Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:38 pm on 11 February 2020.
Thank you for your statement, Minister. I think your statement illustrates just how difficult it is for an ordinary tenant to fully understand the law that governs their landlord relationship. It is quite complicated. I think I just wanted to pick up something that Delyth Jewell commented on, which is the security of tenure for private rented tenants. Because, as you say, the majority of landlords only have one home, and therefore if they go away—for a job or whatever—they want to be able to rent their place out with the full knowledge that they would be able to move back in again when they wish to return. Nevertheless, the taxation system already identifies those who live in a home in place A, and then invest in a house for renting out. So, I want to explore with you whether it's not possible to give somebody who's living in a home that is an investment opportunity by the landlord to have more security of tenure than 12 months. Because in the old days, in the second world war, people did have security of tenure; if somebody wanted to sell that property, they had to sell to somebody with a guaranteed occupancy to be respected by the new owner. I think it's a very important issue when it comes to families with children who are potentially still having to move around every 12 months, if you've got a landlord who's completely taking this to the letter of the law, and that's obviously hugely disruptive to any child's education. So, I wondered if you could just clarify whether it will be possible to differentiate between somebody who's letting out their sole property or somebody who's letting out a property they hold as an investment.
Secondly, a niche point, which is that you're going to change the regulating powers to limit the use of a term so that people can be excluded from a property for specific periods. So, I think we probably are talking about student accommodation here. I know that some universities use the period between June and September to make some income by renting to people who want to attend a conference and things like that. So, I just wondered if that's not now going to be possible, because obviously it's likely to increase the rent that the student will have to pay, if that were to be the case.