{"id":150259,"date":"2024-10-09T03:43:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T03:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/09\/charities-warn-renters-not-protected-from-large-upfront-payments\/"},"modified":"2024-10-09T03:43:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T03:43:21","slug":"charities-warn-renters-not-protected-from-large-upfront-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/09\/charities-warn-renters-not-protected-from-large-upfront-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"Charities warn renters not protected from large upfront payments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Charities<\/div>


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Renters could still face demands for large upfront payments, charities are warning, despite a Labour election promise to cap the amount landlords can ask for in advance.<\/p>\n

The Renters\u2019 Rights Bill, which bans Section 21 or “no fault” evictions, will be debated by MPs for the first time on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

But the bill does not mention Labour\u2019s election promise to \u201cend massive upfront payments\u201d that landlords can demand.<\/p>\n

Some landlords ask for several months\u2019 rent in advance at the start of a contract.<\/p>\n

A housing department spokesperson said the government was confident the new law would protect tenants from such practices.<\/p>\n

The government is understood to believe that overhauling rental contracts so they are on a rolling one-month basis \u2013 rather than fixed term \u2013 will stop landlords from asking for more than three months\u2019 rent in advance.<\/p>\n

But legal advice received by Shelter and other housing groups disputes this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said there nothing in the bill \u201cto prevent landlords from demanding tenants either cough up huge sums of rent up front or hit the road\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese renters need bold action, no ifs, no buts.\u202f<\/p>\n

“The Renters\u2019 Rights Bill must crack down on these unreasonable demands like huge upfront sums of rent and high-earning guarantors that drive homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ministers are understood to be aware of the concerns and are considering if changes are needed.<\/p>\n

Labour promised to cap the amount of rent a landlord could demand upfront during the election campaign, but did not define the level of advance payment they considered appropriate. The housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, who was then shadow housing minister, said landlords shouldn\u2019t be allowed to demand more than five weeks\u2019 rent<\/a> for most tenancies.<\/p>\n

Analysis by Shelter, shared with BBC News, suggests more than 800,000 private renters have not been able to rent a home in the last five years because they could not afford the rent in advance.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said: \u201cLandlords should not price people out of homes by requesting large amounts of rent in advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re confident that the Bill provides adequate protection against such practices and we will continue to ensure action is taken where necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner will address the Commons on Wednesday before a debate on the bill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renters could still face demands for large upfront payments, charities are warning, despite a Labour election promise to cap the amount landlords can ask for in advance. The Renters\u2019 Rights Bill, which bans Section 21 or “no fault” evictions, will be debated by MPs for the first time on Wednesday. But the bill does not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/118f\/live\/d1ebc7f0-85e5-11ef-9329-f30486eb2a33.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[31221,1486,672,18285,31587,32052,123],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150261,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150259\/revisions\/150261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}