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Communities Committee
Stage 1 Report: Renting Homes Amendment Bill (pdf)
Published: 1st October 2020
- Committee recommends Senedd approves in principle a draft law to extend eviction notice periods for private tenants.
- The Bill will also ban “break clauses” for private tenancies shorter than two years in length.
- Calls for no-fault evictions to be banned rejected on “right to property” human rights grounds.
- Concerns over the lack of evidence/data on the impact of new housing policies on renters.
- Committee recommends work starts to set up a Housing Tribunal/Housing Court to improve the effectiveness of Welsh housing law.
“For the measures in the Bill to work, however, we need the courts to operate efficiently, as this is not devolved, the Welsh Government must take all opportunities to ensure the court system takes as much account of Welsh specific needs, such as the significant changes to the private rented sector.”
– Committee Chair, John Griffiths MS (Lab, Newport East)
No-fault eviction ban rejected on human rights grounds
The Committee noted the difficulties in scrutinising the Bill and changes to the housing landscape as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Eviction notice periods have already been temporarily extended through regulations.
Extending notice periods had broad support from private tenants, generally on grounds on increased security (with a resulting reduction in mental health problems) and providing more time to find an alternative property to minimise disruption to daily life if they did have to move.
Organisations representing landlords warned of unintended consequences, such as a reluctance to lend to tenants on low incomes, single parents and those with what are described as “chaotic personal circumstances”.
There have been calls for so-called “no-fault evictions” (aka. Section 21 notices) to be completely banned – as in Scotland. Unsurprisingly, housing advocacy groups support a ban, while organisations representing landlords oppose it.
The Welsh Government’s stance has long been that banning no-fault evictions could breach human rights concerning property if a landlord wanted a let property for their own use.
Lack of data
Another running theme was a lack of hard evidence on how the policy would impact private tenants as well as a lack of hard evidence justifying a policy change. There was too much reliance on anecdotal evidence.
Rent Smart Wales has improved data collection in certain areas – namely the number and location of privately-rented properties – but there’s little data concerning the reasons behind no-fault evictions, rent levels, the impact of tenancy insecurity and housing quality.
As a result, the Committee recommends the Welsh Government commissions research on data gathering in the private rental sector.
The Committee also heard “strong evidence” that the effectiveness of the Bill will be dependent on the efficiency of the court service.
One key recommendation is for work to begin on creating a specialist Housing Tribunal (the court system is non-devolved, but the Welsh Government can set up tribunals in devolved areas) or Housing Ombudsman.
