Renters in Wales could get compensation for no-fault eviction
Emily Price
A Senedd Committee is calling for private renters to be given more rights, including compensation if they are evicted.
The Local Government and Housing Committee’s inquiry into privately rented homes is urging the Welsh Government to tackle numerous issues in the housing market to make renting a better experience.
In a report published today (October 22) the Committee urged the Welsh Government to ease the pressure on tenants facing a no-fault eviction by looking into a proposal where landlords would give renters the last two months’ rent of their tenancy as compensation.
‘Shock’
Jeffrey Walters from Newport was served a no-fault eviction notice by his landlord in 2022.
He said: “I felt like the world had collapsed in on us – it was one of the most stressful times of my life. One day out of the blue, the owner of the property came to the house and said he was planning on evicting us and we needed to make plans to leave. It came as such a shock.
“As a single parent of two children, it didn’t just affect me, it affected my children as well. They kept on saying ‘What’s the point of going to school if we’ll be living somewhere else in a few weeks?
“Trying to find a new home for us all was so hard – it was hurdle after hurdle with each barrier being bigger than the last and you never knew when you’d gotten over the last one.
The Welsh Government told the Committee that outright banning no-fault evictions would contravene human rights laws and that the existing six-month warning a landlord must give a tenant means that Wales currently has the toughest protections for tenants in the UK.
The Committee told the Welsh Government that by April 2025 they should publish their reasoning on whether two-month rent compensation for those facing eviction is feasible.
With a law banning no-fault evictions currently making its way through the House of Commons, the Committee called on the Welsh Government to monitor the situation in England to ensure that tenants in Wales don’t end up worse off.
The report also found widespread discrimination against people on benefits by landlords.
Deposit
A 2022 survey by Shelter Cymru showed that 37 per cent of landlords in Wales say they do not, or prefer not, to let to tenants on benefits.
Some landlords demand several months’ worth of rent in advance which can make it near impossible for people on low incomes to afford to rent.
Another barrier faced by Jeffrey while he was looking for a new home, was regarding his guarantor.
He said,”When I was trying to find another place to stay, I had to give a holding deposit of over £200 to a company while they checked over my application.
“But what they kept hidden in the fine print was that they wouldn’t accept a guarantor who was abroad, so they rejected my application and kept my money – just because my guarantor had answered his phone when he was on holiday.”
The report found that finding an acceptable guarantor is a severe issue for many people leaving care, or for refugees and people who have moved to Wales from outside the UK.
The Committee has called for the Welsh Government to regulate the sector to remove these types of financial and bureaucratic barriers that tenants face.
During its inquiry, the Committee said it heard evidence of discrimination by landlords of potential tenants including those with pets.
The Welsh Government has been urged to launch a myth-busting campaign with landlords to eliminate discrimination against pet owners.
Pets
Many landlords fear that allowing pets in their property increases the risk of damage, but the Committee was told that polling shows around three-quarters of landlords who allow pets reported no issues at the end of the tenancy.
Evidence given to the Committee also outlined how landlords could make more money renting to pet owners as they are likely to stay in a property longer.
The Committee heard that reducing discrimination against pet owners would stop people having to choose between giving their pets away or turning down accommodation.
Chair of the Local Government and Housing Committee, John Griffiths, said: “Having a safe place to call home is a fundamental part of people being able to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives, regardless of whether that home is owned or rented.
“Unfortunately, this Committee heard far too much evidence of people unable to find a stable home because they were on benefits, couldn’t afford huge up front deposits or had a pet. This discrimination, and the many other barriers in people’s way, must be addressed as soon as possible.
“And despite rules making no-fault evictions harder than they used to be, we know that many people are still living with the possibility of eviction hanging over their heads.
“The private rented sector has to work for both tenants and landlords. This is why we’re urging the Welsh Government to implement our recommendations so that high-quality, affordable homes are available to all.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Ensuring everyone in Wales has a decent, affordable and safe place to call home is one of our key ambitions and we will be publishing our White Paper on Adequate Housing, Fair Rents and Affordability this month.
“We are grateful to the committee for its report and will be considering the findings and recommendations carefully.”
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The politicians are clearly not living in the same world as everyone else. Private landlords are leaving the sector in droves due to politicians interfering. This is making things so difficult for tenants due to less houses being available so instead of getting on with providing rental properties themselves politicians think of more and more ways to drive landlords away.
Nothing to do with Whitehall abolishing tax relief on mortgage interest? Only rogue landlords will be getting out when asked to be reasonable.
You talking rubbish. A person owning a house may decide at a certain age that he/she wants to move on. So they give notice of 6 months, spend 3 months cleaning up, 3 months to secure an offer and 4/5 months for solicitors to do their bit to complete. When you are getting on a bit that’s a lot of time out of one’s life. Very little or nothing to do with tax relief as most of the single property landlords are holding inherited homes often in shared ownership with siblings/relatives. Hardly fits in with your high rolling Rachman image.
How is what you describe relevant? If they’re getting out because they need the money to retire then they’ll be doing that anyway. It’s the buy to let brigade who are mortgaged to the eyeballs and have had rates go through the roof thanks to Truss. Interest relief would’ve softened that blow.
Appalling idea. Why can’t the landlords get their property back? Landlords may need the money or the person renting the place may be trashing it. Work out why landlords are all in the process of selling up, leaving nothing to rent.
With nothing to rent what will the young people do – stay at home with parents until the parents die?
The private rental market alongside the rest of the UK housing market is broken. The private sector can never be relied upon to provide families with secure housing for as long as they need it. Landlords can do what they like with their asset. They evict for all sorts of reasons including the need or desire to sell, to change the use to multiple occupation for more money, even the refusal by the tenant of sexual advances. Private rental is a minefield.
We need more social housing for all who need it
Public sector is broke so forget about public sector housing for anyone, when schools and hospitals need to be the priority.
Can anyone blame private property owners for selling up and heading off on early retirement world cruises, instead being political punch-balls and branded as sexual perverts!
No one cares if private landlords sell up, move abroad etc etc. The problem is political, politicians promoting private rentals as if they can provide secure, long term homes for families, they cannot.
The truth is many landlords do put pressure on tenants for sexual services, particularly those struggling to pay rent
You could also state that tenants demand sexual favours before returning a property to a distressed property owner, considering how skewed the new laws are against owners.
Politicians benefit from the political posturing but the rental market is being decimated.
Those not working can soon forget about any chance of renting privately and good luck trying to get a house from a council that could soon be going bankrupt.
My concern is for genuine hard working people in essential services who are unable to find somewhere to live near where they are desperately needed.
Having worked in the rental sector for 37 years, I have to say the only landlord’s landlords kicking off about regulations are the corrupt ones.
Getting them to merely get their boilers and electrics serviced, adding C0 alarms and in date smoke alarms is a constant uphill struggle. More stringent penalties are completely needed not just to stop people being housed in unsafe properties, but also for corrupt private landlords and lettings agents that swindle money from already broke tenants.
With that attitude it sounds like you worked for that tenants group that got fined £100,000 because of the vileness of their attacks on an innocent woman.
The supply / demand situation gives the honest indication of which direction the private rental sector is now skewed. Unfortunately, rents have doubled for good tenants and the bad tenants are livid that nobody is stupid to give them a property to abuse their new powers. The latter will now suffer permanently as fewer properties are going to be built with the private rental market contracting and switching to AirBnB.
Yes. AirBnB needs regulating and taxing heavily