General Election: What are Labour’s manifesto commitments for the Private Rented Sector?

After much speculation, the Labour Party finally published their 2024 election manifesto on 13 June 2024. It includes five significant policies relevant to the private rented sector, but the detail is scant. Since then, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have made a few additional commitments to renters to end “bidding wars” and upfront payments, and require landlords to “sort out” damp and mould.

As we know, the Renters Reform Bill did not make it onto the statute book in the “wash up” period, when the government rushed a few key bills through parliament. This means that a Labour government would need to start from scratch with new legislation if it wants to make any changes.

In this blog post, I discuss what commitments Labour makes in their manifesto that would directly impact landlords and renters. I also flag what isn’t in their manifesto, and try to read the tea leaves on what a Labour government might look like for landlords.

As an aside, according to a survey sent to 20,000 landlords by Openrent published 25 June, 15.3% of landlords are intending to vote for the Labour Party, compared with 25.9% for the Conservatives, and 14.4% for Reform UK. However, 30.8% are still undecided.

I will keep this post updated as and when we hear more detail on Labour’s policies.

Last updated: 28 June 2024

>> Related Post: What the General Election means for the Private Rented Sector

What’s in Labour’s manifesto about landlords and renters?

Here are the key policies that are in Labour’s manifesto for the private rented sector, beyond the general promise of “overhauling the regulation of the private rented sector”:

1. Abolition of Section 21

The manifesto contains the following firm commitment: “We will immediately abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions”, without qualification, as per Angela Rayner’s previous promise: “no ifs, no buts”.

It is interesting that they refer to “Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions”, and not all ‘no fault’ evictions, such as if a landlord wants the property for family. They don’t say whether they would add no fault grounds to Section 8, like the Ground 1A in the Renters Reform Bill which would have allowed landlords to obtain possession if they wanted to sell up.

Note the word “immediately”. That is technically impossible as primary legislation would need to repeal Section 21, and that’s not something they can do the week after the election. But it suggests that it will be a priority piece of legislation.

(Alternatively, the wrote the manifesto expecting the election to be called after the Renters (Reform) Bill had received Royal Assent, so it would just be a case of issuing regulations to bring forward the commencement date).

Matthew Pennycook has acknowledged in several interviews that it would not be abolished “immediately”. For instance, in this interview on Sky News on 20 June, by saying they would “level the playing field […] as a priority, as soon as we can, it’s competing with a number of other planning and housing changes we need to make”. He also blamed the Government for not dropping the Renters Reform Bill, as Labour would have been happy to take it through.

2. New rights to challenge rent increases

The Labour manifesto does not include a reference to rent controls. It does, however, say they will “empower [renters] to challenge unreasonable rent increases”.

Presumably this would be in the First-tier Tribunal, as at present. No information is given about how tenants would be empowered to challenge increases, over and above the rights they already have to challenge a rent increase in a Section 13 notice, following the process under Section 14 Housing Act 1988.

Labour proposed an amendment to the Renters Reform Bill that would have withdrawn the power of the First-tier Tribunal to decide the rent should be higher than the rent requested by a landlord in their Section 13 notice – see amendment 22. It is likely that this approach would be reflected as part of the new rights.

3. Housing standards

The manifesto promises to “take steps to decisively raise standards, including extending ‘Awaab’s Law’ to the private sector”.

Awaab’s Law was introduced in Section 24 of the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023, and requires social landlords to investigate and fix reported health hazards within certain timeframes. The government issued a consultation on the detail, the results of which were not published by the time the election was called.

The private rented sector was not included in the scope of Awaab’s law, and a separate consultation was underway about the extension of the Decent Homes Standard from social housing to the private rented sector as part of the Renters Reform Bill. However, that was not published either.

It’s therefore unclear whether Labour would impose the same obligations on private landlords as social landlords, even though social landlords usually have teams of maintenance staff who can respond to reports of repairs.

4. Minimum energy efficiency standards in the PRS

The Conservatives dropped plans to require private rented properties to have an EPC rating of C by 2025.

However, Labour appear to revive that, although they don’t mention EPC C specifically. In their manifesto they say: “We will ensure homes in the private rented sector meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030, saving renters hundreds of pounds per year. Nobody will be forced to rip out their boiler as a result of our plans”.

The devil will be in the detail, but it can be expected that landlords would be required to insulate properties and possibly replace single-glazed windows. The reference to not being required to scrap boilers is encouraging.

>> Related Post: Labour’s plans for energy efficiency and EPCs

5. Anti-discrimination rules

The manifesto says that they would “prevent private renters being exploited and discriminated against”. There is no detail on what type of “exploitation” they are referring to.

I imagine that the reference to discrimination is to the discrimination against benefit claimants and families that was in the Renters Reform Bill.

What doesn’t Labour’s manifesto say about landlords and renters?

