Minister not expecting "universal support" for new rental law

Wednesday 03 July 2024

The Housing Minister has said he is not expecting "universal support" for his overhaul of the island's residential tenancy legislation – including from within Government – as he continues work to bring the new law forward.

Deputy Sam Mézec said he did not think the Council of Ministers would be "unanimous" in backing his plans for a new residential tenancy law, set to be lodged later this year and debated by the States Assembly.

In April, Deputy Mézec issued an update on the plans, revealing that the legislation was looking at four priority areas.

Pictured: Housing Minister Sam Mézec said he was not expecting "universal support" for his proposals.

This includes protections against unfair evictions and unjustifiable rent increases, a new Housing Tribunal to hear appeals from both landlords and tenants, and the introduction of provisions to prevent “inappropriate fees and charges”.

The Housing Minister also said he intended to “make a case” for a cap on how much rents can be increased “in one go”.

Speaking during today’s Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel hearing, Deputy Mézec said he believed his upcoming proposals would "not command universal support".

Deputy Mézec added: "There will be people out there who like the free-for-all that the current system provides and I am making a political direction that I do not want that free-for-all – I want the abolition of no-fault evictions and revenge evictions and that means changing the rules.

"So I expect there will be an element of contention in there."

Panel member Deputy Alex Curtis asked if Deputy Mézec had unanimous support from the Council of Ministers.

Deputy Mézec said that he was "not expecting it to be unanimous", explaining that Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham was "not holding the whip as firmly as some political leaders might choose to".

Pictured: Deputy Mézec is due to bring forward new rental tenancy legislation.

Deputy Mézec continued: "So I've not asked and I do anticipate that there will be people who are with me on some subjects who won't be on all of this."

He added: "I would quite like to present things in such a way where it is not a 'take it or leave it' for all of it – I think if there are elements that can stand alone, where I might build one coalition in support of this part and another coalition in support of this part, that might be part of how I seek to go about implementing it."

During the hearing, the Housing Minister also reiterated that there were public "misunderstandings" surrounding his proposals.

He gave an anecdote about a landlord who told him he could not support the plans, whose concerns did not actually apply to what was being proposed.

However, Deputy Mézec added: "There will be instances where people won't like what I have proposed and I am just going to have to make the political case for it."