A big shake-up is coming for Brits who rent property under government plans, including better quality homes and a ban on no-fault evictions .
The government also wants to crack down on dodgy private landlords, with fines for those who break the rules.
The changes affect anyone living in private rented housing, and were unveiled by the government today as part of its Levelling Up White Paper.
This has not yet become law and will be debated by parliament first.
But the announcement is a major indicator of what could become reality for renters across the UK.
More details on the proposals will be published soon, but there are already some major updates for renters.
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1) A ban on no-fault evictions
Currently the law allows landlords to evict tenants for no reason.
But the government wants to scrap this right, meaning landlords will need good reasons to throw tenants out of their homes.
Government has been thinking of banning no-fault evictions for years, with the plan being mooted back in 2019 .
2) Better quality homes for renters
Private landlords will be forced to bring their properties up to a set of national standards.
Michael Gove said landlords will have to upgrade around 800,000 properties that don't meet requirements to be "safe, warm and in a good state of repair".
3) Crackdown on rogue landlords
A new, mandatory renting register will also come into force under government plans.
This means landlords can be evicted from the official list if they break the new guidelines.
Statistics show the number of families with children privately renting has risen by 94% in a decade.
The moves, long demanded by campaigners, will bring the private rental sector into line with minimum requirements on council and housing association properties.
Other measures being reviewed include tougher energy efficiency standards and a minimum standard of fixtures and fittings for furnished accommodation.
The target is to halve the number of below-standard rented homes by 2030.
Under current rules, social housing landlords are required by law to keep their properties in a decent state of repair and periodically update them, but there are no rules for the private sector.
Official figures suggest that 4.4million families rent their home from a private landlord, representing 19% of all households in England.
But the English Housing Survey in 2019 estimated that 23% of those did not meet the "decent home standards"; about 1.1million homes.
Private renters could separately be owed hundreds in refunds due to a cap on how much they can change in deposits.
Under the Tenant Fees Act, landlords cannot charge renters more than five weeks’ rent upfront.
The law came into force in England in June 2019 and placed restrictions on deposits and other charges made by landlords and letting agents.
According to Freedom of Information requests to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the average deposit value before the cap came in was £1,108 and this fell to £1,025 in March 2021.
The average tenant is now £113 better off as a result of the deposit cap, research by Generation Rent found.
