A proposed law giving requiring private sector landlords to provide homes that are fit for habitation has been voted down by Conservative MPs in the House of Commons.
The amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill put forward by Labour was defeated by a majority of 321 votes to 219.
Shadow housing minister Teresa Pearce, who proposed the amendment, said that the condition of some rented accommodation such as mouldy walls would not be tolerated in other sectors.
“The majority of landlords let property which is and remains in a decent standard. Many landlords go out of their way to ensure that even the slightest safety hazard is sorted quickly and efficiently,” she said.
“So it is even more distressing when we see reports of homes which are frankly unfit for human habitation being let, often at obscene prices.”
Local government minister Marcus Jones said: “Of course we believe that all homes should be of a decent standard and all tenants should have a safe place to live regardless of tenure, but local authorities already have strong and effective powers to deal with poor quality and safe accommodation and we expect them to use them.”
Last October, a private members bill introduced by Labour MP Karen Buck to provide rented homes fit for human habitation was also rejected by the Conservatives.
Conservative MP Philip Davies said the bill would have “put a huge burden on landlords”.
Davies, a landlord and a tenant, said during the debate on the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Bill: “I don’t think this particular bill is necessary to achieve what I would like to see.
“The overwhelming majority of landlords, and I will put myself in this category, want to do the right thing and wouldn’t ever dream of renting out a property that isn’t in a fit state to be rented out and want to comply with every regulation that’s introduced.”
The bill would have update the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 which requires all private rented accommodation to be “provided and maintained in a state of fitness for human habitation”.
While there are statutory obligations on most private landlords to repair the structure of their properties and repair installations, tenants only have the right to a home that is fit for human habitation if the rent is less than £52 per annum, or £80 in London, for a contract since 1957.
The Law Commission in 1996 and the Court of Appeal in 1997 both called for the rent caps to be removed, but successive governments have failed to do act.
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