Item 5 this afternoon is the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (Amendment of Schedule 12 and Consequential Amendment) Regulations 2022, and I call on the Minister for Climate Change to move the motion. Julie James.

Motion NDM8144 Lesley Griffiths

To propose that the Senedd, in accordance with Standing Order 27.5:

1. Approves that the draft The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (Amendment of Schedule 12 and Consequential Amendment) Regulations 2022 is made in accordance with the draft laid in the Table Office on 10 November 2022.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (Amendment of Schedule 12 and Consequential Amendment) Regulations 2022 do three principal things. Firstly and most importantly, they amend the renting homes Act to improve security of tenure for current tenants. Tenants with a periodic assured shorthold tenancy that converts to a periodic standard occupation contract on 1 December will, from 1 June 2023, be entitled to a six-month possession notice, rather than a two-month notice, when they are not at fault. This could apply, for example, if the landlord needs possession to be able to live in the property themselves.

Secondly, the Act is amended so that, during the first year in which it is in force, a community landlord will be able to vary the rent not less than 51 weeks after the previous increase, rather than a calendar year. This reflects current law and will enable community landlords to align the rent variation date for converted contracts with the date applying to new contracts. All subsequent rent variations will be subject to a calendar year restriction.

And thirdly, an amendment is made to further clarify that an assured tenancy that converts to a standard contract is not subject to a rent variation under section 123 of the 2016 Act where there are existing rent terms within the contract and the landlord is a private landlord.

I am very grateful to the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee in reporting on these regulations in an expedited time frame. We have responded formally to the single reporting point, and I'm happy to confirm that we consider the regulations to be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The minor drafting points noted will be corrected on making to ensure that the law is accessible and clear to the reader. None of these change the meaning of the draft regulations that the Members are being asked to approve today. Diolch.

I call on the Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, Huw Irranca-Davies.

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. We considered these regulations last week and our report has been laid before the Senedd to inform this afternoon’s debate. As the Minister has stated today, these regulations form part of a suite of subordinate legislation required to support the implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. The single merits reporting point that we have focuses on one aspect of what these regulations will do.

These regulations amend Schedule 12 to the 2016 Act to extend the six-month minimum notice period for a landlord's notice, which is already required in relation to new periodic standard contracts, to converted periodic standard contracts with effect from 1 June 2023. The extension of the notice period under converted periodic standard contracts from two months to six months means that a private landlord is restricted in taking possession of their property for a longer period of time than is currently the case.

Article 1 of the first protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights protects a person’s enjoyment of their property, and this applies to a private landlord’s enjoyment of their property. We asked the Welsh Government therefore to confirm whether it has undertaken a human rights impact assessment in relation to these regulations and to provide further information as to the outcome of any such assessment. So, we thank the Welsh Government for the response and the confirmation that a thorough assessment of provisions contained within the regulations has indeed taken place to ensure that they are compatible with the convention rights. Diolch yn fawr iawn, Dirprwy Lywydd.

Obviously, I refer Members to my own declaration of interests in terms of property ownership. Now, once again we are talking about the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (Amendment of Schedule 12 and Consequential Amendment) Regulations 2022. And I've raised this so many times here now, but I do despair at the lack of realisation of the unintended consequences that this renting Act will have. We know that this is a consequence of the Plaid Cymru and Labour co-operation agreement.

Now, during 2021-22, 1,126 people contacted Gwynedd Council because they were homeless; 50 per cent, that is, more than in 2018-19. In Wrexham, the number of individuals classed as homeless has more than doubled to 2,238 from 2019-20 to 2021-22. And in my own county of Conwy, the figures there are 593 people in all forms of temporary accommodation, of which 222 are children. These are children who should have a more permanent roof above their heads. Two hundred and seventy-two people are in bed-and-breakfast accommodation, and the number of children in B&Bs has jumped by 82 per cent from quarter 1 to quarter 3 this financial year. What is the cause of this?

