1st May 2025 - Renters’ Rights Bill - Fourth Marshalled List for Committee – House of Lords
It’s been an interesting 3 days of the Committee Stage in the House of Lords with the being checked in detail right down to words being added or removed to ensure that the details of relevant sections are they should be.
During committee stage, amendments have been proposed, some of which have been withdrawn, some agreed and some to be ‘moved in committee of the whole house’
What Does to be ‘moved in committee of the whole house’ Mean?
When a new law, in this case, the Renters’ Rights Bill, is going through Parliament, it must pass through several stages. One of these stages is called the Committee of the Whole House.
What Is the Committee of the Whole House?
Usually, a small group of MPs or Lords looks at a Bill in detail. However, for very important Bills the whole House takes part in reviewing the Bill. This is known as the Committee of the Whole House.
What Does 'To Be Moved' Mean?
If an amendment is marked as “to be moved”, it means the person who proposed it plans to speak about it and ask the House to consider it. However, not all proposed amendments are actually moved—some may be withdrawn or not chosen for debate.
Going through the amendments proposed and considered by the peers since the 22nd April 2025 has been an interesting and painstaking process – there’s a huge amount of information to absorb. So I chose some of the amendments to be moved to Committee of the whole House which could be of interest and will definitely create some engaging debates. Please note, the amendments are propeosed by the Peers listed and may not be included into the Renters’ Rights Act.
LORD BEST, LORD YOUNG OF COOKHAM , BARONESS HAYTER OF KENTISH TOWN, BARONESS THORNHILL
203_ After Clause 63, insert the following new Clause—
“Training and qualifications of property agents managing assured tenancies
(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations require that individuals undertaking the activities of a property agent in respect of management of assured tenancies must have, or be working toward, specific mandatory qualifications, as defined by regulations to demonstrate competency to undertake their property agency roles.
(2) Regulations under this section—
(a) are to be made by statutory instrument;
(b) may make provision generally or only in relation to specific cases;
(c) may make different provision for different purposes;
(d) may include supplementary, incidental, or transitional provision;
(e) must specify classes or types of employees who must be qualified and the appropriate qualification level for each such group;
(f) must specify syllabuses and testing methods for qualifications;
(g) must specify means of training provision and minimum training hours;
(h) must specify requirements for continuous professional development;
(i) must approve providers for the provision of training and qualifications.
(3) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.”
LORD BEST, LORD YOUNG OF COOKHAM , BARONESS THORNHILL, LORD TRUSCOTT
Clause 63, insert the following new Clause—
“Enforcement of agent qualification regulations
The requirement in section (Training and qualifications of property agents managing assured tenancies)(1) is a condition of membership of any approved redress scheme for property agents in respect of—
(a) lettings of assured tenancies, and
(b) sales of assured tenancies.
The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision about the enforcement of a duty imposed by regulations under section (Training and qualifications of property agents managing assured tenancies).
The regulations may require a property agent who fails to comply with a duty imposed by regulations to pay a financial penalty (or more than one penalty in the event of a continuing failure).
The provision that may be made under subsection (2) includes provision—
(a) about the procedure to be followed in imposing penalties;
(b) about the amount of penalties;
(c) conferring rights of appeal against penalties;
(d) for the enforcement of penalties.
A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.”
LORD HACKING
Clause 76, page 110, line 5, after “must” insert “, within one year of the day on which the Act is passed,”
Member's explanatory statement
This amendment requires the database to be established within one year of the Renters’ Rights Act coming into force.
