MICHAEL Gove today caved to Tory landlord backbenchers and watered down long-promised rent reforms.
A ban on hated no-fault evictions is now only expected to apply to less than a tenth tenants before the next general election.
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New tenancy contracts will see renters protected from section 21 notices.
But existing tenancies will have to wait until the Ministry of Justice conducts a review into the “readiness of courts” to handle disputes stemming from the change.
It comes after the Housing Secretary earlier this year vowed that no-fault evictions will categorically be banned before 12 million English renters take to the polls.
In a separate blow for renters, the period by which they can end a tenancy has been extended from two to six months, giving landlords more protection.
In a letter to Conservative MPs, leaked to The Sun, Levelling Up Minister Jacob Young said changes to the landmark Renters Reform Bill will “strike the balance between delivering security for tenants and fairness for landlords”.
But campaigners have slammed the move, accusing the Housing Secretary of “selling renters down the river”.
A government source said: “This is balanced package of measures that delivers our manifesto commitment to get rid of unfair no fault evictions and will ensure a fairer private rented sector for both tenants and landlords.
“The Bill will return to the House of Commons shortly and amendments will be scrutinised, debated and voted upon in the usual way.”
The Renters Reform Bill will return to the Commons after the Easter break.
Mr Gove had spent months locked in intense negotiations with rebel landlord backbenchers who were desperate to kill the new law – or at least weaken it.
The Bill could’ve passed with the help of Labour votes.
But Rishi Sunak is understood to have blocked the move, preferring to find a compromise that would placate a rebellion.
Tom Darling, Campaign Manager at the Renters’ Reform Coalition, commented: “So now we see the price the Government has paid in their Faustian bargain with the landlord lobby.
“Selling renters down the river with concessions that will put off the vast majority of renters from feeling the benefits of these reforms indefinitely, promising to reduce the burdens on landlords to meet licensing standards, and locking tenants in unsafe and unsuitable housing.
“The Government’s flagship legislation to help renters is fast becoming a Landlord’s Charter – watch as landlord groups today declare victory now having exacted a significant toll on this policy in exchange for their support.
“We will continue to fight until the very last to secure a Bill that delivers genuine change.”
Ben Twomey, Chief Executive of Generation Rent, commented: “This is another missed opportunity for the government to strengthen the law to protect England’s 12 million private renters.”
“Instead of appeasing a few landlords, the government should focus on preventing homelessness. The best ways to do this would be to give renters four months notice rather than two when we are evicted, while making sure we can’t be kicked out within the first two years of a tenancy if we stick to the rules.”
Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, said: “Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove have chosen once again to put the interests of party management ahead of what is right for the British people.
“After years of delay, private renters have every right to be furious at the watering down of the vital protections the Tories promised them.
“Only Labour will immediately abolish section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and deliver the security and rights that renters deserve.”
