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Over 40 Bills were announced at the State Opening of Parliament (in the King’s speech) on 17th July, including the Renters’ Rights Bill.
Commentary about the new Renters’ Rights Bill published from the government:
“The Government is determined to address the insecurity and injustice that far too many renters experience by fundamentally reforming the private rented sector and improving the quality of housing in it.
“We value the contribution made by responsible landlords who provide quality homes to their tenants and believe they must enjoy robust grounds for possession where there is good reason to take their property back.
“However, the Government is determined to level decisively the playing field between landlord and tenant by providing renters with greater security, rights and protections and cracking down on the minority of unscrupulous landlords who exploit, mistreat or discriminate against tenants with bad practices such as unfair rent increases intended to force tenants out, and pitting renters against each other in bidding wars.
“The Renters’ Rights Bill delivers our manifesto commitment to transform the experience of private renting, including by ending Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions – we will take action where the previous Government has failed.
“The Bill will give renters much greater security and stability so they can stay in their homes for longer, build lives in their communities, and avoid the risk of homelessness.”
Details so far about the Renters’ Rights Bill
• Abolish Section 21 and expand Section 8 grounds for possession
• Give tenants the power to challenge rent increases that may be designed to ‘force them out’
• Ensure landlords consider pet requests and not unreasonably refuse – landlords can request that tenants take out pet damage insurance
• Introducing a Decent Homes Standard
• Extending ‘Awaab’s Law’ to the PRS (so that private landlords swiftly deal with hazards, damp and mould problems)
• Create a digital national database of landlords and their properties, i.e. a national portal
• Create a new ombudsman service for the private rented sector to provide impartial and binding solutions to reduce the need for court proceedings
• Prevent discrimination against tenants with children or those who receive benefits
• Preventing agents and landlords from encouraging bidding wars
As you can see – the proposed details above are largely the same as the Conservative’s ‘Renters (Reform) Bill’.
Next steps for the legislation
Draft Bills are issued for consultation before being formally introduced to Parliament. This allows proposed changes to be made before the Bill’s formal introduction.
The Kings Speech can be read in full here; https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-kings-speech-2024
There is an item that you can place within a communal area of Flats or HMOs that can make a huge difference to the fire brigade and their response to a fire or emergency within your building. Secure information boxes are easily identifiable repositories for documents intended for use by the fire and rescue service during a fire.
Its main use is for high-rise buildings; however, the box can be placed in smaller properties that have communal areas. Having a box with important fire documents enclosed really highlights to your tenants that you take fire safety seriously within the building.
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 made it a legal requirement for existing high-rise residential buildings in England to have a secure information box installed on the premises from 23 January 2023. High rise buildings are 18 metres or more in height OR seven or more floors in height.
The regulations require responsible persons to install a suitably secure information box in or on their high-rise buildings. They will also be required to provide in the box:
Access should be given to the fire and rescue service. Boxes should be maintained, and their contents kept up to date in line with the duties imposed by the regulations and the Fire Safety Order.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report highlighted that the lack of on-site information available to London Fire Brigade on the night could have further hampered their response had the layout of the building been more complex. The Inquiry recommended that the owner and manager of all high-rise residential buildings be required by law to ensure that the building contains a secure information box.
While the regulations require responsible persons to proactively send the fire and rescue service relevant information electronically, there is still a practical use to the fire and rescue service in having some of this information available in hard copy on site.
In order to keep this information safe and secure, access should be given to the fire and rescue service either by a copy of the key, or the access key-code being shared with them.
The fire and rescue service has informed the Grenfell Inquiry that during a fire, hard copies of building plans are helpful in aiding their operational response. This allows first-attending crews to understand the building’s layout and respond effectively by using these plans in a dynamic environment without having to rely on technology.
Chapters 2 to 4 of “The Code of Practice for the Provision of Premises Information Boxes in Residential Buildings” produced jointly by the FIA and the NFCC sets out good practice on secure locations to install information boxes.
The regulations do not require a responsible person to include personal or sensitive information about residents in the box.
Under the Fire Safety Order, responsible persons already have a duty to maintain in an efficient state and in efficient working order and in good repair any facilities, equipment or devices used by fire-fighters
For compulsory (high rise) boxes, the regulations require a responsible person to inspect the secure information box annually and ensure its contents are up to date.
What would you place within it?
The Building Fire Risk Assessment, The Fire System Service Log Book, Emergency Lights Test Book, The Weekly Test Log Book, A Paper Copy (Laminated If Possible) of the Building Layout, Fire Extinguishers Service Log Book, Weekly Fire System Test Book, A Pen, Contact Details For the Responsible Person, Gas Pipe Incoming Location, Electrical Shut off, Is There Solar panels on the building?
As you can see there is a lot of information within the document box that can be stored and this information rather than being spread over the building it has its own place to be. The fire brigade would look more favourable to a landlord or responsible person who had all this information to hand rather than looking for information which may be lost in time.
As a Fire Risk Assessor, I recommend these are installed in all rented properties that contain a communal area. Although only compulsory in high rise buildings, it’s great to go above and beyond for the safety of your tenants.
Article by Will Carter of Fire Risk Assessors South West 07740 074084
It was great to see members old and new attend our open office event! We all had a lovely time catching up with everyone (and enjoying the cream tea of course!).
We hope to see you all again at our next get together, which is a General Speaker Meeting at the Future Inn Hotel on 16th October 2024. 
Angela Rayner has been made Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The department, which has responsibility for housing issues, has reverted to its former name having been changed to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities by the Conservative administration.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn09xn9je7lt
Image from BBC News, PA Media
Source; bbc.com/news