As a new session of Parliament begins, the government has renewed its commitment to create a fairer rental market. As well as plans to abolish Section 21 no-fault evictions - first announced in 2019, the latest version of the Renters Reform Bill looks likely to introduce a landlord register.

Today (6th May), Scotland will elect 129 members of the Scottish Parliament. We have published a manifesto here.

Today (6th May) voters in Wales will elect 60 members of the Welsh Parliament (Senedd). We have published a manifesto here.

What we're demanding

Renting in Wales needs to be safer, fairer and more secure. Welsh renters can still be evicted for no reason, they need more stability and an end to Section 21 'no fault' evictions. There also needs to be tougher penalties for landlords who break the law. Wales now has a national register of landlords, however, there are still improvements that could be made to protect renters from criminals. Renters in Wales remain vulnerable to rent increases. Even though these can technically be challenged through the Rent Assessment Committee, only three did this in 2019/20. This must change.

The letting fees ban is great and all, but now fees are out of the way, you still have to scrape together a large deposit before you can move home. 

Well, we thought about that - last year we proposed a system where you could transfer part of your deposit to your next tenancy, once you'd done responsible things like pay your final month's rent. We called this deposit passporting.

We couldn't get it into the Tenant Fees Act (which came into force this month), but the government has been looking at it and today announced its support for deposit passporting!

The House of Commons has read letting agent fees their last rites! This afternoon MPs voted to approve the final version of the Tenant Fees Bill signed off last week by the House of Lords.

From 1 June, private renters moving home will no longer have to pay fees to start a new tenancy in England. Agents will only be able to ask for rent, and refundable holding and security deposits (capped at 1 week’s rent and 5 weeks’ rent respectively). The only exemptions are fees to cover the cost of lost keys, late rent payments, changing the name on a tenancy or ending a tenancy early.

Today is the 30^th anniversary of the Housing Act 1988 receiving Royal Assent and becoming law. The Act introduced the assured shorthold tenancy, and, with it, Section 21, the ability for landlords to evict without needing a reason.

As part of the End Unfair Evictions campaign we are calling for Section 21 to be scrapped, and demanded this in our response to the government’s recent consultation on longer tenancies. In our response we also set out how the private rental market should work once Section 21 is history.

It is less than a month since we launched our joint campaign - with ACORN, the New Economics Foundation and the London Renters Union - to end section 21 no-fault evictions, and we've already had some major successes. 

Here are four things we can celebrate already.

This motion can be adapted for use at meetings of political party or union branches. 

A version of this motion has been passed by the following organisations (please contact us if your branch passes this motion so that we can update the list!):

- Lewisham Borough Council (28.11.18)

- Southwark Borough Council (28.11.18)

- Brent Borough Council (26.11.18)

- Cambridge City Council (18.10.18)

- Croydon Borough Council (8.10.18)

- London Assembly (proposed by Sian Berry, Green Party, and Tom Copley, Labour Party, 5.7.2018)

- Hackney South Constituency Labour Party (11.9.18)

- Leyton and Wanstead Constituency Labour Party (12.9.18)

- Walthamstow West branch Labour Party (9.7.2018)

- Mildmay branch Labour Party, Islington North (August 2018)

- Forest branch Labour Party, Leyton and Wanstead (3.9.2018)

- Dudden Hill branch Labour Party, Brent Central (6.9.18)

- Leyton branch Labour Party, Leyton and Wanstead (10.9.18)

- Leytonstone branch Labour party, Leyton and Wanstead (10.9.18)

- Grove Green branch Labour party, Leyton and Wanstead (10.9.18)

Contemporary motion for 2018 Labour Party conference

Abolish no-fault evictions, the leading cause of homelessness

Conference notes:

• That most of England’s 11 million renters are on tenancies with fixed terms of six months or a year; after this period has ended, landlords can evict their tenants with just two months’ notice, without giving them a reason. These ‘no fault evictions’ were introduced under Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act; before this, renters had much greater security and it was difficult for landlords to evict tenants who paid the rent on time and looked after the property.
• That on Sunday August 19th, The Observer published research by campaign group Generation Rent showing that Section 21 evictions are now the single biggest cause of homelessness in England.
• In Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden (among other countries), tenancies are indefinite, meaning blameless tenants cannot be evicted from their homes.
• In 2017, the Scottish government made tenancies indefinite and banned no-fault evictions under the terms of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016.

Conference believes:

• Mass homelessness is a national disgrace, and removing its leading causes should be a priority for an incoming Labour government.
• Alongside tackling homelessness, abolishing Section 21 no-fault evictions would help to make renting more secure, improve standards and increase tenant confidence.

We resolve:

• To work with the Unfair Evictions Campaign led by Generation Rent, the New Economics Foundation, ACORN and the London Renters Union.
• That the next Labour government should abolish Section 21 no-fault evictions.

(232 words)

Ordinary motion for party or union branches

End unfair evictions - abolish Section 21 of 1988 Housing Act

This branch notes:

- Due to high house prices and the lack of sufficient social housing, the proportion of people renting privately has doubled since 2004; half of 18-35s, 1 in 4 families with children, and growing numbers of older people now live in privately rented homes[1].

