MPs debated the Second Reading of the Secure Tenancies (Victims
of Domestic Abuse) Bill in the House of Commons on Monday 19
March 2018. The Bill passed its Second Reading and moved to the
Committee stage in the Commons.
As previously reported the Bill was first
introduced by the Government in the House of Lords the
Bill contains measures to ensure that lifetime tenants of
social homes who are victims of domestic abuse are granted a
further lifetime tenancy where:
- They either need to leave or have left their home to escape
domestic abuse and are being re-housed by a local authority.
- They are a joint tenant and wish to remain a tenant of
their
social home after the perpetrator has left or been removed and the
local authority decides to grant them a further sole tenancy in
their current home.
The Bill will ensure that when provisions in Schedule 7 of the
Housing and Planning Act 2016 are brought into
force to abolish "old style secure tenancies" and requiring local
authorities in England to offer only fixed-term tenancies, this
will not apply to certain victims of domestic abuse.
Speaking during the debate at second reading Shadow Housing
Minister, Melanie Onn MP, asked when the Government intended to
implement the provisions in the Housing & Planning Act 2016
saying:
"Rather than allowing councils to offer a secure, stable home to
those who need it and building a sustainable amount of social
housing, the Government decided to rip the heart out of social
housing by making social tenancies more insecure. I note that the
Government have not published plans to go ahead with the change
agreed in the 2016 Act, and I wonder whether they have seen sense
and have reconsidered the changes that they proposed in 2016. If
not, perhaps they will tell us today when they plan to implement
the changes."
However, in responding to the debate the Minister for Housing
& Homelessness, Heather Wheeler MP, did not address the
question of when the Government intend to bring forward regulations
to implement the provisions of Schedule 7 of the Housing &
Planning Act to introduce mandatory fixed term tenancies.
The Bill was subsequently debated in Committee Stage on 27
March. Read the full debates on the Bill.