition of fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies and their conversion – including existing tenancies - into periodic tenancies could also happen relatively quickly, as could the banning of so-called ‘rental bidding wars’, with landlords unable to accept offers above the advertised price.

Other measures such as the introduction of a Decent Homes standard for the private rented sector, the appointment of an ombudsman, and the creation of a landlord database are likely to take a little longer.

As for the ban on prohibiting tenants keeping pets and the restrictions on rent reviews, we simply do not know when this will come into effect.

However, with the Renters’ Right Bill finally completing its passage through Parliament and onto the statute books, even the most trenchant landlords can no longer bury their heads in the sand and hope the Bill will somehow be derailed – it won’t.  Even if it doesn’t happen next week, it is coming soon, and landlords must get themselves ready for the brave new world of post-RRB lettings.

That means updating your processes around things like tenant referencing and logging complaints and issues; it means inspecting your properties and addressing any potential hazards; it means reviewing existing tenancies as well as any potential new tenancies which may start in the coming weeks and months.

My best guess is that all the measures outlined in the Bill will be implemented by the middle of next year, with some coming sooner than that.  The time for lobbying is over; now we must all accept it’s happening, and prepare accordingly.