The States have agreed to bring in new minimum standards for private rented accommodation.
The debate was heated at times, with a Sursis Motivé aimed at delaying debate on the topic until later in the year defeated after a tied vote, but ultimately deputies backed the plans.
Deputies Tina Bury and Marc Leadbeater identified themselves as private rental tenants during the debate and both spoke passionately on behalf of others in the sector.
“Housing is a wider social determinant of health,” said Deputy Bury. “It really impacts people, whether that’s physically or mentally.
“If the house is full of damp, mould, etc, that will impact people’s physical health. If it’s not fit for purpose, people are overcrowded, they haven’t got the space they require, that affects them mentally as well, or if they feel unstable, it’s one of the biggest stressors.
“If you can’t put down roots, you’re not stable with a roof over your head. If we want people to be productive members of our community, they need that stability.”
Deputy Leadbeater told the assembly that when he was looking to move house he found it difficult, but not as difficult as others that he is aware of.
“We’re in an absolute dire state,” he said.
“Renters in the private sector, or renters in any sector are not mobile. They have to find a place and keep that place. (People are) constantly looking on social media – ‘my landlord’s kicking me out in three weeks’ or ‘this or whatever, ‘I have nowhere, I need somewhere for me and my dog’ or whatever it is. Consistently, people are begging, pleading, going out into the public domain, not just asking friends and family, but pleading with everybody else that’s on social media to try and help them find accommodation, because it’s just not there.
“We don’t do enough for people that have to rent in the private sector. We don’t do enough by not passing this today we’re sticking two fingers up a bit and saying ‘well, we really don’t care about you, because we’re going to go back to our nice, big house. and then we can have a think about it, and we can discuss it, and we can say, ‘oh we don’t like that, and we don’t like that’.
“These people are still in these desperate situations, and they’re not going to move from these desperate situations, not unless we help them.”
Other deputies also gave impassioned arguments in favour of affording protections to renters in the private market.
“Some images have been circulated of the shocking conditions that some landlords have been prepared to house people in, and that show why there is a need to act now, and that any delay in failing to implement minimum standards is failing them, failing them,” argued Deputy Simon Fairclough.
“More than anything, supporting this Sursis will be letting down many. Some of whom who’ve come to me for help this political term, who are living in appalling conditions. I’ve seen for myself, not on photographs, with the permission of the tenants, black mould growing on walls, the roof falling in, in cramped conditions, to name but three. All were afraid of complaining for fear of eviction, more than one of these situations created by an absentee landlord.”
Deputy Fairclough had argued against a Suris Motivé that could have delayed action intending to protect renters – saying the States had to step in to help those affected by the housing crisis.
“I will not support delaying introducing something which will help them. Deputy Kazantseva-Miller says she brings this with a heavy heart. Well, I can assure members that her heart will not be as heavy as the person who knocked on my door at the end of last year to tell me they’d been kicked out of their home with no notice and no good reason, and was now sleeping in a van. Other than offering them a hot drink and putting them in touch with those that might be able to help, all I could do was reassure them that the States will eventually be bringing in legislation to give them and others like them some protections which are available in most other civilised communities.”
There were reasoned arguments against introducing the legislation too – with Deputy David Mahoney and others arguing that increased costs will inevitably be passed on to renters who can ill afford to pay any more money for their housing.
“A landlord is not going to pay this charge that’s going to go straight on to the renter,” he argued.
“So at a time when rents are too high, and no one in this place disagrees with that, a government intervention is about to make it even higher. I’m not sure there’s going to be many people thanking us for that.”
The legislation was ultimately approved by a majority – with the States voting records available HERE.