Tag Archives: lib dem renters

The Renters Reform Bill is a Lib Dem campaign opportunity

By Mark Platt | Tue 23rd May 2023 - 2:30 pm

2019 seems as very long time ago. That was when I last graced these pages, calling for our party to do more for renters, and specifically to push the then government to scrap Section 21 of the Housing Act, which enables tenants to be evicted without any reason.

Since then a lot of things have happened, globally, nationally, and in the party. Globally we have had Covid, an economic shock and a war in Europe. In the UK, as well as managing those, we had more changes of Tory leadership and front benchers than most homeowner’s house moves. In the …

Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments

Help make the Lib Dems the renters’ champion

By Mark Platt | Mon 23rd September 2019 - 8:55 am

On Tuesday morning, the last day of conference, I moved a motion calling on conference to support renters. To support them by instructing our party to scrap section 21 of the housing act (1988). Section 21 is the part of the act that allows no-fault evictions. You can see the debate that followed here. Please do watch it, but to save you time, I’m very happy to be able to tell you that they did. So, it is now party policy to scrap section 21, either directly as a government, or indirectly, in response to a vote in the Commons, or in response to a consultation (and of course, one is already running and offering that very approach).

But as I said in my speech, as I have in other LDV articles, I’m interested in more than just scrapping a pernicious piece of legislation. Section 21 is the legislative bullet of no-fault evictions, but it’s not really the cause. There are in fact many causes. In my speech I identified the biggest. We have too few homes, whether for rent or for purchase. And what are available are either too expensive for the vast majority of our fellow citizens, or are in seriously unfit for habitation, in dangerous states of repair or maintenance.

I, like many people, am not in a place to be able to afford to buy a home anytime soon, so I will be reliant on the private rental market (a term I hate as much as I hate the term ‘luxury’, which seems to appear in front of every new home advert my news feed seems to see fit dangle in my face) for the foreseeable future. And in itself that’s not a problem. I’m not a ‘stuff’ person, so ownership has never been the epitome of existence for me; I’m much more of a Gig person, using my local cycle hire scheme to get around and buying ‘pre-loved’ tech whenever mine finally gives up.