The Bishop of Chelmsford gave a speech at the second reading of the Renters Reform Bill on 15th May 2024, calling for comprehensive reforms on housing as part of a long term strategy encompassing all tenures, and lamenting the removal of parts of the bill abolishing section 21 evictions:
The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Best, from whose wisdom and experience I have personally gained such a lot. I am grateful for his contribution today. I declare my interest as the Church of England’s lead bishop for housing. Also, as I am in clergy-tied housing myself, my retirement house is currently let to a long-term tenant.
My starting place is that good homes are the building blocks of strong communities. Bad homes threaten mental and physical well-being, hinder personal and economic development, and compromise safety. Everyone needs a good home so that we have a good society where people can flourish. As others have said, there is much to welcome in the Bill. Private renting is the most insecure and expensive tenure, and it requires significant reform. I am pleased that the decent homes standard will be applied to the private rented sector for the first time. I am also pleased that the Government have tabled amendments to prohibit landlords and letting agencies from discriminating against families with children and people in receipt of benefits. I will seek more details on how this will work in practice.
I have three children, all of whom are young adults. Without a significant shake-up of the entire housing market, it is likely that they will struggle ever to buy their own property. With more than 11 million people renting privately, they are not alone, and young people face particular difficulties in switching to home ownership or social rent. With some notable exceptions, young people are not particularly well represented in either House, which might be one reason the Bill has taken so long to reach us. I am determined to speak up for them as the Bill progresses. Those 11 million, including my three children, know how important it is to improve the private rented sector. The old phrase that we are a “nation of home owners” is now outdated. We are a nation in which many people are in the private rented sector for long periods, if not permanently.
So there is much to commend in the Bill. However, I am concerned that it has lost some of its most important measures during its passage through Parliament so far. As drafted, the Bill will not provide a significantly better private rented sector. The most well-publicised reversal is the delay in abolishing Section 21 evictions, and I add my voice to the calls of other Peers for the Government to set out a series of tests for the courts, or a timeline, for abolition. Without this, I fear that this reform will be delayed indefinitely.
This Bill provides us with an opportunity to make significant reforms to one tenure, but the private rented sector houses only around 20% of the population. We need to think bigger to fix our housing crisis. Nothing short of a long-term strategy which considers all tenures as interconnected parts of a whole system will do. A few weeks ago, I was pleased to launch a report from Homes For All, which set out a vision for England’s housing system and the need for a long-term strategy—and I am grateful to the Minister for being there. I commend the report and its ambitious proposals to all noble Lords who have an interest in fixing the UK’s housing crisis. I am grateful to those noble Lords who have supported it, including the late and much mourned Lord Stunell.
A vision for better housing which delivers for everyone requires a set of values that we can all support. The Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community set out five values that should underpin good housing. It said that housing should always be safe, secure, sociable, sustainable and satisfying. As it stands, the private rented sector is often unsafe, insecure, unsociable, unsustainable and unsatisfying—and it is frequently the most expensive tenure for tenants. I shall be assessing the quality of this Bill against the five values outlined by the commission.
Achieving these five goals may require a certain amount of sacrifice. To reverse pervasive issues of low quality and high costs, a new balance must be struck between the needs of landlords and renters. This might involve some sacrifices if we are to reform the tenure meaningfully. The needs of landlords and renters are often presented as being in opposition but, in reality, the vast majority of landlords demonstrate a duty of care in line with legal obligations, and the vast majority of tenants treat their homes with respect. We need both groups to come together to make this tenure work.
To turn to specifics, a sense of security is vital for renters. I would like to see the notice period for tenants extended from two to four months, which would provide more time for them to find a new home or for local authorities to offer homelessness prevention support. At the other end of the tenancy, there are questions to ask about the newly introduced six-month tenancy commitment for renters. If the Government will not commit to removing it altogether, will they set out the extenuating circumstances that would allow tenants to serve notice earlier, such as the death of a resident or a serious hazard in the property.
Judges should have more discretion to consider extenuating circumstances when assessing Section 8 evictions. Repeated non-payment of rent can be for a huge number of reasons, some of which will not persist beyond just a few months. Judges should be able to use their discretion about whether they issue an eviction notice on those grounds. We also know, and have heard already, that domestic abuse is often misreported as anti-social behaviour. Given those sensitivities, why has the threshold for a Section 8 eviction been lowered to
“capable of causing a nuisance”?
That framing is extremely broad and will inevitably capture behaviours that should not count as anti-social behaviour.
One other issue that I would like to raise affects providers of retirement housing for clergy, including the Church of England’s pensions board. I should declare I am part of the Church of England’s pension scheme, but I am unlikely to turn to it for housing in retirement. However, many members of the clergy enter retirement without owning a home. It is then that pensions boards or similar schemes are able to step in to provide affordable and assured housing for them in later life. Some changes will be needed to this Bill to ensure that the Church’s model of provision is still financially viable. I have set these out in a little more detail in a letter to the Minister, and I look forward to corresponding further on the matter.
