The NRLA has backed many of the measures within a new report from a Welsh parliamentary committee which recommends big changes for the country's private rented sector, only a few months after significant changes to tenancy contracts and evictions went live.

The new changes include a property MOT for all rented homes, banning 'rent in advance' or requiring tenants to provide guarantors and compensation for tenants who are evicted by their landlord without a good reason.

Responding to the Senedd’s local government and housing committee inquiry report, the landlord body agrees that the government should introduce measures to resolve issues around environmental health and enforcement job recruitment, to help raise standards.

The NRLA says there’s a need for a regular Welsh Housing Survey to ensure housing policy is informed by robust, reliable data. Chief executive Ben Beadle believes a long-term strategy for the private rented sector in Wales could go a long way towards developing a rental market that works in the interests of good landlords and tenants.  

However, he adds: “Although we welcome a number of the report’s findings, we would like to see the committee and Welsh government make resolving the sector’s supply crisis a top priority".

Enforcement

Propertymark, the trade body representing letting agents, welcomes proposals to increase local authority inspection capacity while developing a property MOT for PRS homes as part of mandatory licensing, but it’s concerned about a recommendation to consider allowing tenants subject to no-fault evictions to keep the last two months’ rent as compensation.

Propertymark says: “Introducing further financial penalties for landlords is counterproductive when they already face rising costs from tax increases, higher mortgage rates, and repair costs, risks restricting the supply of rental homes and driving up rents for tenants. Boosting supply is the most effective way to stabilise rents and prevent further market distortions.”

The committee report includes a suggestion that the Welsh government should look at a statutory rating scheme for letting agents to encourage improvements in housing standards and guide tenants’ choices.

The inquiry also addresses the energy efficiency of PRS homes, and Propertymark says it has warned of the dangers of a one-size-fits-all approach to regulations, urging the Welsh government to provide targeted support for landlords.

Pet subject

But the report also tackles the issues of 'pets in lets' saying more needs to be done to increase the number of 'pet friendly' homes in the Welsh private rented sector.

Claire Calder (pictured), Head of Public Affairs at Dogs Trust, says: “We have been campaigning on this subject for many years as we believe that the joy of pet ownership shouldn’t be exclusive to homeowners, but open to private and social renters as well. 

“But further to this, the shortage of pet-friendly housing is having a major impact on charities across the pet welfare sector. We receive hundreds of calls each week from desperate owners forced to rehome their dogs due to a lack of pet-friendly accommodation, and meanwhile potential owners are unable to adopt from us as many landlords do not allow pets in their properties.

"We look forward to working closely with the Welsh Government to implement the Committee’s recommendations and ensure that pets and owners have a place to call home.”

The report says that the Welsh Government should...

1. Publish by October 2025 a concise statement outlining its vision for the role of the private rented sector in the short and longer terms in meeting housing need in Wales, and outlines how it will use the statement to provide focus for Welsh Government policy, legislation and spending.

2. Work with stakeholders to put in place training and education for landlords and tenants on the grants and support available through the rapid response adaptations programme.

3. Consider how a register of accessible accommodation available to rent privately could be introduced.

4. Set out clear timescales and milestones for the reviews referred to in the commitment in the Welsh Housing Quality Standard to extend the Standard to other housing types and tenures.

5. Work with Rent Smart Wales to develop a property MOT for fitness for human habitation for use as part of the licensing regime.

6. Explore the feasibility of enabling tenants who are subject to no-fault evictions to retain the last two months’ rent of their tenancy as compensation for the financial and wellbeing impact of a forced move and write to us by April 2025 to set out its conclusions.

7. Outline what steps are being taken to ensure that the remaining five local authorities become part of the Leasing Scheme Wales.

8. Review how many private sector landlords receive Housing Support Grant for tenants who have support needs, and take steps to review and promote examples of good practice within the sector.

9. Regulate the sector to address the financial and bureaucratic barriers that tenants may face when they apply for a home, such as guarantor requirements, and requirements for multiple months' rent in advance.

10. Urgently outline how it intends to extend tenants’ rights to have a pet in to contracts, including whether it will bring forward legislation to end this discrimination.

11. The Welsh Government should set out how it will work with local government to increase local authority inspection capacity to improve housing standards in the private rented sector, including actions to address longterm recruitment shortages in environmental health.

12. Explore the use and effectiveness of local authorities’ compulsory purchase powers as a means of discouraging persistent bad practice by landlords, with a view to encouraging their wider use if considered effective. This should include consideration of the legal advice available to local authorities and the progress made in establishing a regional or national source of legal expertise to advise on compulsory purchase powers.