I'll refer Members to my own declaration of interest form in terms of property ownership. Thank you.

I will start by referring to the housing association tenancies fundamental provisions. Now, whilst I note there were no matters of special interest to the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, I am pretty disappointed that there has been not too much consultation with our much-valued housing associations. On one hand, I acknowledge that these are only consequential technical amendments, but they will have a direct impact on housing associations.

However, the Minister will be pleased to learn that we do not object to subsection 2A. We will be abstaining on these. In fact, I think it reasonable to expect that where a housing association tenancy is a secure or periodic standard contract, the rent payable to the landlord may be increased from the beginning of any rental period by a written notice specifying the date not later than four weeks.

I can't see how subsection 2B is fair. If we look at housing association properties, in my own constituency, in Aberconwy, Cartrefi Conwy have a wide-ranging portfolio, but some flats and houses are exactly the same. So, therefore, whilst I acknowledge that the effect of subsection 2B would only be temporary, meaning that a notice of increase does not take effect if before the date specified in the notice the contract holder gives notice to end the contract, should the tenant still be resident for a period after the date when the rent should have increased, I believe, on a point of fairness, that the tenant should still be liable for the higher rent, or you're going to have the people who are staying on actually paying more rent than anyone who serves their notice. So, given that there are elements of the housing association tenancies that I agree and disagree with, we will be abstaining on these regs today.

Turning to the two other regs, amendment and amendment to Schedule 12, I am concerned about the amendment to Schedule 8A. Schedule 8A lists those types of standard contracts that can be ended with two months' notice under a landlord's notice or break clause, rather than the six-month notice period that applies in relation to all other standard occupation contracts. I actually believe that landlords should be able to end standard occupation contracts within two months, not six, so we cannot support the amendment to Schedule 8A. So, we will be voting against, but I really do think there is an urgent need for you, Minister, to perhaps more widely—.

I will acknowledge that we had a very good meeting last week with Propertymark and other agents, but we've got some really valued private sector landlords, registered social housing landlords, providing properties, and the last thing I want to see is people in my own constituency and across Wales losing out because private landlords are deciding to go into a more lucrative holiday-let sector, losing out and ending up in temporary accommodation. We have far too many people now in temporary accommodation, and not for just a few weeks, but for several months, and pushing people out of the rented sector is going to just make things worse. I spoke with a stakeholder today, even, with 250 properties in Wales, 100 in England, who is now considering just getting rid of the portfolio in Wales and moving over to England, because he finds that the regulations in Wales now are becoming so top heavy that it's just—. They can go and do it elsewhere in the UK and provide good-quality housing.

So, it is stated in one of the explanatory memoranda that:

'Due the technical nature of these two SIs and the fact that none of amendments they contain make any substantive changes to policy positions set out in the primary legislation, no formal consultation has been undertaken.'

And that worries me: no formal consultation has been undertaken. However, it goes on to explain that:

'Detailed discussions have taken place with relevant stakeholders to explore these matters and have informed the development of the amendments.'

So, Minister, will you advise us here today who you have engaged with and whether you believe that there's more engagement needed across the wider sector? It's this lack of transparency that I'm concerned about, that detailed discussions with some chosen stakeholders have taken place and they've obviously helped influence the regulations. It would be nice to unravel that a little bit and find out why there's been no formal consultation. We have to see complete transparency within this industry as to which stakeholders you met with. Have you done it on an all-Wales basis? Because, clearly, as a north Wales Member—.

So, therefore, Minister, thank you for bringing these regulations forward, but we will be abstaining on item 6 and voting against items 8 and 9. Thank you. Diolch.