Our colleagues at Chestertons London have written a helpful guide on how renters reform bill passed through the house of commons with a number of amendments agreed and will now enter the house of lords.

What has been changed? Over 200 amendments to the original Bill were agreed last week, and it is now considered to be a more balanced piece of legislation, taking into account the requirements of both landlords and tenants. The main amendments were:

• Abolition of Section 21 evictions: this is arguably the most controversial part of the Bill, but its implementation will be delayed until the court system is fully prepared. There are still no timeframes for this.
• Change to Minimum Tenant Notice Period: this balances protecting landlords’ investments and giving tenants the flexibility to leave a property after six months of tenancy.
• Minimum Property Standards: rental properties must meet certain criteria for safety and habitability.
• Balance of Long and Short Let: this prevents landlords marketing or re-letting properties for three months after using possession grounds to move into or sell their property.
• Student Market: the new mandatory possession ground that previously only allowed landlords to evict students living together in a house of multiple occupation (HMO) has been amended to include any properties let to students, providing the landlord gives prior notice at the start of the tenancy that the ground will apply.
• What does this mean for landlords? The Renters (Reform) Bill will become law, it is just a matter of when. We expect it to get Royal Assent in the next year and we believe that the Bill will not change drastically from its current, amended form.
• This means that landlords should start familiarising themselves with the main parts of the Bill, although there is little that they can do right now.

You can download the full report that is written by our colleagues in London here.