Agents told to lobby MPs over Renters Reform Bill

It appears almost certain that the Second Reading of the Renters Reform Bill - expected some weeks ago - will not take place until the autumn.

The House of Commons shuts up shop for the summer on July 20 and a business timetable for the period leading up to that date has been released by the government - with the Bill nowhere to be seen.

But although there has been no progress on the Bill being debated, let alone becoming law, the government has released a few more details.

Housing Minister Rachel Maclean and her team from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities have told a Select Committee scrutinising the Bill that the proposed Private Rental Sector Ombudsman will probably operate as a non-profit body and may be a combined agent/tenant/landlord redress scheme.

“A lot of the important details are still up in the air,” says Neil Cobbold, the managing director of the automated payment service PayProp UK.

“And with the Bill not getting its second reading until at least September, this gives the summer for agents to get organised and share views with MPs” he adds.

As part of PayProp’s push to promote the views of lettings professionals as the government reforms the industry, the company hosted an informal roundtable discussion with Andrew Lewer MP, member of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, and senior representatives from lettings agencies Belvoir, Dexters, Foxtons, Knight Frank, Leaders Romans Group, LSL Property Services, Savills, and The Property Franchise Group.

PayProp is also asking for the views of all letting agents in a survey, and will present the results to the government, MPs and peers.

“We’ve already seen the government make changes based on feedback from the industry, so the more voices we have, the better the chance lettings professionals will be consulted on this bill and future changes to the industry” concludes Cobbold.

Meanwhile Michael Cook, group managing director of Leaders Romans Group, smells something fishier in the long wait for a Second Reading - a possible delay to buy off opposition. 

He says: “Despite some big announcements recently from Government, its unsurprising that the second reading of the Renters Reform Bill is delayed until at least the Autumn.

“As an industry we are concerned that a number of the elements of the Bill are unclear and need amending to make it workable. Giving MPs and the Select Committee a bit more time to liaise and engage with all parts of the sector is probably not a bad thing.

“Specifically, and from both the landlords’ and tenants’ point of view, we are concerned about the impact of removing fixed terms. We also question how effective the new housing courts will be, given that we have heard of no clear plan.

“We suspect many MPs will share these concerns. This has possibly been sensed by Government and hence the brakes applied to allow for some of these issues to be addressed.”