Now, I've raised my concerns about these overburdensome regulatory moves that have come in now from this Government, supported by Plaid Cymru. But, interestingly, the report prepared for the Conwy first Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru council cabinet in Conwy County Borough Council—in their meeting, they even state that:

'Demand is increasing largely due to private rented sector evictions. The highest recorded s21 notices (no fault evictions) in one week is 30 and is now averaging at around 15 a week. This is a combination of Renting Homes Wales Act implications, Buy to let mortgages and the increase in interest rates.'

That is actually coming from Plaid Cymru and Labour in a local authority—[Interruption.] Sorry—

No, he hasn't asked for an intervention. You keep going, Janet.

So, there you have it: solid proof from Conwy county that your legislation is a key factor in the increase that we're now seeing in the use of temporary accommodation. I've got to be honest, I've said it before, Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru should be ashamed that they are now making people homeless. These regulations today will make the situation worse. 

One of the implications of the amendment is that the six-month minimum notice period for a landlord's notice, which is already required in relation to new periodic standard contracts, is extended to converted periodic standard contracts, with effect from 1 June 2023. In reality, six months will mean 12 months, because you've got organisations, such as Shelter Cymru, telling people to stay put after that six-month period—it's two months at the moment; well, it has been two months—telling them to stay put until the bailiffs are implemented by the court, and then even then, telling them to stay put for longer periods of time. Based on the number of properties registered with Rent Smart Wales, this could now see as many as 200,000 converted contracts changing from being subject to a six instead of two-month notice period. Is this Parliament really prepared to take the risk of making as many as 200,000 households homeless? I find it extraordinary that one of the reasons given for the six-month requirement in the explanatory memorandum is as follows:

'there has been a dramatic increase in demand for temporary accommodation in the wake of the pandemic, placing an unprecedented level of demand on local authority homelessness services, with over 26,500 people supported into temporary accommodation since March 2020.'

There is some support for the proposal from landlords and letting agents, however, the vast majority are opposed. Many consultees suggest that the proposal might encourage—and is, in fact, now encouraging landlords to leave the private sector. If we want to get a handle on the housing crisis in Wales, we've got to reduce the risk of increased homelessness. Your Government should actually be building the houses and should have built them in years gone by.

My colleague, Mark Isherwood, who has also held the portfolio for housing previously, has been made aware that the Renting Homes (Wales) Act now, whilst some people, like the Welsh Women's Aid, acknowledge some of the many positive elements of the Act, they have serious concerns about the potentially catastrophic impact of the Act in its current form on Welsh specialist violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence services and by extension, on their survivors. 

Janet, you need to conclude now, please.

Yes. We believe that unless amended or paused, as a matter of urgency, the full implementation of the Act will be responsible for breaking the VAWDASV refuge system in Wales. Minister, please, at some stage, listen to all those people—the families—who are desperate. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for bringing forward these regulations today. They've been a long time coming. This Act has developed to be something of a joke, in truth, over recent years. The truth is that the Government and the Labour Party in particular should be asking very serious questions of themselves about how we got to this point and why they pushed through legislation back in 2016 that was clearly far from being ready. It was said that the Brexit policy was 'oven ready'; the legislation on renting homes must have come out of the same oven. It should never have got to this point, but the truth is, better late than never.

I regret that we are not going to agree on a policy of suspending no-fault evictions today, and I would like to see the Minister take this opportunity today to explain why the Government doesn't believe that we should prevent people from being evicted on a no-fault basis—a policy that's already in force in Scotland, for example. But this statement is very timely. We are seeing an unprecedented number of people presenting with section 21 notices at present, and there are several reasons for this.

