THE government was accused today of turning legislation to outlaw the eviction of tenants for no reason into a “landlord’s charter.”
Housing campaigners said the Renters (Reform) Bill, originally presented as a protection against so-called “no-fault” evictions, is being watered down to apply only to new tenancies.
This will leave 90 per cent of England’s 12 million existing tenants vulnerable to being thrown out of their homes.
The climbdown abandons a promise from Housing Secretary Michael Gove to abolish a notorious regulation known as Section 21, which gives landlords power to evict without giving a reason, by the next general election.
It was revealed in a leaked letter from Communities Minister Jacob Young and obtained by the Renters’ Reform Coalition (RRC), which accused the government of caving in to pressure from MPs and landlords’ organisations.
Ninety back-bench Tory MPs are also landlords.
RRC campaign manager Tom Darling accused the government of “selling renters down the river.”
He said: “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.
Mr Darling said that unless “significant changes” were made to the legislation by the House of Lords, the amended legislation “will hardly be an improvement on the status quo, and in some cases it will make things worse.”
But he said: “We will continue to fight until the very last to secure a Bill that delivers genuine change.”
Ben Twomey, chief executive of campaign group Generation Rent, said: “This is another missed opportunity for the government to strengthen the law.”
Polly Neate, chief executive of housing campaign Shelter, accused the government of being “cowardly” and “caving in” to a minority of MPs.
“Only a watertight Bill will curb the unfairness that’s hardwired into England’s rigged renting system,” she said.
Labour’s shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook said PM Rishi Sunak and Mr Gove had “chosen once again to put the interests of party management ahead of what is right for the British people.”
He said Labour will “immediately abolish section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions” if elected.
A government source said: “The Bill will return to the House of Commons shortly and amendments will be scrutinised, debated and voted upon in the usual way.”
