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Bill giving tenants power to take action over ‘unfit’ homes passed by MPs

A bill which will give tenants the power to take legal action against their landlords when their homes are unsafe or unhealthy has passed through the House of Commons.

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Picture: Getty
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Homes fit for habitation laws passed by MPs #ukhousing

The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Bill passed its third reading on Friday with unanimous support from MPs.

The bill was introduced by Karen Buck, the Labour MP for Westminster North, but has attracted government support.


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It allows tenants to take legal action to force their landlords to act if homes are in a condition unfit for habitation. Currently they are required to rely on the local authority to take action on their behalf.

The bill, as drafted, would apply across social and private rented housing with a specific ‘Grenfell clause’ covering the common parts of blocks of flats.

Ms Buck said: “I am thrilled to have got through the House of Commons with my Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Bill and hopeful, with government support, we can now complete the path into legislation very quickly.

“The bill will close a loophole in the law which means that tenants cannot take action against landlords where they are in conditions which are unsafe and unhealthy but which do not arise from disrepair.

“Some three million people in private and social homes are living with the equivalent of at least one serious hazard but cannot act on their own behalf, and we know well that increasingly cash-strapped councils act in only a tiny minority of cases (and can’t act at all in the case of social housing).”

 

 

The bill was drafted by specialist housing lawyers Justin Bates, a barrister at 4-5 Gray’s Inn Road chambers, and Giles Peaker, a partner at Anthony Gold Solicitors.

Housing minister Heather Wheeler said: “The government strongly supports this bill and it is clear that there is support across the House as well.

“The bill will empower tenants and help to further improve standards in rented houses and flats.”

The bill passed its second reading in January, shortly after the government announced its support for the legislation.

Similar measures were previously rejected in 2016, with the government describing them as “unnecessary red tape and expensive bureaucracy” when they were proposed in the House of Lords.

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