The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 contains provisions allowing tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases. The new tenancy system will come into force on 1 May this year, at which point landlords will only be able to increase rents once a year to the market rate, and tenants will be able to challenge unreasonable increases at the first-tier tribunal. The Act will also put an end to unfair rental bidding practices and demands from landlords for large amounts of rent in advance.
I regularly hear from constituents who are being pushed out of their homes by rip-off hikes from unscrupulous landlords. The average rents in Liverpool have risen by 8%, well above the average for England. I welcome the Government’s action through the Renters’ Rights Act to tackle unfair rent increases, but it concerns me that market rents will be used as a benchmark to prevent unaffordable rents from rising. How will the Government review the effectiveness of these measures, and, if necessary, will they consider further action in due course?
We will of course keep the implementation of the Act under continual review, but, as I have said, it allows tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases at the first-tier tribunal, which will make a judgment on whether the increases are fair and meet that market-rate definition. We have, however, made it clear that the Government do not support the introduction of rent controls, including rent stabilisation measures, for the reasons that we debated at some length during the passage of the Bill.
I call the Father of the House.
We all know that rent inflation, like all inflation, is caused by over-demand and lack of supply, and we can agree on the need to address problems by building more houses and tackling immigration, but does the Minister agree that the more controls and regulations are imposed on landlords, particularly small landlords, the more they will get out of the rented sector altogether, causing less supply and rent inflation which will hit vulnerable people?
I do not accept that all regulation is bad, which I think is the thrust of the right hon. Gentleman’s question. In many ways, we have clarified and made simpler the grounds for possession that landlords can use under the Act, but he is absolutely right to say that we need more supply of all homes, including in the private rented sector, and that we need to support the build-to-rent sector, which will be an important part of the market in coming years.