Government backs tenant protection bill
The government has given its formal support to a backbench bill seeking to give greater protection to private tenants.
Labour MP Brian Iddon’s Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants) Bill would allow tenants to request a delay to repossession proceedings when their landlord defaults on a mortgage.
Under existing rules, tenants are often unable to discuss their situation with a lender if their landlord has not taken out a buy-to-let mortgage, or received consent to let. This can mean they are evicted with little or no notice.
The bill would allow the courts to delay repossessions by up to two months, at the request of tenants, to allow them to find somewhere else to live.
The bill had its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday, and has received official backing from housing minister John Healey.
He said: ‘I am determined that help is available both for those struggling to pay their mortgages, but also for those tenants who may have little or no notice that the place they call home is at risk.
‘That’s why the government is backing Brian Iddon’s bill, which will ensure that tenants are not subject to the distress and disruption of short notice eviction and will allow judges to have the power to stop tenants from being thrown out onto the street and instead offer them breathing space to find somewhere else to live.’
Dr Iddon, the MP for Bolton South East, added: ‘This is a very much needed piece of legislation and I am very pleased that my colleagues have given it a second reading which will allow us to discuss it in depth in committee. I am hoping to get the bill into the House of Lords in time for it to become law in this session of Parliament.’
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