The Labour Party would ban Section 21 evictions after the Conservative Party has dragged its feet on the issue throughout this parliament, deputy leader Angela Rayner has vowed.
The Renters’ Reform Bill is currently in limbo reportedly due to pushback from Tory backbenchers, despite eliminating ‘no-fault’ evictions was a Conservative manifesto pledge.
Now Rayner said Labour was ready to “[finish] the job by banning ‘no fault’ evictions”.
The party would create the biggest increase in affordable housing “in a generation” if it gets elected, Rayner said, while she promised to take a tough approach on developers who don’t comply with their social obligations.
She said: “Affordable, social and council houses aren’t just a nice add on.
“Labour will achieve rental reform where the Tories have failed for four and a half years…
Labour also pledged to reform the leasehold system, allow first-time buyers priority on new developers, as well as introduce a mortgage guarantee scheme.
Phil Jenkins, managing director at corporate finance advisor Centrus, said: “The Labour Party’s commitment to delivering a boost to affordable and social housing is a small step in the right direction, but the road ahead is long and small steps aren’t sufficient.
“The UK’s housing crisis is well past boiling point, with homelessness figures on the rise and more than eight million people living in unaffordable, insecure, or overcrowded housing.
“Housing associations have very constrained balance sheets, and in the current fiscal environment promises of unlocking government grants and holding developers to account will not sufficiently move the dial.”