The militantly pro-tenant Generation Rent group says it’s working with local councils to have a new “tenants’ charter” introduced.

The new director of the pressure group – ex-Labour Baroness Alicia Kennedy – says the charter will “improve awareness of rights and underpin effective enforcement”, and adds that it is necessary because “no tenant should have to live in a home in a state of disrepair or feel powerless to challenge their landlord for fear of rent rises or eviction.”

She made her comment in a contribution to the Inside Housing publication, in which she made a number of attacks on the private rental sector and landlords in particular.

“The pandemic has exposed the country’s over-reliance on the goodwill of private landlords to meet its housing needs – tenants in overcrowded homes are at an increased risk of contracting the coronavirus, while more than half of landlords are failing to offer struggling tenants flexibility on rent” she claims.

She says the Renters’ Reform Bill – which proposes scrapping S21 and enhancing S8 powers – must be introduced into Parliament for consideration this autumn.

“It is the opportunity we need to give private tenants security in their homes, stability in their lives and greater power in their relationship with their landlords” claims Baroness Kennedy.

And elsewhere in the article, she claims many landlords “are slow to carry out repairs or, even worse, let tenants live in unsafe accommodation.”

The Baroness resigned from the Labour Party upon being appointed director of the campaign group earlier this month, but Generation Rent says “she worked with Prime Ministers, Cabinet members, hundreds of MPs, and thousands of councillors and volunteers to deliver successful local and national election campaigns for the Labour Party.” She was also a political adviser to Ed Miliband when he was party leader.