Teresa May’s announcement of a general election on June 8th, will have an impact on the upcoming Housing legislation. Some of that legislation is likely to be either delayed and may even be lost if a new Housing Minister is appointed as they may have other ideas.
- Banning letting agents fees. The consultation is continuing. However, the workshops that complimented the process have now been cancelled. As such, we do not know whether the ban will be implemented or not. Agents may see this as potentially welcome relief.
- The Homeless Reduction Bill. The bill has not received its Royal Assent so that it can become an Act of Parliament. Following Teresa May’s announcement Parliament will be dissolved on May 3rd. Consequently, should the Bill not receive its Royal Assent on or before May 3rd, it will be delayed. The secondary legislation that is needed to give effect to the legislation is also likely to be delayed in any event.
- The Housing and Planning Act. We have written numerous blogs on this Act and the various provisions that were expected to be in force in October this year. However, once again with the announcement of the general election some of these provisions are in danger of being delayed. Specifically, we expect the Rogue Landlord Database and Banning Orders to be delayed along with the Client Protection and Electrical Safety provisions. More frustratingly for landlords and agents the new abandonment process that was also promised for October is also at risk of delay.
Of course, should we see a Conservative Government after the election some of these provisions are likely to be brought back and implemented. Inevitably though there is a risk of some delay while a new Housing Minister gets his or her feet under the table and learns about the sector. Should we see a more radical change in Government there is likely to be a complete change of direction of Housing policy and in that case the provisions may never be implemented.
