Michael Gove has won a battle with No 10 to push ahead with a ban on no-fault evictions and other reforms, but renters will not get protection until next year.
An overhaul of private renting, first promised in the 2019 Conservative election manifesto, was feared to be in jeopardy amid the threat of a mass rebellion by Tory landlord MPs.
In what has been cast as a victory for Gove, the housing secretary – who has been fighting Downing Street over the timing of reforms – a debate and vote on the renters reform bill is now expected next week.
The bill will not pass before the end of the parliamentary session, however, and is likely to become law only in the new year, meaning thousands more renters face being evicted without any fault established.
It comes as the former Conservative housing secretary Eric Pickles has joined 60 cross-party parliamentarians and the mayors of London and Manchester to demand the government end delays to the reforms.
In an open letter shared with the Guardian, they said: “This legislation was a manifesto commitment, and the government is fast running out of time to make good on this promise.”
Renters groups remain concerned that delays increase the risk that protections, such as a new ombudsman to field renters’ complaints, are dropped. Currently, regulation is left to town halls, whose budgets are stretched.
Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham, the Labour mayors of London and Greater Manchester, two of the largest private rental markets in England, signed the letter. Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, did not.
Other Conservative signatories putting pressure on Gove include the MPs Jo Gideon, Natalie Elphicke, Derek Thomas and Richard Bacon. Liberal Democrats and Greens also backed the calls for the new laws to be passed swiftly.
Tom Darling, campaign manager for the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said: “This bill really is the baseline when it comes to the change we need to see in our housing system, so it is shocking that the government is prevaricating.”
The ban on no-fault evictions will be coupled with new grounds for landlords to throw tenants out because of antisocial behaviour.
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Labour has called for emergency legislation to scrap section 21 evictions, linking them to a rise in homelessness. The number of households in England who became homeless or were at risk of homelessness increased by nearly 7% in the year to March. There was a 23% increase in people at risk of homelessness because of a section 21 “no fault eviction”, according to annual government figures released last week.
The second reading of the renters reform bill is expected next week, but that will not leave enough time to complete its passage through parliament before this session ends. The later readings and royal assent will therefore have to wait until the next session.
In the House of Commons on Monday, Angela Rayner, the shadow secretary of state for levelling up, communities and housing, asked Gove for an assurance that “the renters reform bill will not be scrapped before the king’s speech”. In a reply that left campaign groups fearing it would be dropped, Gove said only: “We are reforming private renting.”
A government spokesperson said: “The government is absolutely committed to delivering a fairer private rented sector for tenants and landlords through the renters reform bill. The bill which delivers our manifesto commitment is progressing through parliament and second reading will follow shortly.”
In a letter organised by the Renters Reform Coalition campaign group, MPs and peers said: “Responsible landlords need certainty in order to plan for the future and comply with the new obligations in the legislation. Further delays and uncertainty around the passage of the bill will only create further instability for them at a time when interest rates have been rising.”
