Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee 20 May 2025
Emma Roddick and Maggie Chapman have set out very strong points on that.
Amendment 138, in the name of Emma Roddick, and amendments 161, 162, 201 and 202, in the name of Maggie Chapman, would extend the length of the period in which a tenant can challenge a rent increase notice. Amendment 138 would give the tenant up to 42 days to notify the landlord that they intend to refer a rent increase to the rent officer, and amendments 161 and 162 would give the tenant up to one year to notify the landlord of an intended referral to the rent officer or tribunal. Amendments 201 and 202 would give the tenant another year to make a referral.
If some of those amendments are agreed to, the tenant would have up to two years to challenge a rent increase notice. That would leave landlords and tenants facing a long period of uncertainty regarding the rent that is applied. Although I agree with the principle that tenants should have sufficient time to challenge an increase, extending the period beyond the current combined period of 63 days could create significant uncertainty for landlords and tenants.
However, I recognise the concerns that members have raised, and I accept that we have perhaps not quite got that balance correct yet, as Emma Roddick has set out. I am happy to discuss with members what might be necessary to ensure that tenants have enough time to challenge the increase but in a way that does not create undue uncertainty for tenants and landlords. Given the Government’s willingness to work through that process with Ms Roddick and Ms Chapman, I ask them not to move their amendments.
Rachael Hamilton’s amendments 218, 219 and 228 would change the provisions that regulate how frequently the rent may be increased for a property in a rent control area. Where a property in a rent control area is not a previously let property, it is not subject to the rent cap at the start of the tenancy. For those tenancies, the landlord is prevented from increasing the rent in the first 12 months.
The bill sets out a power for ministers to prescribe circumstances in which increases in the first 12 months would be permitted. Amendments 218, 219 and 228 would expand that power to prescribe the circumstances in which the landlord could increase the rent more frequently than once a year, including in circumstances that are considered to be an emergency. The amendments could result in some tenants in a rent control area being subjected to more rent increases more frequently than other tenants. I consider that allowing more frequent rent increases would undermine the intention of the bill’s rent control measures. I therefore urge Rachael Hamilton, or Alexander Stewart on her behalf, not to press amendment 218 or move amendments 219 and 228. If he does so, I urge members not to support them.
Amendment 565, in the name of Mark Griffin, would disapply the rules on rent control for any tenancy in which the landlord is a registered social landlord, a subsidiary of the registered social landlord or any one of three named corporate bodies. I very much recognise that the intention is to exempt mid-market rents, which we have spoken about in relation to amendments in previous groups. Although I acknowledge the need to protect the delivery of such tenancies, that is best done through the consultation that we have previously discussed in committee. For that reason, I cannot support Mr Griffin’s amendment 565, but I encourage the mid-market rent providers to make that exact point in the consultation, because Mr Griffin’s points require further airing during that process.