What were the rental reforms announced last week?

What were the rental reforms announced last week?

The government announced new rental reforms in the Queen’s speech last week with the aim of helping both renters and landlords within the private rented sector.

As many of us know, the rental market has become a much more professional and regulated environment for agents, landlords and tenants, offering more protection across the board.

Landlords are now in a much better position to be able to ensure that they are abiding by guidelines whilst getting good property protection; tenants are more protected from unacceptable behaviour from rogue landlords and agents are now registered with professional bodies which means they must also adhere to strict rules.

That being said, there are many that feel that the government could go further still, and introduce further regulations which would make things safer for everybody within the industry.

It seems fair to say that whilst things are much better now, there’s still space to improve, and given that the private rental sector is expected to grow even further in the coming years it certainly makes sense to continue to put in place measures that help renters and landlords.

Following the announcement of these new rental reforms, we’ve taken a look at some of the key points for you:

Rental reforms to help renters and landlords

As reported by the Evening Standard, so called ‘Section 21’ evictions would be outlawed, strengthening tenants rights. As described within the report, “A Section 21 notice is commonly referred to as a “no-fault eviction” as landlords don’t need to give a reason for the eviction.

With Section 21 notices, tenants currently have just two months to move out.”

This has broadly been accepted as a positive move, with ‘no fault evictions’ thought to contribute towards unstable and insecure tenancies that can destabalise the market.

There was a further announcement regarding protections for landlords, too, with the government announcing “The Renters Reform Bill is expected to include sweeping reforms to the private rented sector, a national register of landlords as well as an abolishment of Section 21 notices.”

It is said that a national register of landlords, as well as further property protections from bad tenants are both expected to be included in the bill, which is expected to go through parliament later in the year.

Renting in the UK

This is good news for renters, who have been calling for greater protections for some time now. That being said, the market is broadly well regulated with good protections for both, and this means it’s easier to secure a longer term property.

If you’re thinking of moving or renting soon, we only ever work with reputable landlords and property owners, and our agents are all registered with professional bodies, so you can be assured that they’re here to help you find the right property.

If you’d like to speak to somebody today about what you’re looking for, and the type of property that you’d like, then get in touch today!

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