Last week Labour’s flagship Renters’ Rights Bill was introduced to Parliament. The Bill delivers on the government’s manifesto commitment to reform the private rented sector and improve the quality of housing in it. It represents the biggest boost to renters’ rights in a generation and will benefit 10,000 people renting privately in West Cumbria.
When I got back to West Cumbria at the end of the week the importance of the Bill really hit home.
Over the weekend dozens of tenants who rent flats in The Slipway in Whitehaven were issued with eviction notices. They haven’t done anything wrong and some have lived there for decades. But they’ve been given two months to vacate their homes and find alternative accommodation.
And under current law this is completely legal.
I’m working with Cllr Emma Williamson, Deputy Leader of Cumberland Council, to support residents affected in any way we can. And we’ve written a strongly worded letter urging the new owner of the building, Darren McClellan of SLG 5 Ltd, to reconsider – or at the very least give residents a longer notice period than the legal minimum.
But under current law a strongly worded letter is about all we can do. That’s because the Tories – who first promised to ban these section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions back in 2019, four Prime Ministers ago – broke this promise along with every other they made.
The consequences of this have been devastating for private renters here and across the country. In West Cumbria alone dozens of people have been forced out of their homes in the five years since the Tories first promised to outlaw this practice. That number doubled overnight this weekend.
The Bill tabled by the new Labour Government last week will ban no fault evictions once and for all. But it also includes a range of other measures, including extra protections for tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases, a ban on rental bidding wars, pet friendly tenancies and an end to rental discrimination for those on benefits or with children, protecting tenants from poor living conditions by extending Awaab’s Law to the private sector and introducing the Decent Homes Standard.
Everyone deserves the right to a safe and secure place to live – and that’s what I as your Labour MP, working with the new Labour Government, will deliver.
If you need help with a housing issue please contact my office and we’ll do our best to help: joshmacalister.uk/contact.
Josh MacAlister MP 