Landlords had only a few supporters in the Lords yesterday as the Renters’ Rights Bill was debated ahead of becoming law, most likely next month.

Several speakers spoke to warn Labour that the Bill as it stands will have unintended consequences for supply within the private rented sector. But most speakers during the debate were supportive of the extra security it is claimed many of the Bill's measures will afford tenants including open-ended tenancies, the banning of rent in advance and an end to Section 21 evictions.

The most vocal critic of the legislation was the Conservative spokesperson on housing in the Lords, Baroness Scott (main image).

Although she admitted that her party’s attempt to reform the sector last year via the binned Renters’ Reform Bill had ultimately failed to balance the competing interests of landlords and tenants, she said Labour’s ‘very different’ legislation would ‘tip it over’.

“The Bill is counter-productive and, while the Government may have good intentions, they will drive landlords from the market, reducing choice and putting up rents for the tenants they seek to protect,” she said.

“The Government is rushing it through without any care for the repercussions that will reverberate throughout the sector.”

Baroness Scott said that many landlords with one or two properties are not equipped to deal with the large increase in regulation demanded of them by the Bill, citing this as a reason they would leave.

“We must, absolutely, deal with bad landlords but in most circumstances there is no reason a good landlord would want to lose a tenant because they want to keep a steady income and a tenant who respects the property,” she added.

The Baroness in particular criticised one measure, namely that agents and landlords will be required to wait three months if a tenant stops paying their rent before starting the eviction process, up from two months.

She also criticised her Labour counterpart, Baroness Taylor, who had earlier claimed that the eviction courts system would be ready for the increased case work once Section 21 evictions are abolished and all repossession action will have to go through a magistrate court.

“I hope [the Government] will listen to the concerns raised by the sector and by many noble Lords across this house before it is too late,” she concluded.