Peers in the House of Lords have voted to reject several pro-landlord amendments to the Renters’ Rights Bill. 

The Bill only needs to pass one more vote in the House of Commons before becoming law. 

The Lords voted to reject several proposals that would have balanced the legislation. These included:

• Rejecting reducing the “no re-let” period to six months after a landlord evicts a tenant to sell the home. This means landlords will still be banned from re-letting a property for 12 months if they evict a tenant to sell the home, making it harder for unscrupulous landlords to abuse the system;

• Rejecting extending the student possession grounds to one and two bedroom properties, which would have put postgraduate and mature students at risk of eviction at the end of the academic year;

• Rejecting a proposal for landlords to request an additional pet deposit. We believe the existing five weeks’ rent is enough to cover damage by a pet;

• Rejecting a new possession ground for a landlord to evict a tenant if they wanted to house a carer. We thought this could have been easily abused by landlords to evict. 

The Bill will return to the House of Commons soon before receiving Royal Assent to become law. The Government is likely to name an implementation date upon the legislation receiving Royal Assent which will give investors clarity on when the majority of the reforms will come into practice.