Angela Rayner to announce renters protections at Labour Party conference

Angela Rayner will announce a series of measures to protect renters from fire safety defects, damp and mould, and drive up housing standards in her speech at Labour Party conference.

The Deputy Prime Minister will commit to “building homes fit for the future” in Sunday’s speech, which will open Labour’s first annual gathering since winning the general election.

Before her speech, Ms Rayner – who is also Housing Secretary – said: “Just because Britain isn’t working at the moment, it doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. We will deliver for working people and, in doing so, show that politics can change lives.

“We’ve inherited a Tory housing crisis. This Labour Government is taking a wave of bold action to not only build the housing our country needs and boost social and affordable housing, but to ensure all homes are decent, safe, and warm.”

The package is expected to include a new law aimed at ensuring landlords respond to reports of hazards like damp and mould swiftly.

The proposed legislation, Awaab’s law, is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died as a direct result of exposure to mould in the social home his family rented in Rochdale.

Labour estimates it would support tenants in 746,000 homes with reported serious hazards to secure faster repairs, reducing health and safety risks.

Ms Rayner will speak of plans to accelerate efforts to fix unsafe cladding on high rise buildings across the UK, just weeks after the conclusion of the Grenfell Tower inquiry.

She is also expected to lay out Labour’s intention to consult on a new decent homes standard for all social and private rented homes.

The Deputy Prime Minister added: “For Labour this is not just about building houses at any cost but making houses people can call home.

“This means ending the scandalous situation where standards for existing and future tenants don’t currently even meet the minimum of safety and decency everyone should expect.

“Today Labour is committing to raising the bar on the poor standards we’ve inherited from the Tories to ensure homes are fit for the future.”

Housing charity Shelter described the Government’s proposals as “promising” steps in the right direction.

Chief executive Polly Neate added: “Making sure that homes are safe and fit for the future is vital, but the Government will never succeed in giving everyone a decent home until it invests in the genuinely affordable social homes this country needs.

“That’s why it must set a clear target for social rent homes to end the housing emergency for good.”

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England, meanwhile, said its members need “further funding and support to raise standards in the private rented sector”.

Adam Hug, LGA housing spokesperson, said: “Councils could also do much more if they were given the right tools, such as removing the requirement for Secretary of State approval for larger selective licensing schemes.”