I'm grateful to you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm speaking this afternoon on behalf of the committee. We considered the regulations during our meeting yesterday. As the Minister outlined, we reported immediately afterwards.

The Minister has already outlined that these regulations form part of the suite of subordinate legislation required to support the implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, and I think we all very much welcome the way in which the Minister has brought forward these regulations. She will be aware, and Members will be aware, that we have reported on two previous versions of these regulations. The first version was laid before the Senedd on 21 June and subsequently withdrawn, following the report of our committee. An amended version was then laid on 15 July, before being withdrawn in October, again following the report of our committee. The further amended version is the subject of today’s consideration. The Minister has, on each occasion, gone away and taken on board our comments before bringing back revised versions, and we're grateful to her for that.

Our report on the version of the regulations being considered this afternoon contains two technical points and two merits points. In brief, Deputy Presiding Officer, as regards our merits reporting points, various parts of the regulations come into force once provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 come into force. Neither the explanatory memorandum nor the explanatory notes give any indication as to when these provisions are expected to be brought into force. We made this point previously when we reported on the earlier drafts of these regulations. In its response to us in July, the Welsh Government told us that it does not have any information about when the relevant provisions of the Housing and Planning Act will be brought into force. Our second merits point highlighted that no consultation had been carried out in relation to these regulations.

Moving on to the technical reporting points, Deputy Presiding Officer, our first technical point sought clarification as regards the intention of the drafting in regulation 32 in the way it amends the Energy Act 2011. I thank the Minister for providing that clarification to us ahead of our consideration of the regulations yesterday, so that it could be included in our report, which has been laid before the Senedd.

Our second technical point highlights the drafting that appears to be defective. To give some context to our concern, it relates to how these regulations interplay with the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and the Housing (Wales) Act 2014. I will seek Members' patience in attempting to outline our concerns here. In our report on an earlier draft of these regulations, we noted that regulation 34(2) included a reference to 'the tenant’s share', but that it appeared that the text should read 'the tenant’s total share', because 'total share' is a defined term in section 7(7) of the leasehold reform Act. Later in the regulations, at regulation 35(4)(a)(iii), 'the tenant's total share' is used. The Welsh Government has disagreed with us and said that the current drafting reflects the wording in the definition of 'domestic tenancy' set out in section 2 of the 2014 housing Act. The definition of 'domestic tenancy' in section 2 of that Act includes a reference to

'the tenant's share (within the meaning given by that section)', which again refers to section 7(7) of the leasehold reform Act. For that reason, Deputy Presiding Officer, we are concerned that the reference to 'tenant’s share' in the 2014 housing Act may also be incorrect. As such, it is unclear to us how the reference to 'tenant's share' in regulation 34(2) is correct.

The Senedd may wish to be aware that the Welsh Government remains of the view that the meaning of 'tenant's share' in the definition of 'domestic tenancy' in the 2014 housing Act is clear within the context of that provision, and that regulation 34(2) simply makes amendments to that definition of 'domestic tenancy' that are consequential upon the renting homes Act.

I recognise that these are quite technical matters that are certainly taxing me in reading it out. I hope that Members will appreciate that it is important that we're able to resolve these matters before the regulations become law. We're grateful to the Welsh Government for the way in which they've worked with us to ensure that there is a comprehensive and agreed understanding of these matters. I'm grateful—thank you.