ACROSS Wales, more and more people are renting their homes — families with children, young people trying to get a start in life, and older residents who once might have bought but now find themselves priced out of ownership. For all of them, a secure and affordable home isn’t a luxury. It’s the foundation of a decent life.

That is why it is so deeply worrying that renters in Wales are now at risk of being left behind the rest of Britain when it comes to their basic rights and protections.

The British government’s Renters (Reform) Bill is moving towards the end of its journey through Westminster. For all its limitations — and it certainly doesn’t go far enough — it will bring in a range of important new protections for tenants in England. Yet, those changes will not apply in Wales. And unless the Welsh government acts quickly, tenants here will soon have fewer rights than those in England or Scotland.

That is an extraordinary and unacceptable situation, especially given that Wales once led the way on renters’ rights. When the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) passed its own Renting Homes legislation a decade ago, it was seen as progressive and forward-looking. But we’ve stood still while others have moved forward. The result is a growing gap in protection — a gap that affects real people and real lives.

Under the new Westminster legislation, reforms are imperfect. Each still leaves tenants exposed to the instability and high costs of a largely unregulated rental market. But taken together, they at least represent a step in the right direction.

By contrast, in Wales:

• Fixed-term tenancies will remain.
• “No-fault” evictions will continue.
• There will be no limits on advance rent, nor any way to challenge unaffordable rent increases.
• There will be no dedicated ombudsman for tenants.
• There will be no strengthened right to keep pets.
• And local councils will continue to see fine income go to the Treasury in London rather than being retained locally to fund enforcement.

In short, Wales will be the most weakly protected rental jurisdiction in Britain. That cannot be allowed to happen.

This gap matters not just in legal terms, but in human terms. Over the past year, rents in Wales have risen faster than anywhere else in Britain, according to the Office for National Statistics. Wages have not kept pace. Families are being pushed to the brink; young people are trapped in cycles of insecurity; homelessness is rising.

When I raised this issue in the Senedd, I called it “entirely unacceptable” — and I meant it. I have urged the Welsh government to come forward with an urgent action plan to show, in detail, how it intends to close these gaps and create a fairer rental system for Wales.

There is still time to act. The upcoming Homelessness Bill could provide one route to strengthen protections and begin to rebalance the system in favour of tenants. But we need more than tinkering. We need a comprehensive plan to make renting fair, safe, and secure for all.

And we need to think beyond short-term fixes. The right to a home is a fundamental human right — recognised in international law but not yet embedded in Welsh law. I see the task of improving renters’ rights as one important step towards that wider goal: incorporating the right to an adequate home directly into Welsh legislation.

For Plaid Cymru, this isn’t just about policy detail. It’s about what kind of country we want to be. Do we accept a Wales where private profit outweighs people’s basic needs — or do we build a Wales where everyone can live in dignity and security?

Our communities are strongest when people feel settled and safe. When children can grow up in the same school without fear of eviction from their home. When older people can rely on fair treatment from their landlord. When tenants are respected not as second-class citizens, but as equal participants in society.

That’s the vision I want to see — a Wales that once again leads, not lags behind, on renters’ rights. The Welsh government has the powers. What it needs now is the political will to act.

Because every delay means more families priced out, more young people without stability, and more lives put on hold. We cannot afford to wait while others move forward.

It’s time to close the gap, end unfair evictions, make rents fair, and guarantee in law what should be a right: a decent, secure home for everyone in Wales.

Sian Gwenllian is MS for Arfon and Plaid Cymru’s shadow cabinet secretary for housing and planning.