The Green Party Peers made a big attempt to improve the bill by adding: rent controls, a guaranteed ‘lower bills’ benefit from warmer home grants and also, protections for pet owners and people with disabilities. We worked closely with: Generation Rent; Renters Reform Coalition; Cat Protection League, Battersea Dogs Home and Dogs Trust;
There were some amendments where the Minister expressed their sympathy for the intent but rejected the specific idea despite face-to-face meetings.
The front bench of the Conservative Party refused to support a vote on any of these amendments and Labour failed to adopt them as their own, so they fell.
The Conservatives put many amendments to water down the legislation and the Greens joined with the government to oppose them, sometimes winning in the Lords by a single vote.
Our amendments at Committee Stage
Amendment 35 attempted to give tenants a guarantee that they will also get some direct benefit from the drive for net zero with two years of lower energy bills, without that saving being cancelled out by a landlord focusing on profiting from a government grant.
Amendment 71 aimed to shift the debate firmly on to the needs of the tenant and to discourage landlords from constantly changing their minds about letting out their properties. It built on the Government’s welcome attempt to get rid of no-fault evictions by adding a new clause to the eviction process that gives the tenant a one-month financial head start.
Amendment 89 and 90 aimed to ensure that tenants have a way of benefiting from energy efficiency improvements where the Government have given landlords the money to make them. Improvements to a property facilitated by means-tested, energy-efficient grant schemes could be disregarded by a tribunal when determining a new rent for a property, by ensuring that this taxpayer subsidy could not be used as grounds for increasing rent levels
Jenny’s Amendment 275 would have set up a Living Rent Commission, similar to the London Living Wage Commission that the greens initiated in 2001 and which continues today. Local mayors and councillors would be given the power and discretion to bring in rent controls that match the conditions in their area.
Jenny signed Amendment 118 which would have provided security for pet owners in rented accommodation —knowing that, once granted, consent cannot be withdrawn. It was a carbon copy of legislation tabled by the Labour Minister when they were an opposition MP, so we hoped it would be accepted by the government.
She also signed Amendment 125, which aimed to stop any blanket no-pet policies. Battersea Dogs & Cats Home has described the second most common reason that pets are given up to it as because of rental restrictions.
Her final Amendment was 259 which aimed to give local authorities the power to use this data to enforce minimum energy efficiency standards that would mean warmer homes.
Jenny’s verbal contributions to this bill at Committee Stage catalogued below:
Report Stage
Jenny met the Minister and pushed Amendment 30 which aimed to amend the Housing Act 1988 so that when determining rents tribunals must disregard any improvements funded by government grants, for a two year period. While the Lib Dem supported the amendment, the government did not.
She again moved Amendment 72 and supported Amendment 86, which aimed to stop discrimination against disabled people and ensure they have the ability to make minor adaptations to properties.
Jenny also repeated her amendment to establish a Living Rent Commission. “Until we can build a new generation of council housing, the short-term answer is a set of locally tailored rent controls. This is an established part of private renting in 16 European countries, so why not here? “
Jenny’s verbal contributions to this bill at Report Stage catalogued below:
Amendment 30 wording
30: Clause 7, page 10, line 21, at end insert— “(4A) In subsection (2)(b) at end insert—
“(iii) any increase in the quality of the dwelling attributable to improvements made to upgrade the minimum energy efficiency that were not funded by the landlord but government or ECO grants, either in part or in sum, made within the previous two years.””
Member’s explanatory statement: This amendment would amend the Housing Act 1988 so that when determining rents tribunals must disregard any improvements funded by government grants, for a two-year period.”
Final legislation here
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 