The Local Government and Housing Committee has received evidence from a number of bodies talking about the numbers of people suffering because of section 21. One of the main reasons is because of the concern about implementing this legislation, but it is clear that there has been a grave misunderstanding about the impact of the legislation. So, will the Minister also give us an assurance today that there is a full communications programme to be implemented for the landlord sector, explaining, in a simple and clear way how the legislation will affect that sector? In light of the fact that seven years have passed since the legislation was passed, this should already have been done, but it's clear that the sector has not understood the full implications of the Act. But, as I mentioned, there is a grave need to take urgent action to help our tenants, and so we will be supporting these regulations today. Thank you.

I want to pick up on the points that Janet Finch-Saunders made towards the end of her contribution, because I'm sure you're aware, Minister, of the serious concerns raised by Welsh Women's Aid about the impact of the Act, in its current form, on Welsh specialist VAWDASV services and, by extension, on survivors. Whilst supportive of many of the positive elements of the new Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, including changes that will have direct benefits for survivors of VAWDASV, they go as far as to say that the Act doesn't take account of the unique position of refuge accommodation and, as Janet said, will be responsible, if not reviewed, for breaking the VAWDASV refuge system in Wales. So, I'm sure you'll agree that these are serious claims from an organisation that represents services that have the best interests of some of the most vulnerable of people, women and children, fleeing violence and abuse at the heart of everything they do.

They point to concerns around local authorities' role in implementing the Act, including a lack of capacity, consistency, accountability and equity in duties to survivors of VAWDASV under the Act. Local authorities are not at all likely to have the expertise or capacity to grant extension requests for VAWDASV accommodation promptly, they say, and, due to a lack of any detailed guidance for local authorities around their responsibilities under the Act, services have had it confirmed to them that local authorities will follow very different policies and processes in this regard. There are extremely serious concerns also around safe refuge management, such as the creation of disparities between different survivors' rights and the expectation placed on specialist services, alongside a weakening of refuges' abilities to safeguard survivors, children and staff.

The Act, they say, will likely push services' capacity beyond their limits. During a recent Welsh Women's Aid webinar on the Act, of the 22 member chief executive officers and refuge managers present, 91 per cent reported that they were either very concerned or extremely concerned about the impact of the Act on their services and also how it'll place additional pressure on the already stretched capacity and resource of specialist services, especially at this time of economic crisis. For example, under the Act, services will need to seek an extension to the relevant period of licence agreement for every survivor in refuge for longer than six months.

Due to the disparities between how specialist VAWDASV services are expected to manage contracts, depending on when and what type of refuge survivors access, services will need to be very carefully tracked according to which sections of the law they need to follow. In practice, this, of course, will mean that they will need to carefully monitor the variations of each survivor's licence agreement in order to adhere to varying extension timelines to avoid significant penalties, perhaps, and even, possibly, court action. So, there is deep and expressed worry and concern about how these processes will be managed by the capacity in the current teams of the specialist services.

So, given these valid concerns, Minister, will you commit to an urgent review of the impact of the Act upon survivors and VAWDASV services, specifically around safe refuge management, which would include direct consultation with Welsh Women's Aid and Welsh specialist domestic abuse and sexual violence services? If the impact is as detrimental as Welsh Women's Aid predict, would you commit to act to mitigate this unintended consequence of the Act? Women's Aid have advised that this could include introducing secondary legislation, an amendment or statutory regulations to create a clear exemption for refuge accommodation and/or reclassifying all refuge accommodation as temporary accommodation, and creating statutory guidance also for local authorities regarding their responsibilities in the implementation of the Act for refuge accommodation specifically.

Another option, of course, Minister, would be to stagger the implementation of the Act to delay these potentially serious impacts on VAWDASV services. This would prevent any damage being done to the protection afforded survivors in the interim. Can you explore, perhaps, bringing forth an amendment to the Act itself or statutory regulations to establish a clear exemption from the Act for all refuge accommodation, and specifically the requirement to issue supported standard contracts to those in refuge accommodation after six months, by the end of the year or before the Act applies to VAWDASV services? Thank you.  

I call on the Minister for Climate Change to reply.

