Conservative Party conference: Planned crackdown on rogue landlords to let private renters challenge rip-off fees
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid unveils plans to offer greater protections for private sector tenants ahead of Conservative Party conference speech
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Private tenants will be given greater rights under new plans to crack down on rogue landlords, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has said.
As party faithful converged on Manchester for the Conservatives' annual conference, Mr Javid unveiled new measures to force all landlords to join an ombudsman redress scheme, which would give renters more power to challenge rip-off fees and poor treatment.
The Government will also bring in new laws requiring all letting agents to be registered, ending current rules that allow people to operate in the role without qualifications or professional oversight.
New incentives will be unveiled in the upcoming Budget to ensure landlords offer tenancies of at least 12 months, to provide greater security for tenants, Mr Javid said.
It comes after Jeremy Corbyn used his flagship conference speech to promise a future Labour government would bring about a renting revolution, seeking reform of the housing market and rent controls to reduce soaring living costs.
Mr Javid, who will address the Conservative Party conference on Sunday, said: "For too long, tenants have felt unable to resolve the issues they've faced, be it insecure tenure, unfair letting agents' fees or poor treatment by their landlord with little to no means of redress. We're going to change that.
"We will insist that all landlords are part of a redress scheme and we will regulate letting agents who want to operate.
"Everyone has a right to feel safe and secure in their own homes and we will make sure they do."
The private rental sector currently accounts for a fifth of all homes, covering 4.5 million households.
The Communities Secretary has come under pressure to tackle the growing housing crisis and recently announced plans for a wide-ranging review into social housing in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Party activists and politicians have flocked to Manchester for the first day of the annual Tory conference as some 50,000 people were expected to turn out in protest against Brexit and austerity measures.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments