"There is a slight note in the debate of some who see landlords and agents as villains and enemies to be bashed at every conceivable opportunity. For many of us, however, the issue is about how we construct a partnership that gives tenants more rights and that provides a better …..." Richard Graham - View Speech
"On the length of time for the deposit, it is of course eight weeks in Scotland, so does the hon. Lady agree that this Bill is a significant step forward?..." Richard Graham - View Speech
"Surely the hon. Lady will agree that this is part of a package of measures, and that, taken in the round, these are significant steps forward in bringing down costs for tenants, as all our witnesses this morning realised...." Richard Graham - View Speech
"The analogy offered by the hon. Member for Croydon Central is interesting, but it is not true, particularly for apprenticeship wages, where there is a minimum apprenticeship wage and very large numbers of apprentices get considerably more...." Richard Graham - View Speech
"I thought we heard clearly from all our witnesses this morning that the proposal to passport deposits was widely welcomed and would help to solve that problem. Does the hon. Lady agree?..." Richard Graham - View Speech
"All the figures that have been shown to us in evidence so far suggest that the demand to rent from the private sector will continue to rise considerably over the next few years. It is vital that this market functions well, and it is not just a case of doing …..." Richard Graham - View Speech
"On a point of order, Mr Sharma. May I raise a point for the Minister to comment on? We are seeing a bit of trend in this sitting of Opposition Members tabling various extremely well-meaning amendments that, in my view, would make for extremely bad law. For example, the amendment …..." Richard Graham - View Speech
"Q Katie Martin, I will ask you a question I wanted to ask our previous witnesses about who the best people are to try to work with tenants when there are issues effectively of breaking the law. We heard from previous witnesses that they had real doubts about vulnerable …..." Richard Graham - View Speech
"Q Do you happen to know whether it is mandatory at the moment for an agent, or a landlord if it is a direct tenancy, to provide tenants with a bit of paper that spells out what tenants’ rights are on things such as environmental health and up-front fees? …..." Richard Graham - View Speech