BARONESS THORNHILL, BARONESS KENNEDY OF CRADLEY , BARONESS FREEMAN OF STEVENTON
Clause 76, page 110, line 18, at end insert—
“(d) in respect of a landlord entry—
1. (i) the address and contact details of the landlord;
2. (ii) the address and contact details of any managing agent;
3. (iii) details of each rented property owned by the landlord;
4. (iv) details of any enforcement action under landlord and tenant law
that the local authority has taken against the landlord;
5. (v) details of any enforcement action under landlord and tenant law that the local authority has taken against any managing agent;
6. (vi) details of any banning orders or rent repayment orders that have been made against the landlord;
7. (vii) details of any reports that the landlord has failed to carry out works necessary to remedy any breaches within the timeframes set out by regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 10A(3) of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985;
(e) in respect of a dwelling entry—
1. (i) the address and contact details of the landlord,
2. (ii) the address and contact details of any managing agent,
3. (iii) details of any notices given to any previous tenant under section
8 of the Housing Act 1988, including the grounds relied upon,
4. (iv) details of the rent that was payable at the commencement of the
tenancy,
5. (v) details of any increases in rent in relation to any previous tenancy,
6. (vi) details of energy performance certificates required by regulation 6(5) of the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/3118),
7. (vii) details of gas safety certificates required by regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/2451),
8. (viii) details of electrical safety reports required by the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2010
(S.I. 2020/312),
9. (ix) details of checks required under Regulation 4(1)(b) of the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1693),
10. (x) details of tenancy deposit certificates required under Part 6 of the Housing Act 2004, and
11. (xi) details of any features of the dwelling relevant to people with disabilities.”
LORD BEST, LORD YOUNG OF COOKHAM , BARONESS THORNHILL , BARONESS KENNEDY OF CRADLEY
Clause 77, page 110, line 36, at end insert “including functionality to allow the upload of data on behalf of landlords by nominated agents and the ability to identify any need for and to apply for local authority licences required for the relevant dwelling”
BARONESS THORNHILL
“(e) create provisions for financial penalties for non-compliance with the requirements for a database entry, including, but not limited to, provision for a rent repayment order where a person has failed to ensure that a required entry is up-to-date and active.”
LORD BEST, LORD YOUNG OF COOKHAM , BARONESS THORNHILL, BARONESS KENNEDY OF CRADLEY
Clause 85, page 117, line 12, at end insert—
“(1A) The database operator must allocate a unique identifier for each dwelling in respect of which an entry is made in the database under this chapter which is the Unique Property Reference Number for that dwelling.”
LORD HACKING
Clause 86, page 117, line 32, at end insert—
“(e) ensure that facilities are available for persons who are unable to use a computer or other electronic device, or do not wish to do so, to access the database.”
BARONESS THORNHILL
“(10) A person commits an offence if, as a residential landlord of a dwelling, they breach the requirement under section 83(3)(a) to ensure that there is an active landlord entry for themselves and an active dwelling entry for the dwelling in the database.””
BARONESS THORNHILL
“Signposting to resources
The Secretary of State may by regulations specify resources that the database may include to assist tenants understand and enforce their rights and access redress.”
BARONESS THORNHILL, BARONESS KENNEDY OF CRADLEY, BARONESS JONES OF MOULSECOOMB
“(2B) A first-tier tribunal may also make a rent repayment order where a person listed in subsection (1) has breached a requirement imposed by regulations laid under sections 65(1), 78(1) or 79(1) of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.”
BARONESS THORNHILL LORD CARTER OF HASLEMERE
Review of the impacts of the Act on the judicial system
BARONESS Hayman
“Funding energy efficiency improvements in rented homes
Within six months of the day on which this Act is passed, the Secretary of State must publish a roadmap for scaling up private finance initiatives to support the funding of energy efficiency improvements in privately rented homes.”
BARONESS TAYLOR OF STEVENAGE
(a) before the commencement date—
1. (i) a valid notice under section 8 of the 1988 Act has been given, and
2. (ii) the claimant in possession proceedings has requested the court to issue the claim form for those proceedings, and
(b) immediately before the commencement date, possession proceedings have not begun or have not been concluded.
2. (2) The notice under section 8 remains valid until possession proceedings are concluded.
This paragraph applies where—
(a) before the commencement date—
1. (i) a valid notice under section 21 of the 1988 Act has been given, and
2. (ii) the claimant in possession proceedings has requested the court to issue the claim form for those proceedings, and
(b) immediately before the commencement date, possession proceedings have not begun or have not been concluded.
2. (2) The notice under section 21 remains valid until possession proceedings are concluded.