The Labour Party’s manifesto does not refer to the following provisions that were in the Renters Reform Bill:

• Abolishing fixed term tenancies and making periodic tenancies compulsory.
• The implied right for a tenant to have a pet.
• A new PRS ombudsman.
• National register of landlords / PRS database.
• New grounds for possession under Section 8.

The manifesto also does not refer to “rent controls”, or the “rent stablisation” proposed recently by Stephen Cowan (see below for more).

There is also no commitment to regulate property agents (letting agents, estate agents and managing agents), along the lines of the report on the working ground into the Regulation of Property Agents, chaired by Lord Best in 2019.

Labour campaign commitments to renters not in their manifesto

Angela Rayner added a few additional commitments to renters when speaking to The Independent on 19 June 2024 by saying that they would bring “an end to rental bidding wars and upfront payments”. This would seem to prevent landlords from receiving, say, six months’ rent up front. This often happens when someone has a poor credit history or who is from abroad, eg foreign students.

The reference to bidding wars wasn’t in their manifesto, but it was Matthew Pennycook tabled an amendment when the Renters Reform Bill was going through parliament saying that landlords (or those acting on their behalf) would be prohibited from “inviting or encouraging bids that exceed the amount stated as part of the advertisement or offer of the premises”, with a similar term for letting agents. See amendment NC7 at the Report Stage.

In the BBC Question Time Debate on 20 June, Fiona Bruce pressed Sir Keir Starmer on how he would end bidding wars in practice. Given the wording of their amendment only prevents landlords and letting agents “inviting or encouraging bids”, it wouldn’t stop renters offering over the advertised rent, which is what often happens.

Leading housing solicitor David Smith agrees that it is easy to evade, is almost impossible to enforce and concludes that he does not see that “this sort of legislative change is likely to have much useful effect”.

I see this as a distraction from the real issues with the private rented sector, and believe they would get more bang for their buck by focusing on the regulation of letting agents and other property agents. Also, with the rental market cooling, this rent gazumping is less common that it was.

Angela Rayner also referred to “extended protections against damp, mould and cold”, which is a reference to Awaab’s Law (see Housing Standards).

She also indicated they would help good landlords, but did not explain how: “Our plans will support good landlords but we are calling time on unscrupulous landlords strangling growth.”

There has been no mention of rent controls from Labour in the campaign today.

What changes did the Labour Party propose to the Renters Reform Bill?

For completeness, here are the amendments that Shadow Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, tabled for the now abandoned Renters Reform Bill at the Report Stage in the House of Commons on 24 April 2024:

• The abolition of Section 21 to come into force when the Act receives Royal Assent, except that any notices already served on or before that date will continue to be valid – amendment 28.
• Landlords cannot use Ground 1 (landlord/family moving in) or Ground 1A (landlord selling up) within the first two years of a tenancy, instead of the 6 months in the Bill – amendment 255.
• An increase from 3 months to 12 months for the “restricted period” during which the landlord cannot relet the property after relying on Ground 1 (landlord/family moving in) or Ground 1A (landlord selling up) – amendment 35.
• The new Mandatory Ground 8A relating to repeated rent arrears would become a Discretionary Ground – amendment 19.
• Allow the tribunal to make rent repayment orders for additional specific breaches – amendment NC31.
• Extend “Awaab’s law” to the private rented sector – amendment NC10.
• New right for a tenant to reclaim “any increased rent” from a private landlord through a debt claim if the landlord increases the rent without issuing a Section 13 notice (or Section 13A notice for low cost tenancies) – amendment 21.
• When a rent assessment is carried out by a tribunal, the tribunal cannot decide the rent should be higher than the rent requested by a landlord in their Section 13 notice – amendment 22.
• The PRS Database must include details of notices of possession served by a landlord for each property of which they are the landlord – amendment 27.
• Landlords (or those acting on their behalf) would be prohibited from “inviting or encouraging bids that exceed the amount stated as part of the advertisement or offer of the premises” – amendment NC7.

>> Related Post: Renters Reform Bill Hub

>> Related Post: Renters Reform Bill and the Decent Homes Standard for the PRS

Stephen Cowan’s Independent Review of the Private Rented Housing Sector

On 15 May 2024, Stephen Cowan (Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham since 2014) published his much anticipated Independent Review of the UK’s Private Rented Housing Sector. This report was originally commissioned by Lisa Nandy and took 17 months to produce. His recommendations apply to England and Wales.

According to The Guardian, the Labour Party “distanced itself from the findings in the report, saying they [did] not reflect its official view”, and no members of the Shadow Cabinet were present at the launch of the report.

The report stresses that its findings are not Labour Policy: “The conclusions reached in it are solely ours and in no way reflect the views of the people we interviewed, the Labour Party, the Shadow Cabinet or any other individuals or organisation”. Most of the recommendations did not make the Labour Party 2024 manifesto.

Here are the key recommendations in the report.