—[Inaudible.]—a few of the things—I'll do them in reverse order, if that's okay.

In terms of the issues raised around the VAWDASV concerns that Women’s Aid have raised, obviously I’ve had them raised with me as well, and my officials have, and I’ve recently had a meeting with the Minister for Social Justice on this point. The Renting Homes (Wales) Act, just to remind everyone, is fundamentally about improving the rights of people who rent their homes. Currently, someone can remain living in supported accommodation for a long time but can still be subject to eviction with only several hours’ or even days’ notice. Renting homes limits this period of insecurity to six months, after which someone who is not at fault can only be evicted by giving them two months’ notice. But we have provided for that initial six-month period to be extended, as Sioned said, with the agreement of the local authority, and, obviously, Sioned, we will be working with the local authorities to ensure that they’re all adhering to that guidance and understand how that should work and what the criteria will be. We’ll obviously work with Welsh Women’s Aid to be able to do that.

If someone with a supported standard contract does engage in anti-social behaviour it is possible to temporarily exclude that person for up to 48 hours. I understand the concerns being raised by Welsh Women’s Aid, but I do think it’s important for everyone to understand that there’s already significant scope to manage a supported standard contract in ways that do not apply to other rented homes contracts. And of course I want to ensure that the legislation’s working properly to protect the interests of abuse survivors and recognise the vital role refuges play in that, and I’ve agreed with the Minister for Social Justice that we will work together with Welsh Women’s Aid to make sure that they thoroughly understand how the Act should be implemented, and of course we will undertake an impact assessment and put right anything that we think needs to be put right. I’m pretty confident, though, that what we have here is a misunderstanding of how the complexity of the Act works. This is a transformational Act. It completely changes the way that landlords and tenants interact with one another, and of course there’s some misunderstanding as the Act comes into force, but we will of course do that, Sioned. We want to make absolutely certain that women in refuges in Wales are safe and properly served. We will work closely with the sector, as I said, to address any misunderstandings of the legislation, identify negative impacts and consider further actions, so I’m very, very happy to assure you that we will do that, as I have already assured the Minister for Social Justice.

In terms of the comparison with Scotland that Mabon made, just to be very clear, you can be evicted through no fault of your own in Scotland if the landlord wishes to take possession of their home, and that can be done with very short notice periods. So, the idea that Scotland have somehow got around article 1, protocol 1 rights in the Human Rights Act is nonsense, I’m afraid. Our Act gives people the best protection in the whole of the UK, and I’m very, very proud of that, and this particular bit here extends that to current tenancies much faster than it would otherwise have done—in fact, within six months, and that is the six months we’ve always promised landlords they would have to adapt to changes.

And then, in terms of what Janet Finch-Saunders said, I really, Deputy Llywydd, hardly know where to start with the misconceptions that she put about. Janet always refers people to her personal interests, which are of course as a private sector landlord, and I think today the least I can say is that it was very much on display that she’s a private sector landlord. We think that people who live in private sector accommodation should have houses that are fit for human habitation, that are permanent places to live, that are properly managed and properly looked after, and good landlords do that already. Only the poor landlords will struggle with that, and I urge Janet to have a look at that. The cost-of-living crisis, however, made by her Government in Westminster, made considerably worse by the Liz Truss fiasco with the mortgages, and which put a lot of pressure on families, is a matter for the Conservative Government, and it is driving homelessness, she’s absolutely right, and driving family breakdown. This Government is doing everything we can do to make sure that people are helped to get through the appalling economic storm created by the Conservative Government, and, Deputy Llywydd, these regulations will go a long way to helping in that battle. I recommend them to Members. Diolch.

On a point of order, I didn’t say I was a private landlord; I declared my interest in respect of the fact of property ownership, and there’s a difference.

You’ve made the record clear on that now, Janet, okay. Thank you.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? [Objection.] Yes. So, I will defer voting under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.