Politics news: Long-delayed rent reform bill returns to House of Commons; Starmer and Sunak face off in PMQs | Politics news

Later in the day, the long-delayed Tenancy Reform Bill will be reintroduced to the House of Commons. The aim is to provide tenants with greater security and create a level playing field with landlords.

The Tory government ran out of time to get the bill through Parliament before the election scheduled for July.

The exact details of the bill will become clear when it is presented to the House of Commons after PMQs today, but we expect the party to keep its promise to ban no-fault dismissals, also known as Section 21.

Here's what we know so far about the long-awaited legislation…

Perhaps the most significant part of the bill, inherited from the previous Conservative government, is the promise to abolish Section 21 – no-fault – evictions.

However, the Labour Party has announced that it will go further than previously proposed and ban Section 21 evictions for both new and existing tenancies.

The bill also seeks to extend Awaab's Law – named after the toddler who died from mold in his family's public housing – to the private sector to ensure that all landlords quickly address hazards and make their homes safe.

In addition, the bill would end the blanket bans that some landlords impose on welfare recipients and landlords with children.

And for the first time, a Decent Homes Standard will be introduced in the private rented sector. The government points out that 21 percent of privately rented homes are currently classified as “inadequate” and more than 500,000 of these pose serious risks.

The reforms also include a legal requirement for landlords and estate agents to publicly disclose the required rent for a property, to combat the practice of forcing potential tenants to bid.

In addition, landlords and agents are prohibited from “soliciting, encouraging or accepting bids” above the publicly advertised price.

And the law would prohibit rent increases from being written into contracts to prevent increases during the lease term. Landlords would then only be able to raise the rent once a year at the market rate.