DLUHC confirm the white paper on renters’ reform will be published “very soon”

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Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool West Derby, led a Westminster Hall debate on 15th March about poor quality standards in the private rented sector (PRS). The debate heard from a range of MPs citing evidence of poor housing conditions experienced by their constituents who live in private rented sector homes.

Analysis in the Northern Housing Monitor shows 1 in 7 homes in the private rented sector have a Category 1 hazard and more than two thirds of homes in the sector are below EPC C. During lockdown, the NHC supported research by the University of Huddersfield which highlighted the particular struggle for thermal comfort in the private rented sector and poor conditions impacting negatively on people’s physical and mental health.

During the debate, Matthew Pennycook MP, Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning, said there is an “acute problem” of the most vulnerable being concentrated at the lower end of the private rented market, which is often concentrated geographically. The Shadow Minister stated that substandard PRS homes are the source of “daily anxiety, torment and misery” for many and noted that it hinders children, in particular, from flourishing.

Eddie Hughes MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Rough Sleeping and Housing at DLUHC, responded to the debate to reaffirm the Government’s commitment to driving up standards of rented properties as outlined in the Levelling Up White Paper. One of the document’s core missions includes an ambition “for the number of non-decent rented homes to have fallen by 50%, with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas.” The NHC’s Executive Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Brian Robson, has written about this shift in government thinking from boosting supply to improving quality which you can read here.

PRS reform is long-overdue. The Renters’ Reform Bill (proposals of which were first revealed under Theresa May) was announced in the Queen’s Speech in December 2019 but it was not brought forward in the parliamentary session due to the impact of the pandemic. But renters’ reform is firmly back on the agenda, with the Levelling Up White Paper outlining:

“We will publish a landmark White Paper in the spring to consult on introducing a legally binding Decent Homes Standard in the Private Rented Sector for the first time ever, explore a National Landlord Register and bring forward other measures to reset the relationship between landlords and tenants, including through ending section 21 “no fault evictions””.

These proposals are welcome. The NHC acts as Secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Housing in the North. Last year, the APPG’s inquiry into housing standards in the North’s PRS published its final report. The APPG’s recommendations included:

  • a full review by the Law Commission of private rented legislation
  • a national landlord identification database of landlords’ details, their properties, and their energy performance
  • a DWP trial of linking payment of housing benefit to minimum quality standards
  • repealing Section 21 without delay
  • support to maintain well-resourced enforcement teams within local authorities
  • greater local freedom for Selective Licensing schemes
  • a Housing Quality Investment Fund to support local long-term collaboration across tenures to improve housing quality.

The NHC is a core participant in DLUHC’s review of the Decent Homes Standard. Following the Levelling-Up White Paper’s announcement that the Standard will be applied in the PRS for the first time, we expect the pace of the review to significantly accelerate in coming months, with a formal consultation on a new standard coming forward as soon as this Summer.

We are also awaiting the response from BEIS on the consultation to raise the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) to EPC C for new PRS lettings from 2025 and to EPC C for all PRS properties from 2028. While we welcome the commitment to improve the energy performance of homes in the PRS, this makes the APPG’s recommendation on ensuring enforcement teams in local authorities are properly resourced even more pertinent.

Enforcement is a particular challenge for local authorities in the North where a reduction in capacity has led to a 58% drop in housing services spend and a 73% drop in planning and building control spend between 2010/11-2020/21.

During the Westminster Hall debate, Eddie Hughes MP confirmed that the renters’ reform white paper (as opposed to a Bill previously promised) setting out how the Government plan to drive up standards in the PRS will be brought forward “very soon”. The NHC will be closely following developments on the proposed package of reforms for our members.

Please do not hesitate to follow up on any of this with the NHC by contacting Anna Seddon (Policy and Public Affairs Manager) at anna.seddon@northern-consortium.org.uk.