Finally, the Bill presents us with the first opportunity in a generation to make our most expensive and insecure housing tenure fit for purpose. Will we take the opportunity or will we squander it? I hope that this House and the other place will work constructively to pass legislation that protects renters, reassures landlords and ensures that everyone has access to good housing that is safe, secure, sociable, sustainable and satisfying.
Extracts from the speeches that followed:
Lord Truscott (Non-Afl): There will be much to discuss as the Bill progresses. I suggest that we focus on the practical application of the Bill and avoid unintended consequences. Some have argued that, instead of sorting out the housing sector and focusing on providing more affordable homes, we should instead try to shore up renters at the expense of landlords. For example, there is the idea of a rent cap. That is fine, but will His Majesty’s Government or local authorities cap mortgages, service charges, and insurance and maintenance costs? If landlords default on their mortgages or are otherwise driven from the housing market, there will no security for tenants at all.
In the past, rises in capital values have enabled landlords to subsidise tenants, but this is not the case today. In Scotland, rent controls have not worked out well. Scotland has the shortest time for rental listings in the UK: properties are listed for just 15 days on average before being snapped up. There is an acute shortage of long-term rentals.
We need to make homes affordable again, by building and providing more homes, stemming the massive rise in ultra-short lets, and making home purchases attainable once more, especially for young people. I take the point made by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford about the housing plight of young people. In its remit, the Bank of England should consider the state of the economy as a whole, not just the rate of inflation, and never forget the aspirations of British people to be part of our property-owning democracy.
Baroness Thornhill (LD): Let us turn to the detail of the Bill. This is a selective gallop around the course to show our areas of concern on these Benches, and where we will be working across the House to try to persuade the Government to make some changes. To the Minister I would say, while I acknowledge that there are good aspects, and some very good aspects, I shall not be mentioning those.
The big one is the non-abolition of Section 21, which is the cruellest and biggest disappointment in the Bill for some of us, for sure. So much has already been said most ably by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford, the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, and others. We know that Citizens Advice has seen significant increases in those seeking help with Section 21 evictions and facing homelessness, and that the numbers being served Section 21 notices have risen. We know that the number of families in temporary accommodation is rising month on month, and that those costs are spiralling, causing serious issues with the budgets of some councils. Of course, this has ultimately led to an increase in the number of homeless people on our streets. On what basis is that delay truly justified? We will be seeking to ensure that the Government put a date for ending Section 21 in the Bill, which should be no later than six months after Royal Assent. That is optimistic, you might say. Perhaps, but there is hope. We welcome the Labour Party’s announcement that it would introduce this on its first day in government.
Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab): The Bill is an important step forward. Supporting renters at the sharp edge of the cost of living crisis is very important, so we should all support this. On these Benches, we will work constructively throughout the passage of the Bill. This is a vital piece of legislation, because it seeks to provide greater security and stability for renters. This matters, because housing instability destroys wealth creation, damages life chances, restricts educational prospects and harms health. It is not just about policies; it is about people and their dreams, fears and aspirations. We need to build a system that uplifts everyone, regardless of their housing situation—a point that the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford made in terms of “safe, secure and sustainable”.
On these Benches, we strongly support fundamental reform of the private rented sector and have called for it for many years. Regardless of whether they are a home owner, leaseholder or tenant, everyone has the basic right to a decent, safe, secure and affordable home. Much more needs to be done to decisively level the playing field between landlords and tenants, and a Labour Government will seek to truly strengthen protections for private renters, so that they finally get the long-term security and better rights and conditions that they deserve. We look forward to working with noble Lords across the House to strengthen this much-delayed Bill and commit to a future where renters are empowered and their rights protected, and where housing stability is not a privilege but a fundamental right. We need to build a fairer, more compassionate housing sector that truly serves the people. I look forward to the Minister’s response.
Baroness Swinburne (Con): On retired clergy, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford raised concerns that the Church of England Pensions Board will no longer be able to evict existing tenants to house retired clergy. The way this has been achieved until now is through the use of Section 21, which we are abolishing. Ground 5 allows landlords to evict tenants from properties which are usually held to allow ministers of religion to perform their duties when needed again for that purpose. She is therefore correct that the ground will not apply in situations where they wish to house retired clergy. We have carefully considered the needs of tenants and religious organisations when reviewing the grounds for possession, and we believe that the ground balances the unique needs of the sector—ensuring that religious ministers can occupy properties where needed to carry out their duties—with the rights of existing tenants.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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