Matthieu

In my view, it’s to prevent landlords from using the new ground for eviction (which as an ‘intention to sell’ is a really low bar) as an alternative to no-fault evictions which will be banned under the bill.

How easy to monitor that would be, I have no idea.

I suppose the key consideration would be that there be a way to check whether someone demonstrably attempted to actually sell the property. The peers behind the Lords amendment at the beginning of my thread seems to suggest that having it on the open market would suffice to prove that.

I think it has to be read in tandem with the ban on no-fault evictions which is also part of the bill. The govt is probably worried that this would've been used instead as an alternative if there was no deterrent.

... but given how low the bar is (otherwise anyone could claim that they were intending to sell their property -- but that in the end they couldn't find the buyer or some other excuse -- in order to evict someone) there does seem to have to be some deterrent to it being misused.

I suppose you could make the argument that it's easier to find a buyer on the market if the property is already empty...

A short answer to your initial point: the restricted period applies when a landlord evicts a tenant under the grounds that they intend to sell a property. So this could be before they put it on the market, let alone have agreed to sell it to somebody.
bsky.app/profile/wyrm...

bills.parliament.uk/publications...

All references used are from the version of the Bill that was brought from the Commons to the Lords (HL Bill 60) so the clause numbers may have since changed.

Renters' Rights Bill Clause 19

The 'restricted period' is defined under Clause 19... a 12 month period from when notice is given by the landlord.

Schedule 2 Ground 1

Schedule 2 Ground 1A

Grounds 1 and 1A are pretty self explanatory

Renters' Rights Bill (pre-Lords amendments), clause 15

Instead... under Clause 15 which inserts a new Section 16E we have this... which makes reference to a prohibition to re-let or market a property for a 'restricted period' if they made use of grounds 1 or 1A in Schedule 2...

Now that actually amends a clause that, if you went looking there, makes no reference to that restricted period... (continues next post)

Amendment 58 of the Renters' Rights Bill (HoL)

It's a real pain to find but this is basically it (few posts may be necessary so bear with me).

The easiest sign of it existing is this HoL amendment (which the government was defeated on -- so this will be back in ping pong) shortening the 12 month restriction on re-letting a property to 6 months.

Yes, her case isn’t quite what would be covered, but clearly as we’ve seen in the way it’s reported, the optics are poor as despite the finer details, it’s very much against the spirit of what’s being legislated

Not only that, but doing something that will be heavily discouraged (by setting out a period after the eviction for a sale during which a property cannot be re-let) under the future Renters’ Rights Bill being legislated on by the government she sits in takes incredible skill. Wonderful optics.

Takes incredible skill to do something like that just before your very own legislation becomes law.

Also something that is expressly covered by the Renters’ Rights Bill! You’ll be restricted from re-letting for a period if you feign a sale to avoid landlords doing what she did.

The top of the voting record that we produce for each defeat.

Did you know that there have been 83 government defeats in the House of Lords so far this parliament?

We have a record on our website of every defeat of this kind dating back to 2005!

Find out more and sign up to our mailing list to be alerted of new defeats 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution....

Aside from the ones on Waterloo Bridge, all of the temporary crash barrier-type HVM on the other bridges only protected the pavement as not the cycle lanes. So I wonder why the need now to protect the cycle lanes too with the permanent HVM.

1. Why not the thinner bollards as on Westminster Bridge?
2. Is it now standard policy to have the cycle lanes on bridges also protected by HVM? If so, really seems like an afterthought here.

Just passed by (with it being easier to see now that the swap has happened), and it’s very much an odd choice. Cycle lane is basically on pavement level (unlike on Westminster Bridge) and protected by the HVM barriers. I guess the only good news is that there’s less tourists and no ice cream van!

Penny wise, pound foolish. Still see lots of that type of in policy today in the UK! Plus ça change...

A lot of sinophiles in the Foreign Office are very much responsible for how things eventually ended up...

cc @takingthepith.bsky.social, I think you might be able to help? Good to see you on Bluesky by the way!

@tomgrundy.hongkongfp.com Hey Tom! This 57.6k figure does not intuitively feel right? I think that might be an average annual number of people leaving HK per year during that period instead?

hongkongfp.com/2025/07/24/d...

An unbearably sad statement from the Editorial Committee (SDJ) of the AFP news agency, please read:

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die.
AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip… /1

As much as I’d like tri-axles in London, I doubt it’ll happen! Big market is always going to be in HK (and the demonstrator being in full KMB-spec is no coincidence) and they are going to need to get up to speed before all the orders there are snapped up by mainland Chinese manufacturers.

Looks great! Small request alongside the map which already has been mentioned, could the constituency list be made sortable?

Plans for electoral reform mark a major step forward in reforming our democracy Speaking at the civil society summit, Sir Keir Starmer outlined a range of democratic reforms, including the introduction of votes for 16-year-olds. Professor Alan Renwick provides his in-depth…

'They should be the start of an ongoing process of fundamental democratic renewal. And on some of the matters requiring further change, the need for action is urgent.'

Read our Deputy Director, @alanrenwick.bsky.social's, instant analysis of the elections white paper for @uclpolicylab.bsky.social 👇