Furious Minister claims “sabotage” as key rent reform vote delayed

A key vote over what was billed as Jersey’s biggest rental law reform in a decade has been delayed in what furious politicians slammed as a “shambles”, “high farce” and a “deliberate act of sabotage”.

States Members had been due to vote on the principles of the new Residential Tenancy Law this week, but instead backed a procedural move to refer it back to Scrutiny for review, postponing any decision until September.

The move, brought by Deputy Inna Gardiner, passed by just one vote: 23 to 22.

Deputy Mézec, whose proposals included rent caps, protections against revenge evictions and a new Rent Tribunal, accused colleagues of “cowardice over clarity” in a blistering statement.

“A majority backed a procedural manoeuvre to ‘refer back’ my Residential Tenancy Law, delaying it until September,” he said. “Make no mistake: this was not an act of diligence. It was a deliberate act of sabotage.”

He continued: “Rather than have the courage to vote openly for or against these proposals, they hid behind process. Only the vested interests win from this.”

Reform Jersey colleagues piled in, with Social Security Minister Lyndsay Feltham branding the delay “a clear attempt to kick it into the long grass”, and Deputy Catherine Curtis calling the situation “a shambles”.

Backbencher Deputy Jonathan Renouf described it as “high farce”, while Deputy Carina Alves of Reform Jersey said the deferral was “disguised as a call for more ‘clarity’ and ‘scrutiny’” even though Scrutiny had already pledged to examine the law if Members backed its principles.

The delay came after hours of impassioned debate in which Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham urged his Council of Ministers to support the proposals, calling them “measured, balanced and necessary”.

“These reforms are not just helpful – they are essential and they are fair,” he said.

“…The rental market touches thousands of lives, but most vulnerable among them are often the youngest. And when we strengthen housing protection, we strengthen childhoods.”

Deputy Feltham warned that Jersey’s reputation among overseas workers was being damaged by weak renter protections: “They will look at our housing market and the protections available to them, before actually taking the decision to come and live on the Island.”

Deputy Gardiner said that Scrutiny politicians had worked very hard to gather evidence about the proposed reforms and didn’t want that work to be “wasted”. She said the debate may otherwise be like a jigsaw puzzle missing its box.

But, speaking after the debate, Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham described the decision to delay as “pointless”.

“It really doesn’t change anything,” he said. “On the positive side, we had a very thoughtful debate. Clearly, many Members recognise this is a key issue, particularly in terms of giving young Islanders confidence about the future of housing in Jersey.”

Deputy Mézec pledged to return in September “with the same fight and the same fire”, adding: “…We’ll make sure the public knows exactly who stood in the way of justice today.”

READ MORE…