- Most of England’s 11 million renters are on tenancies with fixed terms of six months or a year; after this period has ended, landlords can evict their tenants with just two months’ notice, without giving them a reason. These ‘no fault evictions’ were introduced under section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act; before this, renters had much greater security and it was difficult for landlords to evict tenants who paid the rent on time and looked after the property.

- Evictions are the number one cause of homelessness[2]. 80% of evictions are on no-fault grounds[3], and 63% of private renters who were forced to move in 2016 were evicted not due to any fault of their own but because the landlord wanted to sell or use the property[4].

- Insecurity harms quality of life for tenants, with private renters less likely than either owners or people in council housing to say they know lots of people in their local area, but more worried that they will have to move within the next year. The threat of being evicted also gives landlords huge power over tenants, who may decide not to complain about disrepair, big rent increases or other problems in case they are kicked out[5].

- In Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden (among other countries), tenancies are indefinite, meaning blameless tenants cannot be evicted from their homes.[6]

- In 2017, the Scottish government made tenancies indefinite and banned no-fault evictions under the terms of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016[7].

- The End Unfair Evictions campaign run by Generation Rent, Acorn, the New Economics Foundation and the London Renters Union, and launched in June 2018.

- Along with the nearly 50000 people who had, by mid-July 2018, signed the 38 Degrees petition[8] to abolish section 21, a growing number of groups and individuals support abolition, including Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn[9], the Times newspaper[10], the London Assembly[11], the Resolution Foundation[12] and Age UK[13].

This branch believes:

- Abolishing section 21 would help to make renting more secure, improve standards, increase tenant confidence and ultimately contribute towards making renting a viable long-term alternative to home ownership or social rent for the millions who currently cannot access either.

- Since insecure tenancies make it difficult for renters to complain and organise for their rights, removing section 21 would make it easier for new renter unions like the London Renters Union and ACORN to organise to defend their members.

This branch resolves to:

- Work with the Unfair Evictions Campaign led by Generation Rent, the New Economics Foundation, ACORN and the London Renters Union, including by publicising campaign events and activities as appropriate.

- Share the End Unfair Evictions petition and campaign video on social media channels and via email.

- Call on the member of parliament / union regional officer, to publicly state his/her support for the abolition of section 21.

- Call on the party / union leadership to make abolition of section 21 a manifesto / policy commitment.

[1] English Housing Survey 2016-17

[2] ‘Record numbers left homeless after eviction by private landlords in England’, The Guardian, 28.9.16

[3] ‘How eviction leads to homelessness: “My youngest child doesn’t know what a home is”’, The Guardian, 8.1.18

[4] ‘The state of private renting’, Inside Housing, 2.8.17

[5] ‘Insecure tenancies drag down quality of life’, Generation Rent, 3.11.17

[6] ‘Home Improvements’, The Resolution Foundation, 2018

[7] ‘Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016’, legislation.gov.uk: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2016/19/contents/enacted 

[8] ‘End Unfair Evictions’, 38 Degrees, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/end-unfair-evictions-abolish-section-21

[9] ‘Jeremy Corbyn pledges to scrap 'no fault' evictions to tip housing rules back in favour of renters’, The Independent, 27.11.17

[10] ‘Let Off”, The Times, 16.6.18: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/let-off-s8h7gb5h6

[11] ‘Stop landlords evicting tenants without reason’, London Assembly, 5.7.18: https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/assembly/stop-landlords-evicting-tenants-without-reason

[12] ‘Home improvements: action to address the housing challenges faced by young people’, The Resolution Foundation, 17.4.18: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/home-improvements-action-to-address-the-housing-challenges-faced-by-young-people/

[13] ‘”Living in Fear” – experiences of older private renters in London’, London Age UK, September 2017: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/bp-assets/globalassets/london/documents/older-private-renters/living-in-fear.pdf

After reports in the Sunday papers, late yesterday afternoon the Ministry of Housing published its long-awaited consultation paper on "Overcoming Barriers to Longer Tenancies in the Private Rented Sector".

It allows us a moment to celebrate the first success of the End Unfair Evictions campaign: an acceptance by the government that private tenancy law is failing England's tenants - just as our petition passes 40,000 signatures. 

Leaving the detail of the policy to one side for now, it is significantly the first time the government has considered a change to tenancy law. Up to now ministers have been talking of merely "encouraging" landlords to offer better terms - while most landlords might do this, a lot of tenants would get no benefit. We have been arguing that we need full reform and, while incentives are still an option, mandatory reform is now on the table.

This week we launched the End Unfair Evictions coalition with ACORN, London Renters Union, and New Economics Foundation. We're calling for an end to Section 21, which allows landlords to evict tenants without needing a reason. 

One reason we're doing is that existing protections are not working in practice.

Back in 2014/15, we fought a hard campaign alongside Shelter, GMB Young London and others to give tenants basic protection from eviction when they complained about their landlord. 

The resulting measures in the Deregulation Act 2015 stopped landlords from serving a Section 21 eviction notice to tenants if the council had found hazards in the property and served an appropriate improvement notice on the owner. This protection lasted for 6 months and was meant to give tenants more confidence in getting their landlord to fix health and safety problems, because the landlord can no longer simply retaliate by kicking them out.