Comments from David Smith on House of Commons debate - Renters' Rights Bill

Author - David Smith

September 8, 2025

I did not watch the House of Commons debate on the Lords' amendments to the Renters' Rights Bill live but I was reviewing the transcript in the Commons' Hansard.

Leaving aside how awesome it is that the Hansard is available with a detailed transcript so soon after the debate, I think the Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, said a number of important things.

First was on rent increases. The Minister re-iterated the possibility of changing the rules to allow some backdating of rent increases to the date of a s13 notice. However, he was very clear that this is not something the government is intending to do as a matter of course and it will not be used "unless and until it is considered necessary to avoid lengthy delays for genuine cases to be heard" where the tribunal is "overwhelmed". Given that the government thinks the civil courts are going to be fine, I wonder what will count as overwhelm.

On the same topic the Minister also stated that the Government has "concluded that there is a compelling case for the use of an alternative body or mechanism to make initial rent determinations" and it will "establish such an alternative body or mechanism as soon as possible".