Acorn has urged MPs to let tenants withhold their rent if landlords fail to repair serious repair including damp and mould.

The group gave evidence to the Renters’ Rights Bill committee, stressing the need to strengthen tenants’ rights when Awaab’s Law and the Decent Homes Standard are introduced to the PRS.

Policy officer Anny Cullum (main image) said much of the action currently taken by landlords was retroactive or “down the line”. She told MPs that councils sometimes took a long time to act while many tenants won’t pursue rent repayment orders (RROs) because they don’t have the time or energy.

“We think there could be a mechanism whereby if someone is living with this problem and it’s not fixed within the timescales set out by Awaab’s law then they could withhold their rent and pay it to a third party, which could then give the landlord a timescale by which to solve it by,” explained Cullum.

“If they don’t solve it, the tenant gets the rent paid back, but if they do, the landlord gets the rent paid back.”

Long time

Cullum added that RROs could take a long time to go through a court while landlords sometimes didn’t even pay them. However, withholding the rent could speed along the process of sorting out unsafe homes by acting as an immediate incentive for landlords to do the work.

The government is currently consulting on a Decent Homes Standard which will set out a standard for safe, secure housing in both social housing and private rented properties. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has pledged to “clamp down on damp and mouldy homes” by implementing Awaab’s law and extending it to cover the private rented sector as well as social housing.