The final list of bills to be voted on was negotiated on Thursday, as ministers rushed to ensure that their pet projects became law.
Ben Twomey, chief executive of campaign group Generation Rent, said the government has failed in its pledge: “Abandoning the Renters’ Reform Bill as parliament dissolves means the government has failed in its promise to renters at the last election to deliver a fairer tenancy system,” he said.
But another key 2019 manifesto commitment on leasehold will be debated in the House of Lords today, following intervention from Lord Bailey, who wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday: “Let’s get this done for the 5m households that need it.”
The Conservatives promised in 2019 to stop the sale of new leasehold homes, to provide mechanisms for redress for tenants and to cap ground rent at a “peppercorn”.
But it is not yet clear whether a ground rent cap, a key aspect of the bill, will be included.
Michael Gove had been said to be considering a cap of £250 per year, but had been accused by investors of “daylight robbery” for potentially reducing their annual income.
A spokesman for the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership charity said that the “genie could not be put back in the bottle”.
The spokesman continued: “There are too many MPs, there are too many leaseholders that know about the fundamental problems with the systems. The parties have made very clear that their intention is to get rid of leasehold.”
Harry Scoffin, a campaigner on leasehold issues, said the bill being passed through the House of Lords would prove to be a relief for many leaseholders.
He said: “The bill, many leaseholders felt it was suboptimal, but would have taken it, especially knowing that it was completely uncertain with Labour.”
Matthew Pennycook MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Housing, said that if elected, his party would abolish Section 21 immediately.
He said: “The Tories’ decision to cave in to vested interests and abandon their already weakened Renters Reform Bill leaves in tatters the promises they made to private tenants five years ago.”