The campaign so far

We first joined forces in 2020 after the success of the End Unfair Evictions campaign which secured a manifesto commitment from Theresa May’s government to end section 21 no-fault evictions in 2019. The organisations behind this win came together alongside other housing organisations to form the Renters’ Reform Coalition, as it became increasingly apparent that the government wasn’t planning to deliver on this promise without being pushed.

The campaign for renters’ rights has successfully kept the fight for fairer private renting on the political agenda amidst years of delays, backtracking, new prime ministers, and a general election. So, what’s happened so far?

2019

• One month after announcing plans to reform private renting Theresa May resigned;
• Boris Johnson led Conservatives to election victory, with a manifesto promise to abolish no-fault evictions;
• Johnson re-confirmed this commitment in his Queen’s speech once in Number 10, promising a Renters’ Reform Bill to “deliver a fairer and more effective rental market”.

2020

• The COVID-19 pandemic put the Government’s plans for long-term reform on ice as significant emergency measures protecting tenants were introduced, including eviction bans and longer notice periods, following tireless efforts by campaign groups;
• The Renters’ Reform Coalition (RRC) was formed to push for long-term changes to England's rental system.

2021

• All pandemic protections for renters were removed by Autumn;
• The RRC continued to campaign for the government to honour its 2019 commitments and give private tenants the security they were promised (and had temporarily enjoyed).

2022

• In March we published our policy blueprint, "Safe, Secure, and Affordable Homes for All", launching it in parliament and setting out our proposed solutions for change;
• Despite a Renters’ Reform Bill being confirmed in Johnson’s 2019 and 2020 Queen’s Speeches, there was little sign of movement from the government. We became increasingly concerned the government was going to allow this issue to fall off the agenda, writing a joint letter and delivering it to No.10;
• The Bill was committed to (again) in May 2022’s Queen’s Speech;
• On 16th June, the government finally published the Renters’ Reform white paper, “A Fairer Private Rented Sector”, and a bill was promised for that Autumn – we welcomed many of the proposals as a good starting point;
• Three weeks later, the Housing Secretary then responsible for reform (Michael Gove) was dismissed right before Johnson stood down;
• Liz Truss became the new Prime Minister. Despite a commitment to reform appearing in her own party’s manifesto, and improving renting having undeniable public support, rumours were leaked that Truss was considering scrapping the promise to bring a Renters Reform Bill to Parliament. We organised an emergency demonstration;
• Truss confirmed the government was going to go ahead with reform “when parliamentary time allows, but she then resigned later in the same month. It became increasingly apparent there would be no Autumn bill;
• Rishi Sunak entered number 10, Michael Gove was re-appointed Housing Secretary and we were ready to start influencing the next Prime Minister for progressive reform.

2023

• The new cabinet and Prime Minister were back to repeating that the bill would come ‘when parliamentary time allows’;
• We organised our biggest action to date – the Renters’ Reform Coalition Day of Action – which saw 300 renters come to Parliament on 21st March to lobby their MP, attend advice sessions, hand a petition into No.10 and question the new housing minister, Rachel Maclean. Maclean ditched the ‘when time allows’ narrative and recommitted to reform that coming Autumn (yes, we have deja vu too!);
• On 17th May the government finally published the Renters (Reform) Bill. However, loopholes in the legislation meant tenants would still be at risk of unfair eviction if these new laws came into force, so we kept the pressure up, meeting with MPs, organising events and writing to the Prime Minister, urging him to bring the bill forward;
• On 23rd October, the bill was debated and passed its first vote in the House of Commons – a long 5 months after it was first published;
• November saw the bill’s committee stage where MPs listened to evidence – including from the RRC’s Chair and 12 coalition organisations – and scrutinised the legislation;
• Government engagement with our concerns was limited, not helped by the fact that the Government had (yet again!) changed their Housing Minister, so the new Minister responsible had only one week to prepare. This made him the third Minister responsible for the Bill in 2023 alone.’

2024

• We were promised the next stages of the bill in the New Year, but a group of pro-landlord Conservative MPs had different plans, and began pushing amendments weakening tenant protections;
• Our research revealed around 30% of those supporting the pro-landlord amendments were themselves landlords – significantly more than the percentage of landlord MPs (17%);
• In March, a month before the five year anniversary of the promise for reform, it was confirmed that the government had given in to the landlord lobby, and was planning to delay the abolition of section 21 indefinitely amongst many other concessions. This was a very disappointing day in the fight for renters’ rights;
• We spoke out, warning that the bill "will be a failure" in its current form, with the Labour opposition MPs joining us in criticising the legislation. However, the amended bill was voted through its final House of Commons stage, entering the House of Lords;
• On 22nd May, the General Election was called and a few days later the legislation was dropped, cementing the government’s failure to deliver on its manifesto commitment.
• At the election, all the main parties ran on a manifesto committing to abolish section 21 and reform private renting, making renters’ rights a political priority – a testament to the hard work of all those part of the struggle for renters’ rights;
• Labour won the election, Angela Rayner was appointed Secretary of State, with Matthew Pennycook the Minister responsible for the Bill – we set to work influencing the new government;
• Keir Starmer committed to renting reform in his first King’s speech and the Renters’ Rights Bill was introduced as one of the first big pieces of legislation from this new government. This was a significantly stronger piece of legislation, which included many of our priorities for the previous Bill, and the previous landlord concessions removed;
• We published our “Roadmap for Reform” – setting out our vision for safe, secure and affordable homes for all, highlighting areas where reform needs to go further;
• Setting about strengthening this new bill we held parliamentary briefings, hosted an event at Labour Party conference and met with MPs across the political spectrum;
• Throughout Autumn, the Bill quickly progressed through its House of Commons stages, passing its first debate. At committee stage, the RRC’s Director gave evidence alongside member organisations, and we launched an online campaign to push for further action and highlight where the Bill needs strengthening.