On 15th July 2025, the House of Lords debated the Renters Rights Bill. Votes were held on an amendment to the bill, in which a Bishop took part:
Votes: Renters Rights Bill
Tag: housing
Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports legislation and raises need for equality in housing access
The Bishop of Manchester spoke at the second reading of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on 25th June 2025, welcoming the legislation and the expansion of social housing in the UK, and raising the needs of rural and minority communities in relation to housing and land development:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, it is always a great privilege to follow the noble Lord, Lord Best, whose wisdom on housing is quite unparalleled. I draw attention to my own interests in social housing, as set out in the register, and to the fact that a number of provisions in the Bill might impact on the interests of the Church Commissioners for England, who pay my stipend and own the house I live in.
I welcome the Bill. We desperately need a rapid expansion in the building of social homes, ideally at social rents. Enactment of the measures here included can be part of the architecture—please excuse the pun—we need if we are going to underpin the ambition for a mixed economy for housing, one which will live up to the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing’s values of homes that are safe and sustainable.
Continue reading “Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports legislation and raises need for equality in housing access”Bishop of St Albans asks about lighting in new build homes
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 2nd June 2025:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure the effective management of artificial light in new build homes.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about lighting in new build homes”Renters Rights Bill: Bishop of Manchester tables amendments on temporary accommodation and notice for property inspections
On 14th May 2025, the Bishop of Manchester tabled two amendments to the Renters Rights Bill in committee:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: 249: Clause 101, page 129, line 2, leave out from “(homelessness)” to end of line 4
Member’s explanatory statement:
This amendment would make the Decent homes standard apply to all homeless temporary accommodation provided under the Housing Act 1996.
I thought that my amendment was never going to come. Amendment 249 stands in my name, and I am glad to support Amendment 252, to which I have added my name, and Amendments 250 and 251 in this group. I declare my interest as co-owner, with my wife, of one rather modest apartment in the West Midlands, which we let out.
As someone who has chaired a wide range of housing associations, including a large local authority transfer and an arm’s-length management company, I have seen the huge positive impact that the decent homes standard has had since one was first applied to social housing. Not least, it has forced landlords to pay proper attention to their existing stock, rather than focusing all their energies and resources on new developments. Hence, I am delighted that this Bill will, for the first time, extend the standard to much of the private rented stock; it is a sector desperately plagued by underinvestment in repairs, maintenance and stock improvement. One in five privately rented homes does not currently meet the decent homes standard compared to 10% for social housing. More than one in 10 has a category 1 hazard, which is two and a half times the figure for social housing.
Continue reading “Renters Rights Bill: Bishop of Manchester tables amendments on temporary accommodation and notice for property inspections”Renters Rights Bill: Bishop of Manchester tables amendment on tied accommodation for clergy
On 22nd April 2025, the Bishop of Manchester spoke in support of his amendment to the Renters Rights Bill at the first day of committee, on the safeguarding of tied accommodation for clergy:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, Amendment 62 in this group, in my name and that of the noble Earl, Lord Leicester, is also about a particular form of occupational housing. I need to declare an interest: I own one small apartment in the West Midlands which has been let out to a tenant for a long time, but, according to some of the media, that makes me a kind of Rachmanite landlord who is trying to destroy the Bill. I can assure your Lordships that that is the last thing I have in mind.
This is about people who live in tied accommodation. As a Church of England bishop, I live in what I suppose we should call a tied palace rather than a tied cottage, but it is accommodation that I inhabit only for as long as I exercise my current office. That is the situation for the vast majority of stipendiary Church of England clergy, many other ministers of religion, and also for farm workers and estate workers who are required, for the better performance of their duties, to live where they actually work. It is a category that is accepted by HMRC, in terms of taxation legislation, as a special form of tenure. A large proportion of those who live in tied accommodation do not have the capacity during their working lives to save up and be able to provide for themselves in retirement, when they eventually have to move out of their tied dwelling.
Continue reading “Renters Rights Bill: Bishop of Manchester tables amendment on tied accommodation for clergy”Bishop of Chelmsford asks about loss of family homes through HMO conversions
The Bishop of Chelmsford asked a question on the high rate of conversion of family homes into houses of multiple occupation on 27th February 2025, during a discussion on affordable rented housing:
The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford: My Lords, one consequence of sustained high rents in the private sector is the conversion of family homes into HMOs. Are the Government monitoring this trend, and what action are they taking on the loss of family homes in this way?
Continue reading “Bishop of Chelmsford asks about loss of family homes through HMO conversions”Bishop of Chelmsford asks about affordable housing in rural areas
The Bishop of Chelmsford received the following written answer on 24th February 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford asked His Majesty’s Government whether they intend to continue funding the work of rural housing enablers in facilitating affordable housing in rural areas.
Continue reading “Bishop of Chelmsford asks about affordable housing in rural areas”Votes: Great British Energy Bill
On 11th February, the House of Lords debated the Great British Energy Bill in the report stage. Votes were held on amendments to the bill, in which Bishops took part:
Mortgage Prisoners Bill: Bishop of Chelmsford supports legislation
The Bishop of Chelmsford spoke at the second reading of the Mortgage Prisoners Bill on 7th February 2025, supporting the bill and the introduction of a public inquiry into the circumstances of mortgage prisoners:
The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford: My Lords, I want to begin with a confession: I did not know much about the scandal of mortgage prisoners until just a few weeks ago. It surprised me how long this has been left unresolved. I felt compelled to speak to the plight of mortgage prisoners because, when a group of people are marginalised and suffer due to institutional failures, it is important that they are not forgotten and that the injustice is put right. So I thank the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, for bringing this legislation forward, and I am grateful to everyone who is contributing today. We may well be a small group in this debate but it is no less significant because of that.
Mortgage prisoners are trapped in a set of circumstances that afflicts their lives. Excessive interest payments on their mortgage, financial stress for their families, powerlessness to change their circumstances and their lack of choice compared to most borrowers—all in the context of the cost of living crisis—leave many struggling to afford their homes. This is also a crisis not of their own making. It is reasonable to believe that home ownership would lead to further stability, yet many mortgage prisoners face a perilous fate, with their hopes shattered and lives turned upside down.
Continue reading “Mortgage Prisoners Bill: Bishop of Chelmsford supports legislation”Renters Rights Bill: Bishop of Lincoln welcomes legislation and urges extension of decent homes standard
The Bishop of Lincoln spoke at the second reading of the Renters Rights Bill on 4th February 2025, welcoming the bill and urging the government to consider the extension of the decent homes standard to accommodation for in temporary and asylum accommodation:
The Lord Bishop of Lincoln: My Lords, I welcome this Bill and the commitment that the Government have made to tackling the pervasive insecurity and unaffordability of the private rented sector. I will be delighted to listen to the maiden speeches of the noble Lord, Lord Wilson, and the noble Baroness, Lady Brown.
Last week, my right reverend friend the Bishop of Chelmsford, the lead Bishop on housing, chaired a round table with a number of noble Lords and members of the Renters’ Reform Coalition. Although she is unable to be here today, I know that she is looking forward to contributing to the Bill as it progresses.
The Bill is an opportunity to strike a fairer, long-term deal that will benefit both landlords and tenants. We must heed the voices not only of tenants themselves but of landlords’ groups, which have expressed legitimate concerns about any potential negative consequences, however unintended, of the changes introduced by the Bill.
Continue reading “Renters Rights Bill: Bishop of Lincoln welcomes legislation and urges extension of decent homes standard”
The Church of England in Parliament 
You must be logged in to post a comment.