Newcastle-headquartered Grainger plc, the UK’s largest listed residential landlord and leader in the build-to-rent sector, said it welcomes the UK Government’s Renters’ Rights Bill “and its ambition of raising standards in the rental market.”

The company said: “While the Renters’ Rights Bill aims to raise standards in the private rented sector, it does not include rent controls, a mechanism that has proven detrimental to renters when implemented elsewhere.

“The draft legislation will now go through the Parliamentary process of scrutiny and debate over the coming weeks and months.

“The proposals within the Bill align to Grainger’s well-established approach of providing high quality, energy efficient, mid-market homes to a wide range of household types, with a deep commitment to customer satisfaction and retention.

“Grainger has long supported the abolition of ‘No Fault’ evictions (Section 21). Under the proposals, landlords will continue to be able to address cases of unpaid rent or anti-social behaviour.

“The proposals do not include any form of rent controls and landlords will still be able to review rents annually and set them in line with the open market.

“In addition, to prevent rogue landlords from using egregious rent increases as a backdoor for eviction, renters will be able to challenge extreme rent increases which will be moderated by an expert Tribunal to ensure rents are in line with open market rents in the local area.

“This process (Section 13) is something Grainger is very familiar and comfortable with, as it is an established process within its Regulated Tenancy portfolio, which has historically exhibited rental growth in line with the market.”