RUGG REVIEW BACKS THE EARLY DAY MOTION PROPOSALS

Julie Rugg and David Rhodes were commissioned by the Government in January 2008 to look at what problems tenants and landlords face in the Private Rented Sector.

This review (The Private Rented Sector its contribution and potential, Julie Rugg and David Rhodes, Centre for Housing Policy, the University of York) reported on Thursday 23rd October 2008 and backed the EDM proposals which Unipol and NUS had called for.

The report said:

"Tenancies where the annual rental income exceeds £25,000 a year cannot be assured shorthold tenancies. The original intention of this regulation was to exclude letting in the ‘luxury’ end of the private rentals market. However, this upper limit was set in 1990, and since that time change in the rental market means that the combined rents liable on shared properties often exceed this upper limit. In 2008, the NUS and Unipol tabled an Early Day Motion indicating that, had the figure been linked to the Retail Price Index, the limit would now be £52,000. Tenants in shared properties with a joint rental of £25,000 or over lack the protection afforded by an AST, including the requirement that the landlord has to lodge their deposit in one of the deposit protection schemes. There was strong support from the stakeholder meetings that change to the regulation needed to take place. Indeed, a failure to institute a change might lead to the creation of a growing tenancy class ‘outside’ the AST regulations, where tenants would have very limited rights." (Page 83)

As the motion was tabled in the last Parliamentary session, you can no longer ask your MP to sign this motion.  However, this EDM (1558) was signed by 37 MPs and can still be viewed here along with details of the MPs who put their names to the proposal.

Unipol also has a keen interest in EDM 1557 which calls on the Government to require the tenancy deposit protection timescales for the return of students' money to be written into the Approved Code of Practice for Educational Establishments.  This motion received 32 signatures in the last Parliamentary session.

Our thanks to all of those who lobbied MPs to sign these motions and particular thanks to Greg Mulholland MP for tabling both of the above motions on behalf of Unipol and NUS.