This week's Labour conference is set to reaffirm the party's controversial three reforms of the private rental sector - proposals which have already been condemned by much of the industry.
The reforms, already set out by party leader Ed Miliband and to be rubber-stamped at the party's annual conference in Manchester, call for:
1. Three-year tenancy agreements beginning with a six-month probationary period allowing landlords to evict a tenant if they are in breach of their contract. This would then be followed by a two-and-a half-year term in which tenants would be able, as they are now, to terminate contracts after the first six months with one month's notice.
2. A ban on what Miliband calls "excessive rental increases". Labour says it will be guided by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, which is examining options for a new rent benchmark. This could be linked to average rent rises or inflation or a combination of the two.
3. A ban on letting agents charging tenants fees for low level services, such as simply signing a tenancy agreement. They will instead have to ask landlords for fees.
Labour's housing spokeswoman Emma Reynolds is speaking at a fringe meeting organised by the Generation Rent pressure group - which claims the party's ideas do not go far enough - and delegates at the full conference are likely to discuss the whole housing topic on Tuesday.
Miliband touched on housing in a speech in Manchester over the weekend. He pledged that the Lyons Commission - a research project to advise Labour on housing policies - would be advocating substantial quango-style systems including:
- New Homes Corporations taking responsibility for areas prioritised for development, setting out the timetable over which that development will take place. This will remove the incentive to hold on to land because the timetable for development will be clear says Miliband;
- New Homes Corporations will bring together enable large sites to be developed across local authority boundaries including implementinginfrastructure such as roads, schools and green spaces. Government funding will be routed through these bodies to ensure that infrastructure follow housing need;
- New Homes Corporations will drive competition and diversity among house builders by seeking new private partners for investment rather than relying simply on the existing large firms. With responsibility for master planning developments, they will have the powers to package up sites for building by housing associations and construction firms.
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