Labour’s general election win leaves them with a massive 411-seat majority and the power to write housing legislation for the next five years. What will they do with it?
Before the election, the now Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Angela Rayner pledged to scrap Section 21 evictions on her first day in office – and while that target was impossible due to the time it takes to change the law, the party still announced some big early reforms in a bumper King’s Speech.
Building and planning
Labour pledged to build 1.5 million new homes in their manifesto, and they have taken their first steps towards that with a Planning and Infrastructure Bill. According to announcements made ahead of the King’s Speech, they plan to reimpose mandatory housing targets on local authorities, require them to have up-to-date housebuilding plans, take a brownfield-first approach to construction while also overhauling greenbelt land designation, strengthen the presumption in favour of sustainable development, and fund more planning officers to help councils process applications.
Officials plan to launch a consultation on mandatory local housing targets within the next couple of weeks, with a view to implementing them in the Autumn.
Politicians will also publish a draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill. This will build on the leasehold reforms passed earlier this year by the outgoing Conservative government, but the plan is to go much further, regulating ground rents and eventually phasing out leasehold tenure in favour of commonhold.
Rental reform returns
As expected, Section 21 evictions will also end and grounds for possession will be reformed. But the announcement of the Renters’ Rights Bill was very light on detail, and leaves open a lot of the questions that were raised by the previous Conservative government’s Renters (Reform) Bill. Property professionals will need clarity from the government on their plans for court reform, rental increase processes, housing standards and more.
According to reports in the press, however, the Renters’ Rights Bill will be broadly similar to the Renters (Reform) Bill while going further in some ways. The plans for a digital private rented sector database and a new ombudsman have been kept, as has the plan to allow tenants to request to keep pets. But Labour also wants to give tenants more rights to challenge rent increases, end bidding wars for privately rented homes, and introduce a Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector.
One hot issue that wasn’t mentioned was energy efficiency in the private rented sector. According to the King’s Speech, the government will set up a new publicly owned clean energy company and invest in infrastructure, but there was no mention of either upgrading UK housing stock or imposing tougher EPC requirements on landlords, although both featured in the recent Labour manifesto.
Who’s who in the new Labour government?
Angela Rayner is now Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as Deputy Prime Minister. She has been a strong advocate for increased social housing provision and leasehold reform, and also a supporter of stronger protection for tenants in the private rented sector.
Serving under her as housing minister is Matthew Pennycook. He is also a supporter of rental reform, and as shadow housing secretary he introduced an amendment to the previous Conservative government’s Renters (Reform) Bill that would have stopped landlords selling or moving into their rental properties within the first two years of a tenancy.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will also have a lot of influence over the housing sector. She plans to overhaul planning rules and bring back mandatory housing targets to hit Labour’s aim of building 1.5 million homes over the next five years.
And as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband will be responsible for the future of energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector. He has said that one of his key priorities is to upgrade Britain’s homes, and has his sights set on achieving this in the private rented sector by 2030 but hasn’t yet discussed bringing back mandatory targets for landlords.
Other housing policy headlines
Good Landlord Charter launches today – Labour urges signing up – Landlord Today
Will Labour improve a dysfunctional housing market, or destroy it? – LandlordZONE
Scottish building giant demands removal of rent cap barriers to attract investment – The Scotsman
