Renters (Reform) Bill: Student Eviction Changes Revealed

The government is pushing the rent reform bill through Westminster with a vengeance after years of keeping the controversial changes on the back burner.

Committee of MPs have walked the Renter (Reform) Bill through a second reading - as the government published a raft of more than 100 amendments.

Much of the original bill is left unchanged by the amendments, which adjust a clause's odd technical term or wording.

However, several new powers were added.

Student landlords gain the right to evict students from private rented homes if they refuse to leave at the end of the academic year.

The new eviction ground only impacts students studying full-time and renting a shared house (HMO) in the final academic term of the year (June to September).

Levelling Up minister Jacob Young, who proposed all the amendments, said: “This amendment inserts a new ground of possession to allow a landlord to recover possession of an HMO let to full-time students at the end of the academic year, to let it to students again.”

Supreme Court ruling to be  overturned

Other amendments covered a ban on adverts which discriminate by including terms like ‘no DSS’ or ‘no children’ and a reversal of the Jepsen and others v Rakusen case, in which the Supreme Court agreed tenants cannot seek a rent repayment order from a superior landlord.

“In Jepsen and others v Rakusen, the Supreme Court decided that a rent repayment order could not be made under Chapter 4 of Part 2 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 against a superior landlord,” said the minister.

“This new clause, which is intended to be added to Part 3 of the Bill, will allow such orders to be made against superior landlords, will extend the period that can be taken into account when calculating payments due under such orders and will make provision about how payments are to be calculated and made in cases where there are multiple landlords or multiple orders.”

Renters (Reform) Bill - the complete amendments