Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps he has taken to ensure compliance with the (a) Equality Act 2010 and (b) Renters' Rights Act 2025 within the rented housing sector.

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 provides local authorities with strong investigatory and enforcement powers to bear down on rental discrimination practices in the private rented sector.

It addresses both overt discriminatory practices, such as ‘No DSS’ adverts, and situations where landlords or letting agents use other indirect practices in order to prevent someone entering into a tenancy.

The government is increasing ring-fenced civil penalties to support a ‘polluter pays’ approach to enforcement of the new tenancy system.

In accordance with the New Burdens Doctrine, we will ensure additional net costs on local authorities resulting from the Act are fully funded. To that end, my Department is providing £41.12 million to local housing authorities for this financial year to help them undertake their new enforcement responsibilities. This funding is in addition to the £18.2 million provided in 2025/26.

Our aim over the long term is to establish a sustainable funding system for private rented sector enforcement based on future Private Rented Sector Database fee revenues. We will set out further details in due course.