Levelling Up Minister Eddie Hughes believes it would be ‘good riddance’ to bad landlords forced out of the sector when new rules are introduced.
During a debate on housing standards, he told the Commons that the power had rested with landlords for too long.
“We need to redress that balance to bring the standards of the worst up to the standards of the good, and we need to accept that that might mean that some landlords will exit the sector,” he explained.
“If they have been providing a particularly poor service and poor-quality accommodation, the sector will be better for their absence from it. That is why we are consulting on a decent homes standard for the PRS.”
Liverpool MP Ian Byrne (pictured) started the debate, pointing out that the PRS had the worst energy standards, but that complaining about it put tenants on a fast track to eviction.
He urged the government to address the “fragmented, underfunded and broken” system and not to just deliver a Renters’ Reform Bill that tinkered around the edges.
Other MPs criticised the current enforcement system, including Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Matthew Pennycook, who said potentially new robust national standards would count for little if they could not be enforced. He added that local authorities should have the means to enforce standards properly themselves.
Patchy provision
Hughes agreed that the patchy provision was “unfortunate and certainly something the government would like to address”. He said: “12% of homes in the sector still contain serious hazards. It is not good enough, so I need to talk about what we will do.”
He added that the government planned to publish its landmark White Paper – which is set to include the abolition of Section 21 evictions and a national system of lifetime deposits – later this spring, “which I understand technically starts on 20th March, so I hope very soon”.
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