Renters betrayed as Tories ditch evictions promise after General Election name

The Tories won’t meet their manifesto commitment to abolish no-fault evictions before the General Election as MPs scramble to push outstanding laws through Parliament today.

The Renters (Reform) Bill, which would ban landlords from evicting tenants without a good reason, is not expected to become law before Parliament shuts up shop for the election campaign. The promise was included in the 2019 Tory manifesto but the legislation has been repeatedly delayed and watered down in the face of pressure form landlords.

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt did not include the Bill as she laid out legislation which could be rushed through during a period known as “wash-up”. Rishi Sunak’s flagship bill to eventually ban smoking is also set to fall, along with long-awaited plans to set up a football regulator.

But a separate bill to reform leaseholds will be debated in the Lords – and could still pass. The Victims and Prisoners Bill, which sets up the compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal, is also likely to be rushed through in time.

Campaigners have said renters have been “badly let down” by Tory flip-flopping and urged the next Government to do better. Tom Darling, Campaign Manager of the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said: “Renters in England – trapped in an unhealthy, unaffordable and insecure renting system – have been waiting five long years for action on that pledge.

“Today we get confirmation that the Renters (Reform) Bill won’t pass – meaning the Bill is dead and the task of fixing England’s broken renting system will fall to the next government. Renters have been so badly let down. The Renters (Reform) Bill had already been undermined by repeated government concessions to landlord groups – resulting in a bill that in any case wouldn’t have made much of a dent in England’s renting crisis. The next government must do much better.”

Labour vowed to abolish no-fault evictions – known as Section 21 notices – if they win the election and level the playing field between landlords and tenants. Shadow Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said: “The Tories’ decision to cave in to vested interests and abandon their already weakened Renters Reform Bill leaves in tatters the promises they made to private tenants five years ago. If the Tories get back in, renters will remain exposed to spiralling costs, poor housing standards and the risk of homelessness from no-fault evictions.”