Preston City Council backs Renters (Reform) Bill change to reduce homelessness

The Leader of Preston City Councilhas joined a cross-party group of more than a hundred council leaders in England, in backing an amendment to the Renters (Reform) Bill to increase notice periods for private tenants being evicted.

In a letter to Secretary of State for Housing, Michael Gove, 103 council leaders demanded the change which they claimed 'will help to reduce the number of people claiming homelessness duties because of the end of a private rented sector tenancy'.

The intervention followed stark warnings from local government figures that the rising cost of homelessness, which councils bear through a duty to provide temporary accommodation, is leading local authorities to effective bankruptcy and could spell 'the end of local government'.⁽¹⁾ In 2023/24 councils in England are expected to spend £2 billion on temporary accommodation.⁽²⁾

The end of a private tenancy is a major cause of homelessness - official statistics released last week, which highlighted significant increases in rough sleeping - also showed that a quarter of eligible claims for homelessness support were due to the end of an Assured Shorthold (private rented) Tenancy.⁽³⁾ In the data the biggest cause of homelessness claims for private renters was eviction due to the landlord wishing to sell the property,⁽⁴⁾ which made up 40% of all eligible claims. Eviction for this reason will continue to be possible after the Renters (Reform) Bill has been passed.

The council leaders' letter, coordinated by the Renters' Reform Coalition,⁽⁵⁾ calls on the Housing Secretary to 'consider amending the legislation so that tenants have four months' notice if they are being evicted through no fault of their own in the new tenancy regime'. The proposal has the support of the Local Government Association.⁽⁶⁾

The Renters (Reform) Bill abolishes section 21 'no-fault' evictions, but landlords will still be able to evict tenants by providing an approved reason, such as for family to move in or to sell the property. In these instances, the Bill retains the two-month notice period which many renters currently struggle with - research by Shelter found that more than a third of tenants take longer than this to find a new home.⁽⁷⁾

By extending this to four months, councils say renters will have 'more security and time to find a new home which suits their needs', which will 'reduce the number of people claiming homelessness support following the end of a private tenancy, lessening the impact of evictions on local government finances'.

Preston City Council Leader, Councillor Matthew Brown said:

"We are increasingly seeing the devastating toll homelessness is taking on our communities, with countless individuals and families finding themselves in desperate situations. We as a Council have always tried to find ways to help and support people in what is often their darkest hour. However, we are finding the numbers of people in our city finding themselves without a roof over their heads, through no fault of their own, growing by the day.

"Whilst the situation is bad in our communities, we are aware this is a national and regional problem with other areas affected more severely than ourselves.

The system needs fundamental reform with increased investment in proper, affordable social housing and proper protections for those who are renting privately.

"Finally, we need effective powers and funding for council's who are left picking up the pieces for those failed by a national system. I wholeheartedly support the call for an amendment to the Renters Reform Bill as an important and sensible step on the journey to a total review of the whole broken system."

Tom Darling, Campaign Manager at the Renters' Reform Coalition, said:

"The Renters (Reform) Bill has many positive aspects but is still insufficient to address the scale of the crisis in the private rented sector. One critical change the Government must implement is increasing notice periods for renters when they are forced to move.

"Just as it does today, continuing with the status quo two-month notice period will leave renters frantically scrambling to find a suitable new home in time, with many ending up presenting as homeless to their local council when this search comes up empty.

"Increasing notice periods would be a win-win - providing more security for England's 12 million private renters, while also providing some much-needed relief to councils buckling under the growing cost of temporary accommodation. We're very grateful to Preston City Council for backing this important campaign."

Sources

1.    BBC news article - Council funding: Leaders warn of the end of local government  

2.    LBC news article - Councils spend over £2bn housing homeless families

3.    Source: Government Statutory Homelessness data, Detailed local authority level tables: July to September 2023. There were 78,460 eligible claims for homelessness support (relief or prevention). 19,620 of these (25%) were due to the end of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy

4.    Source: Government Statutory Homelessness data, Detailed local authority level tables: July to September 2023. Of the 19,620 eligible claims for homelessness support (relief or prevention) due to the end of a private sector tenancy, the largest cause was listed as "Landlord wishing to sell or re-let the property", with 8,010 claims made for this reason (40% of the total)

5.    The Renters' Reform Coalition is a campaign group which comprises 20 leading organisations supporting and representing private renters. It includes major homelessness and housing charities such as Shelter and Crisis, campaigners Generation Rent, as well as tenant union groups like ACORN

6.    LGA - briefing on amendments proposed at committee stage

7.    Shelter news release - Tenants over 55 hit with no fault eviction notices