Justlife welcomes new measures aimed at giving private renters greater protection and making it harder for rogue landlords to operate.
The Government has announced the next phase of reforms under the Renters’ Rights Act, including a national landlord registration service and changes designed to make challenging rent increases simpler and quicker.
The new registration service will begin rolling out across England from December 2026. Landlords will be legally required to register, giving councils better access to information about rented properties and helping them identify landlords who are failing to meet their responsibilities.
Tenants will eventually also be able to check whether a landlord is registered before renting a property.
The Government has also confirmed plans for HMRC’s Valuation Office to take responsibility for initial decisions when tenants challenge rent increases, with the aim of resolving disputes more quickly and reducing pressure on the tribunal system.
For Justlife, these reforms also matter because of the increasingly important role the private rented sector plays in temporary accommodation.
Approximately half of temporary accommodation is provided through the private rented sector. Through our research and frontline work, we know that poor standards, conditions and landlord practice can sometimes be hidden even from the local councils placing households into those homes.
A national landlord register therefore has the potential to do more than improve transparency for private renters. It could also give councils greater visibility over the landlords and properties they are using to house people experiencing homelessness, making it easier to identify problems and hold poor landlords to account.
Improving standards and security in the private rented sector is an important part of preventing homelessness. But with so many households already living in privately provided temporary accommodation, those protections also need to reach people who are already experiencing homelessness.
The reforms follow the introduction of wider renters’ rights earlier this year, including the end of Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions.
Simon Gale, CEO of Justlife, said:
“A safe and stable private rented sector can help prevent homelessness before it starts. But it is also already being relied on to provide temporary accommodation for thousands of households experiencing homelessness.
“We know from our work that poor conditions and landlord practice can sometimes be difficult to identify, even for the councils placing people into those properties. Greater transparency and accountability could make a real difference.
“We welcome these reforms, but their impact will depend on how they work in practice. We’ll be following their implementation closely to see whether they improve standards and conditions across the private rented sector, including in more complex areas such as temporary accommodation.
