Local authorities will be able to enter private rented properties without informing the landlord in advance under a new government amendment in the Renters’ Rights Bill.
Officers are currently required to give both tenants and landlords 24 hours’ notice of enforcement action – which will remain the case for tenants – but landlords and property owners will now be told within ‘a reasonable amount of time’ after the visit. The government says this aims to prevent unscrupulous operators from hiding evidence of breaches or intimidating tenants.
The amendment was one of only a few agreed by peers, along with an amendment that would extend the Decent Homes Standard to armed forces family accommodation, and another to require a uniform standard of proof when a local housing authority imposes a financial penalty.
They voted against amendments relating to the application of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, adjusting the criteria for financial penalties from local authorities, and a requirement for the government to publish a report assessing the impact of the Bill on the housing market.
The Bill will now move to its Third Reading in the Lords on 21st July - typically a short stage to tidy any final amendments – before the ‘ping pong’ stage with the House of Commons.
It is technically possible for Royal Assent to take place after the Third Reading, before the summer recess on 22nd July, but this is unlikely, reckons The Independent Landlord Suzanne Smith. “This is because the government would need to be prepared to live with the seven amendments that the House of Lords voted onto the Bill despite government opposition,” says Smith.
“It’s more likely that Royal Assent will be in the autumn, probably before parliament rises again for the conference recess on 16th September, as it’s likely that Angela Rayner will want to be able to tell the Labour Conference that they got the Renters’ Rights Act onto the statute book.”
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