1. “Rent stabilisation”

The report recommends “rent stabilisation within but not between tenancies”, with the following features:

• Rent increases would be limited to the lower of “local wage growth or CPI” in England and Wales.
• Landlords would only be able to increase rent once a year (as per the Renters Reform Bill).
• Landlords to give four months’ notice of an increase, instead of the existing one month under Section 13, which is due to increase to two months under the Renters Reform Bill.
• Rent review clauses would be banned, as per the Renters Reform Bill.

There would be no controls on the rent set for new tenancies.

The report recognises that rent stabilisation “may increase short-term pressures on the supply of PRS lets”.However, the report explains this away by saying that “so many [landlords] were most likely going to leave anyway” as they are highly leveraged and have been exposed to higher mortgages rates.

Instead, the report seeks to “encourage and incentivise institutional investors and the emerging Build to Rent (BtR) sector to increase the supply of long-term lets through new development, replacing lost Buy to Let stock and contributing to the country’s overall housing supply”.

The Guardian quoted a Labour spokesperson saying: “While we do believe action needs to be taken to protect renters and rebalance power, rent controls are not Labour party policy as we remain mindful of the risk they could pose to the availability of rental properties and the harmful impacts any reduction in supply would have on renters”.

2. National Landlords Register

The report proposes the introduction of “annually updated digital National Landlords Register which will provide a reliable source of information about the PRS and enable government to manage and enforce standards in the sector efficiently”.

The National Landlords Register would be “more comprehensive” than the PRS Database in the Renters Reform Bill, and would include “truthful information about themselves, their agents and their properties”, for instance:

• Data on rents
• Independently verified evidence of compliance with property and management standards and the new annually updated Decent Homes Standard
• Independent evidence of property and management compliance (gas safe certificates, electrical tests, etc.)
• “Regular” submission of a surveyor’s report “demonstrating that the property complies with the PRS Decent Homes Standard. In other words, a Property MOT”
• Data on the property eg the number of bedrooms, the number of reception rooms

This register would have real teeth. Landlords would be unable to recover rent or bring possession proceedings if they are not registered. Tenants would be able to recover rent paid when the landlord was unregistered by “deducting it from current rent and/or obtaining a rent repayment order from the appropriate court or tribunal”.

3. Register for letting agents and managing agents

There would be a similar registration requirement to the National Landlord Register for Lettings and Managing Agents, and would need to register annually and “provide details about themselves and their businesses”.

Letting Agents would also have a legal responsibility not to advertise or let homes unless they meet the Decent Homes Standard.

However, this falls short of the recommendations made in the 2019 report of the working group into the Regulation of Property Agents, chaired by Lord Best.

4. Security of tenure

Landlords would not be able to regain possession if they wished to sell a property, reversing the new Ground 1A in the Renters Reform Bill. The current (ie pre-Renters Reform Bill) version of Ground 1 would be reinstated so that the landlord could only recover possession if they previously lived in the property as their only or principal home and want to move back.

Tenancy agreements in England should follow the Welsh model for occupation contracts.

>> Related Post: Guide to evicting tenants with the New Section 8

5. Short term lets, temporary accommodation and supported housing

The report states that a Labour government should “discourage PRS landlords from entering the short-term and holiday let market or the more profitable nightly-paid temporary accommodation and supported housing sector”.

They would do this by regulation and “equalising the tax treatment for all forms of private letting”.

6. Annually updated Decent Homes Standard guarantee

The landlord or managing agent would need to guarantee they had “undertaken the most recent training course and passed a test which demonstrates they understand their Decent Homes Standard, public health and other obligations”. The PRS Decent Homes Standard would require:

• Up to date gas, electrical, fire safety and other certificates that guarantee the safety of a home
• Minimum requirement of an EPC C rating “at the earliest opportunity, meaning that landlords must hit this rating to be able to let out a property”.
• Meeting an affordable warmth standard
• Meeting a ventilation standard
• Meeting a standard for internet connectivity
• Meeting an accessibility standard which fully complies with Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

7. Renters’ Charter

A new “Renters’ Charter” which would:

• Set out the new rights tenants have, including security of tenure, rent stabilisation and the Decent Homes Standards.
• Give tenants the right to a ‘Tenants’ Charter Advice Pack’ which explains their rights and obligations at the beginning of a tenancy (ie similar to the existing How to Rent Checklist).

8. Landlord Code of Conduct

The Landlord Code of Conduct would provide a “helpful guide to landlords about their rights and responsibilities. It must detail the required standards that need to be met”.

Final thoughts

Private renting is likely to be a key issue at the election, particularly in the “Red Wall” of around 40 constituencies in “the Conservative heartlands” where private renters are “set to be decisive at the ballot box”.

As the government did not fulfil its manifesto commitment to abolish Section 21, with the Renters Reform Bill failing to make it onto the statute book by the election, Labour would be starting afresh, with a new Bill.

From their manifesto it appears that Labour would continue with the reform of renters’ rights, including the abolition of Section 21, but their proposals fall short of what many renters and organisations would have been hoping for.

Watch this space. I will keep it updated.

>> Related Post: What are the political parties’ policies on private renting?

Last updated: 13 June 2024