Jennie Bibbings outlines the key recommendations from two high-profile reports from the Local Government and Housing Committee.
Having recently published two inquiry reports examining important aspects of the housing system, the Local Government and Housing Committee is taking stock and pressing on with new work.
This article reviews how the two reports have been received so far and looks at what’s coming up next for Senedd scrutiny on housing.
Making the private rented sector work for everyone
There was much media interest in the report on the private rented sector published in October.
One recommendation that stood out in the coverage was that renters facing a no-fault eviction should receive the equivalent of two months’ rent as compensation.
No-fault evictions are a hot topic in England due to the Renters’ Rights Bill, which proposes to scrap no-fault and replace it with new grounds for possession.
The Welsh Government has chosen to retain the no-fault ground but has extended the notice period that tenants receive to six months, which is longer than the proposed new notice periods in the English Bill.
The Welsh Government’s position is that banning no-fault evictions outright would contravene human rights law, unless new grounds were introduced to allow landlords to evict so they can live in the property themselves or sell with vacant possession.
The Welsh Government said that in practice, this wouldn’t give tenants in Wales any more security in their home than they already have.
But with no-fault evictions still a worry for thousands of renters in Wales, the committee told the Welsh Government that by April 2025 it should publish its reasoning on whether two months’ rent compensation in such cases is feasible.
The committee said the Welsh Government should monitor the situation in England to ensure that tenants in Wales don’t end up worse off.
Another key recommendation was that renters should have stronger rights to keep pets.
Pet charities unanimously told the committee that the solution should be a new term in model standard contracts.
The Welsh Government’s proposed solution came in its Fair Rents White Paper – not a new contract term, but a power for landlords to charge tenants extra to cover the cost of pet damage insurance.
This isn’t what the committee called for. Given the strength of feeling on this subject from many witnesses, it may come up again.
Other recommendations addressed ‘property MOTs’, up-front cost barriers such as multiple months’ rent in advance and compulsory purchase of properties run by rogue landlords.
The committee concluded that one of the most effective ways of improving the private rented sector is to build more social housing – which leads us to the committee’s other recent report.
Increasing social housing supply
In recent years the Welsh housing sector has faced headwinds including rising costs of materials and labour. But the committee found that, despite this, there are opportunities to build more social homes.
Launching the report at the Community Housing Cymru conference in November, the committee chair John Griffiths MS was asked whether any of the report’s recommendations stood out for him as being most important.
The chair said he felt a key one was the call on the Welsh Government to aim for social housing to comprise a critical mass of at least 20 per cent of the housing stock, and up to a third in the longer term. He said the value of this recommendation is that it sets out a clear vision for Wales’s future housing system.
Another recommendation that’s gained attention from sector stakeholders and academics is that the Welsh Government should establish a national development corporation. This is discussed in another article in this edition of WHQ.
Other recommendations focused on the role of planning, the potential of land value capture, the potential for more acquisitions, the role of the Development Bank for Wales and the potential for community-led housing.
What’s next
Each report will be the focus for plenary debates in early 2025, once the Welsh Government has published its responses to the recommendations.
And both reports will continue to guide the committee’s future work, with further scrutiny of the Welsh Government to check progress and hold it to account.
In the meantime, the committee’s scrutiny of the 2025-26 draft budget has been taking place during January, with a final report due to be submitted to the Finance Committee by 2 February.
Housing Support Grant (HSG) often comes up in budget scrutiny, and this year the committee has decided to hold a short inquiry focusing on HSG. Members want to understand pressures on service delivery and to get a sense of the Welsh Government’s long-term plan for this important funding stream. The inquiry is likely to take place during the spring of 2025.
Jennie Bibbings is a senior researcher at the Senedd. Senedd Research provides impartial research and analysis to Members of the Senedd and committees. It publishes lots of its work for everyone to read at research.senedd.wales and you can follow it on X @SeneddResearch.