My right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning (Margaret Beckett) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I have today published a consultation paper, The Private Rented Sector: Professionalism and Quality, which forms the government response to the Rugg review of the private rented sector and can also confirm my intention to legislate at the earliest opportunity to improve notice for tenants when landlords are repossessed. These two initiatives together create a major new package of measures to strengthen consumer protections for tenants living in private rented accommodation. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.

The Government value the private rented sector and recognise that it plays an important role in providing choice and flexibility at all levels across the housing market and so want to improve its quality, by increasing professionalism, driving out bad landlords, and strengthening protections for tenants affected by repossessions. Today’s response builds on the high-level proposals in an independent review of the private rented sector by Julie Rugg and David Rhodes (October 2008).

Our proposals include a national register of landlords for England with a redress procedure for tenants; full regulation for private sector letting agents with an independent regulator to regulate all letting and managing agents; greater local authority support for good landlords and action against poor performing landlords; and encouragement to local authorities to create local lettings agencies.

The proposals also seek to identify ways in which those who regularly engage with the private rented sector can support landlords as they increase in professionalism and seek to improve their stock. This is also a way to attract new landlords and new funding into the sector. The measures we are developing with the Homes and Communities Agency build on this by seeking ways to encourage more institutional investment in private rented homes.

The consultation runs until 7 August 2009.

I am also announcing today my intention to legislate at the earliest opportunity to provide better protection for tenants in repossession cases.

At present, a gap in legal protections means that some tenants could be evicted at short notice if their landlord is repossessed—sometimes with less than two weeks to move their belongings and find somewhere new to live. I propose to extend this notice period to two months. These changes are part of a wider package of support the Government have put in place to support households at risk of repossession in the current economic climate.

In the mean time, lenders and government are working together to try to mitigate the impact on tenants whose landlords are in arrears including by promoting and sharing good practice between lenders through the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Very often tenants can be adversely affected because the borrower is in breach of the terms of his mortgage. Changes to the rules for informing tenants if their landlord is due to attend a court repossession hearing have already come into effect. We now want to ensure that in these cases where a landlord repossession takes place following the hearing, the tenant gets a two-month notice period.

Both these initiatives—our response to the Rugg review and the measures on repossessions—are positive, constructive steps we are taking to enhance and strengthen a key housing sector, and to provide a balanced range of protection to those who provide private rented accommodation and those millions of people who live in it.