Govt has announced that the much awaited rental reform white paper will be published today (with a view to the reforms being made into pre-election legislation possibly before or by March 2023).

Getting rid of s.21 "no fault" repossession notices, creating an all encompassing property information portal for tenants, landlords and local authorities and creating a private renters ombudsman office to mediate tenancy complaints and disputes are confirmed but also included are (amongst other things) legislative proposals that will:

create a single tenancy system whereby all tenants are on periodic tenancies where a landlord will need to give valid reasons for terminating the tenancy;

make it illegal for landlords to refuse to rent to tenants because they receive welfare benefits;

make it illegal for landlords to refuse to rent to families because they have children;

doubling notice periods for rent increases and making it easier for tenants to challenge the level of rent increase;

embed tenant rights with regard to non decent properties and make sure landlords cannot get away with ignoring issues of damp and excess cold in their properties such that the health of the tenant is put at risk.

Landlords will also not be able to unreasonably refuse to let to tenants with pets.

The Local Government Association has responded saying that they welcome the announcement but advise that the Govt will need to ensure that local authorities are given the capacity to manage the outcomes of these changes with "new burden" funding as well as looking at reviewing local housing allowance rates as well as giving authorities greater powers with regard to selective licensing schemes especially by removing the requirement for larger schemes to be referred, for approval, to the secretary of state. The Govt has said that it intends to give authorities stronger enforcement powers and will increase the level of fines that can be imposed on bad landlords.

Private rented sector organisations such as the NRLA and Propertymark as well as campaigning groups such as Shelter have also responded with the Ben Beadle of NRLA saying "whilst headline commitments are helpful ..... the detail to follow must retain the confidence of responsible landlords, as well as improving tenants' rights". Polly Neate of Shelter said "This white paper promises people safety and security in their home, and it makes clear that landlords need to play by the rules."

The devil, as always, will be in the detail.