Renters’ Rights Bill: Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 53

On 8 September 2025, the House of Commons voted 401 to 96 to reject Lords Amendment 53 to the Renters' Rights Bill. The amendment would have broadened possession Ground 4A to cover non-typical students, such as mature or postgraduate students living in self-contained one or two-bedroom properties, beyond the Bill's existing scope of full-time students in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). By voting to disagree with the Lords, MPs kept Ground 4A narrowly drawn. The practical effect of this vote is to preserve the Bill's core shift from fixed-term to periodic tenancies for the wider student population. Ground 4A was designed specifically to protect the annual cycle of student lettings in HMOs, and the government argued that extending it to self-contained properties occupied by mature or postgraduate students would effectively reintroduce fixed-term arrangements for that group, undermining the tenancy security the legislation is built around. The vote keeps those renters within the same periodic tenancy framework that will apply to England's 11 million private renters more broadly. The division followed strict party lines. All 288 voting Labour MPs and all 35 Labour and Co-operative MPs supported the government motion, joined by all 60 Liberal Democrats, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Greens, and most independents. All 88 voting Conservatives and all 6 Reform UK MPs voted against, along with 2 independents. There were no notable cross-party rebels in either direction. This was one of several Lords amendments rejected on the same day, with comparable vote totals recorded across related divisions on amendments 11, 18, and 26.