Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm not a member of any of the committees that have scrutinised this Bill, so I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak in support of the general principles of the Bill—a Bill that I believe paves the way for further improvements in housing conditions in Wales, and will enhance our efforts to tackle exploitation, especially in the private rented sector. And that is really what I wanted to concentrate my comments on and, in doing so, can I wholly support the comments made by Julie Morgan in her contribution? I think you were absolutely spot on, Julie.

I think there are two benchmarks for legislation such as this. The first is: will it help us to improve the living conditions for those people we represent? And, does it seek to tackle exploitation? I think the Bill does both of these things, or potentially does both of those things. I also welcome the impact that I think the Bill could have on the health and well-being of people. I know that many of us, from our constituency work and from the research that we do, see the health impacts of housing and that the self-reported health of adults who are private renters is much poorer than those in other tenures. So, I'm sure that reducing the financial barriers to finding suitable accommodation should make it easier for prospective tenants to gather the funds required in order to move to a property that is more suitable to their needs. That has to be a good thing. 

It will also be a good thing to reduce unexpected fees, which can cause financial distress—distress that can lead to worry and stress, and that sometimes extends to more serious mental health problems. So, I believe that the Bill has the potential to impact positively on the mental health of some of those tenants. And there are also potential physical health benefits from the removal of fees, resulting in income being saved and therefore able to be spent on food, fuel and other essential health-related outgoings.

Llywydd, you will be aware of the work that I have already championed in respect of tackling the problems around the abhorrent practice of sex for rent. Indeed, I tabled a legislative motion on that subject last year. So, can I take this opportunity of thanking the Minister for taking steps to amend the code of practice for those landlords and agents licensed under Rent Smart Wales, as one small step towards tackling this particular problem, but much, much further to go? And that is why I do very much support the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee’s recommendation 9 on the need to tackle the problems of the so-called ‘no fault evictions’, section 21, which can be used by exploitative landlords to take advantage of the most vulnerable tenants in our society—for example, those who do little more than exert their rights to seek to have repairs in their premises, or refuse the approaches from unscrupulous landlords for sexual favours. Now, clearly that doesn't apply to all landlords and letting agents, but I believe that these are the types of changes that we must continue to make further progress on if we are to tackle the problems of exploitation.

But, I'm also looking forward to this Bill providing a basis for further action to protect vulnerable tenants, especially those in the private rented sector, which I know this is aimed at, and that includes the prospect of improving legislation around sex for rent. So, I do welcome your commitment, Minister, to move towards an end to no-fault evictions within the scope of this legislation—and I won’t repeat all of what that involves as Julie Morgan has already outlined that—but I do hope that this will eventually lead to the end of section 21 as we know it and is a further step towards securing tenancies for the most vulnerable in our society.