An end to automatic evictions for rent arrears, four month notice periods with a winter ‘truce’ on evictions, a national register of landlords, and compensation payments for tenants forced to move because their landlord wishes to sell up, are among Generation Rent’s wish list for the coming Renters Reform Bill.

The coronavirus crisis ‘has highlighted the insecurity built into the private rented sector, and the poor and overcrowded conditions that many have experienced for years’, said Generation Rent director Alicia Kennedy in an introduction to its report A safe place to call home.

‘Generation Rent has long called for an end to Section 21, but this paper is an opportunity to go further’, said Kenned

There are ten reforms on the wish list. Besides the four listed above Generation Rent has called on the Government to: End to Section 21 evictions and introduce indefinite tenancies; Protect tenants from’ retaliatory rent hikes’ and ‘economic evictions’ ; introduce ‘lifetime deposits’; allow renters to make minor changes and improvements to their property (the Government’s model tenancy agreement should be made mandatory, it said); allocate funding for local enforcement teams; and fund tenant engagement programmes to improve tenant awareness of their rights