I must declare an interest at this point as I am a landlord of a couple of rented properties in the private sector. 

So, thank you for your statement, Minister, and I agree with your statement that we have to give security of tenure. But that must go both ways. It must be balanced to ensure sustainability, to meet supply and demand. Protection must also be there for landlords, and there are very few landlords who would not want to encourage lengthy tenancies, because the first month's rent is taken up with all the costs incurred, which are paid now by the landlord. So, it doesn't bode well for someone to have a six-month tenancy. So, lengthy tenancies are encouraged by landlords.

But I have been an excellent landlord, taking people's personal circumstances into account. But I'd like to say that the measures that you've taken risk alienating the vast majority of private sector landlords who are conscientious and responsible and compliant with the law. And these measures will put off many people seeking to become landlords. They've spoken to me and said so—'I've decided not to rent anymore; I'm putting my property up for sale.' And this is quite common, forcing many to leave the sector. So, to be honest, if these measures were in place, I would not become a landlord.

The fact that the yet to be enacted renting homes Act, and these new additions to the legislation, will discourage new landlords should be of grave concern to the Welsh Government. So, without the private rented sector, our homelessness and housing crisis would be so much worse. And, Minister, your Government has catastrophically failed to address the housing shortfall. 

You've built fewer than 8,000 new homes. You would have to build 12,000 new affordable homes over the next 12 months in order to meet your own target, which is already woefully inadequate. So, in order to do that, you would have to employ every house builder in the UK. So, without landlords, homelessness would be exponentially higher. But rather than encouraging private landlords, your Government is determined to make it impossible for private landlords with one or two properties to operate.

So, Minister, when you consulted upon these proposals, there was huge opposition to them, so why did you ignore the views of the sector? Your proposed changes risked also disrupting the student and young professional market. So, Minister, how do you propose to mitigate the disruption to the annual cycle necessary for these types of lettings? Your original Bill failed to take into account the impact of anti-social tenants, and you have yet again failed to address this in your new proposals. However, your statement talks about closing loopholes for unscrupulous landlords. So, Minister, do you agree with me that bad tenants vastly outweigh bad landlords, and that demonising landlords will do nothing to tackle our housing shortage? Aside from the negative impact this legislation will have upon landlords, what assessment have you made of the impact this will have on rental agreements of less than six months? And finally, Minister, you mention that you hope to enact the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 by the end of this Assembly term. So, can you tell us whether the Act will be commenced before this Bill is passed, or will you wait for these amendments to be made prior to commencement? Thank you.