Renters' Rights Violations To Be Investigated

Fri 25 Aug 2023

The private rental market will be investigated after the UK's competition authority found a "significant minority" of landlords may be violating tenants' rights.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will focus on things such as "sham licences", which make evictions easier.

The CMA will also examine possible discrimination, such as landlords who ban benefit claimants.

It said it would take action if needed.

The CMA has been gathering evidence on the private rental market since February as part of its wider annual review of housing in the UK.

"There is currently widespread concern about how well various aspects of the housing market are working," the CMA said in its report, outlining "numerous concerns" it had heard about the private rental market.

It will look into "sham licences", where unsuitable tenancy contracts were offered to renters. For example, the CMA heard some tenants were given a "licence to occupy" a room when an assured tenancy was more suitable.

The CMA said it also heard about activity that "could constitute unlawful discrimination", including advertising rental properties as not available to housing benefit claimants.

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