A new housing bill will strengthen the rights of private renters by applying the legally binding Decent Homes Standard to the sector and introduce a new ombudsman for private landlords to help resolve issues without having to go to court.
A new property portal will be introduced under the new act, where landlords can access information about their obligations and tenants can get performance information that will help them hold their landlord to account.
Landlords and lettings agents will also be required to accept pets as part of the reforms being proposed.
Around a thousand tenants who had moved property between October 2021 and March 2022 took part in the DPS’ 2022 tenant survey, with 30% saying that they had done so to accommodate a pet – making it the most common reason for moving.
