“Tenants need protection now more than ever” – Mabon ap Gwynfor MS

Plaid Cymru response to delay to Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016

Responding to Welsh Government written statement confirming a delay to the implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 to 1st December 2022, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for housing and planning, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS said,

“A scenario has been created where there is a gap in protection from ‘no fault’ evictions between the emergency COVID regulations and the protection offered from the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. Now that the Act has been delayed to the end of 2022, this offers even more time for unscrupulous private landlords to evict tenants before they are tied in to the new contacts under the Act.

“Tenants need protection now more than ever, especially with rent increases and the cost-of living-crisis. For too many tenants, homelessness is too real a threat, and now we have a situation where eviction can happen very quickly through no fault of their own.

“The supply of social housing is nowhere near meeting the demand, with a waiting list of nearly 70,000, council housing departments are on their knees following a two year pandemic and dealing with an ever growing homeless population. Tenants need these protections now more than ever, and the Labour Welsh Government has let them down.”