Rented housing

This Briefing Paper outlines the housing options open to serving and ex-military personnel, it does not cover service accommodation provided by the Ministry of Defence.

How is the increasing size of the private rented sector affecting UK Government policy? How are private landlords and letting agents regulated? How secure are private tenants in their housing? What are the main aspects of the debate around affordability and rent control? And how are private rented sector policies affecting Government housing policies more broadly?

There will be a General Debate on the subject of housing on 9 April 2019. This landing page provides links to a selection of relevant Library papers.

This briefing paper explains the history and operation of selective licensing schemes for private rented properties since local authorities in England and Wales acquired the power to introduce them in April 2006. The Government is currently conducting an independent review of selective licensing with a report due in spring 2019.

This briefing paper explains key policy developments in relation to setting social housing rent levels in England since 2002. It covers recent policy developments including the requirement on social landlords to reduce rents by 1% in each year for four years from April 2016 and the rent setting policy which will apply from 2020.

Rents on most new private rented tenancies created after 15 January 1989 were deregulated in England. Affordability pressures in areas of high housing demand have given rise to calls for a return to regulation. The focus has been on rent stabilisation rather than setting rent ceilings. This briefing paper provides an overview of the debate around rent control/regulation and includes some information on a small selection of international rent regimes.

The Tenant Fees Bill will abolish most upfront fees for tenants in England and cap security deposits at the equivalent of five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is less than £50,000. This paper provides background to the Bill, including information on current practice in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It explains the Bill's provisions and summarises reactions from tenants, landlords and letting agents. This paper has been updated to include issues raised during Public Bill Committee and subsequent Parliamentary stages. Consideration of Lords amendments is scheduled to take place on 23 January 2019.

This Commons Library briefing paper provides the background to Karen Buck's Private Members' Bill on housing fitness, and explains its provisions and amendments made at Committee Stage. The Bill is seeking to require that residential rented dwellings in England are fit for human habitation at the start of the tenancy and thereafter.

On 6 December 2018, there will be a Westminster Hall debate on the use of section 21 evictions in the private rented sector. The debate is scheduled to start at 1.30pm and the Member sponsoring this debate is Karen Buck MP.

Housing generates a lot of questions for MPs and their constituency caseworkers. This paper provides a guide to some reliable sources of information (including other House of Commons Library briefings) for answering the most common constituents' housing questions.

The Government has committed to extend the Right to Buy to assured tenants of housing associations on a voluntary basis. No implementation date for full roll-out has been announced. A large regional pilot scheme in the Midlands was launched on 16 August 2018. The Government has said that the impact of the pilot scheme will be assessed before decisions are made on the next steps. This paper provides background on the policy and explains progress to date.

This briefing paper provides an overview of the statutory rights of occupiers of social housing in England to succeed to a tenancy on the death of the previous sole or joint tenant. The rules in regard to secure council tenancies changed in April 2012.

Social landlords in England have had discretion not to offer a 'lifetime' tenancy to new tenants since 1 April 2012. The Housing and Planning Act 2016 contains provisions which would limit local authorities' ability to offer longer-term tenancies in certain circumstances. The Government has said that these provisions will not be implemented "at this time".

This briefing paper explains the Government's proposals for the future funding of supported housing. On 9 August 2018 it was announced that Housing Benefit will continue to meet residents' rent payments in all supported housing. The paper also covers the requirement on providers to reduce rents up to 2019/20.

Use the interactive dashboard to find constituency-level data on the number of households living in owned, social rented and private rented accommodation