Jan

Labour promises ‘big review’ of private rented sector if it win election

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Shadow Housing Secretary Lisa Nandy has flagged up a big review of the private rental sector if Labour wins the next election.

Speaking at the party’s annual London conference over the weekend (pictured), she said the party had set out plans to tilt the balance of power back towards tenants through a powerful new Renters’ Charter and a new Decent Homes Standard.

The leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, Stephen Cowan (pictured), would lead the review into how any reforms would work, Nandy told delegates.

“Security in your home, the right to make your home your own and most of all the right to live in a home fit for human habitation is non-negotiable,” she added: “I’m delighted that Steve is going to drive forward this work so that we are ready to go on day one.”

Charter promise

Nandy has pledged to set up the charter within 100 days if Labour wins the next election, which is expected to include an end to automatic evictions for rent arrears and no-fault evictions, the right for renters to have pets, to make reasonable alterations to a property, and to introduce a four-month notice period for landlords.

She’s also laid into the government’s levelling up strategy, labelling it a “ludicrous Hunger Games-style contest where communities are pitted against one another, and ministers sit in Whitehall picking winners and losers”. Labour would scrap the policy, said Nandy.

“It takes an extraordinary arrogance to expect us to be grateful for a partial refund on the money they have stripped out of our communities, which has decimated vital local services like childcare, buses and social care.”

At a speech later this week, she’s expected to say that should Labour win, it would carry out its commitment to hand over powers to local communities in a wide range of policy areas, including housing.

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