#EndSection21
Good news for renters during the State Opening of Parliament (19 December 2019) when the Queen’s Speech promised the Renters’ Reform Bill. No date has yet been set for a second reading—the first chance to consider the principles—we ‘re waiting for more details.
Rather than waiting, Baroness Grender—always a friend to renters—introduced The Rented Homes Bill to the House of Lords on 22 January. There’s no date set for the second reading (general debate) of The Rented Homes Bill either, but it’s an exciting development.
While we look forward to a better future, today, it’s still legal for private landlords to evict tenants without any reason or justification. This possibility leaves millions feeling anxious and stressed, conscious of our precarity. Too scared to complain, renters suffer bad landlords and shoddy housing, fearing a possession notice at the first opportunity; two months before the end of a fixed term.
Like everyone else who has campaigned for this, we’re pleased and relieved to know that change is going to come.
Citizens Advice Research Panel
Citizens Advice has funding from the Nationwide Foundation (who also fund Renters’ Rights London) to build a research panel of renters from across England, to hear about your experiences of private renting. They’ll be running quarterly surveys, interviews and focus groups over the next 18 to 24 months. These insights will help to build powerful campaigns for change, with the sole aim of ensuring improved renters’ rights.
London is an outlier in all the national statistics; we pay the very highest rents to live in older than average properties, in all sorts of conditions. It’s crucial that London renters contribute in representative numbers, then.
If you would like to join in with this important work see, please contact Policy Researcher Rosie Derricourt by ‘phone: 03000 231834 or email
An Invitation to Young Renters in East London
