Renters' Rights Bill Report Stage: New Clause 20

What happened: On 14 January 2025, the House of Commons voted on New Clause 20 during the Report Stage of the Renters' Rights Bill. The clause, which would have added further tenant protections or additional obligations on landlords beyond those already in the Bill, was defeated by 363 votes to 181.

Why it matters: The Renters' Rights Bill represents the government's central legislative vehicle for reforming the private rented sector in England. New Clause 20 sought to go further than the government's own proposals, adding measures that ministers considered to exceed the scope of their planned reforms. Its defeat means the Bill will proceed without those additional provisions, leaving the government's existing package of rental reforms intact but unextended in this area.

The politics: The vote produced an unusual cross-party alignment, with Conservatives (102 ayes), Liberal Democrats (64 ayes), Reform UK (6 ayes) and the Democratic Unionist Party (5 ayes) all voting in favour of the clause, while Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs voted unanimously against. The Greens and SDLP sided with the government in opposition. This pattern reflects the government using its majority to hold the Bill to its intended scope, defeating a cross-party opposition coalition that included parties with otherwise very different views on housing regulation. The Bill itself passed its Third Reading on the same day by 440 votes to 111, indicating broad parliamentary support for the overall legislation even where specific additions were rejected.