As with every year, the recent Queen’s Speech set out the government’s agenda for the next parliamentary session. This included outlining its plans to grow the economy and cut the cost of living, among other initiatives.
Traditionally, this has also been an opportunity for the government to update the property sector on the status of existing legislation and proposals for new legislation. The only deviation from tradition was that this year it was delivered by Prince Charles!
In terms of property industry-related content, much of what was proposed had already been discussed elsewhere. For more details read on.
The proposed Private Ombudsman for private landlords will aim to help landlords resolve disputes without the need to go to court. There are currently well-known issues for landlords (and tenants) to access the court system during disputes and evictions, so this sounds like an interesting proposal. We will watch developments with interest. First mooted in the renters reform bill in November 2021, and mentioned again in the Levelling Up proposals announced in February Lifetime Deposits were aimed at helping tenants move their deposit with them as they move home. However, in a surprise move, it seems that the lifetime deposit proposal has been put on hold for the time being at least.
Another proposal from the renter’s reform bill was the establishment of a Landlord Register. This proposal also appears to have been shelved – but may come back at a later date.
The proposal to remove the Sec 21 eviction process has been around some time and, not surprisingly, was mentioned again in the Queen’s Speech.
The proposal of a Decent Homes Standard was introduced along with the levelling up paper earlier in the year. The expectation is that it will include a legally binding quality standard for the Private Rented Sector. As always the devil is in the detail, so we will await more information on this proposal with baited breath.
Finally, the announcement of the potential introduction Of A Property Portal left the team at Lifeboat Lettings scratching our heads a little. As a central digitized database of information regarding letting and renting properties – aimed at both landlords and tenants – it has some merit (particularly if this can be tied in with replacing the Right to Rent Guide and associated obligations). However, if this required landlords to ‘register’ to use the system, then we would have some obvious concerns. As with all emerging legislation, we will keep our readers posted on developments.
