Page 13 - Solving Housing Disputes

(a) the Strengthening Consumer Redress in the Housing Market consultation, by
the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
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which aims to create universal coverage for housing complaints;

(b) the Rented Homes Bill, which proposes the abolition of “no-fault” eviction in
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England;

(c) the Ministry of Justice post-implementation review of LASPO, which
considered shortfalls in housing advice and representation caused by legal aid
cuts and evinces an intention to explore and expand new models of early
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advice delivery;

(d) the establishment of the Regulation of Property Agents Working Group in
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England; and

13 The Government response to the consultation sets out three main proposals: (1) plugging gaps in
current redress schemes through the establishment of a New Homes Ombudsman and requiring all private
landlords to belong to a redress scheme; (2) the establishment of a digital portal to all schemes, a one-
stop shop “Housing Complaints Resolution Service”: and (3) creating a single “Code of Practice” on
complaint handling across all tenures. MHCLG, ‘Strengthening Consumer Redress in the Housing
Market: Summary of responses to the consultation and the Government’s response’, January 2019 p. 4-
5, available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_
data/file/773161/Strengthening_Consumer_Redress_in_the_Housing_Market_Response.pdf

14 The Bill sets out an intention to abolish section 21 “no-fault” eviction, historically used to evict tenants
at short notice for no reason, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/58-01/051/5801051.pdf As
referenced above, the Citizen’s Advice survey revealed that section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 has
frequently been deployed for retaliatory evictions; Rodgers note 4 above p.
9, available at https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/CitizensAdvice/Housing%20Publications/Tou
ch%20and%20go%20-%20final.pdf However, as part of our consultation, the Residential Landlords
Association challenged the statistics in this report. The Association told us that its 2019 survey of over
6,500 landlords and agents found that section 21 notices were issued for rent arrears in 83.9% of cases,
damage to property by the tenant in 56.1% of cases and anti-social behaviour in 51% of cases, Clay,
‘Possession Reform in the Private Rented Sector: Ensuring Landlord Confidence’, (Residential Landlord
Association, July 2019) p. 18 available at https://research.rla.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Possession-
Reform-in-the-PRS-July-2019-1.pdf

15 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/77
7038/post-implementation-review-of-part-1-of-laspo.pdf

16 Which will advise Government on a new regulatory framework for Property Agents https://assets.pu
blishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/818244/Regulation_
of_Property_Agents_final_report.pdf

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