It has been sold as a once-in-a-lifetime piece of legislation designed to improve the rights and protections of tenants and put an end to no-fault evictions. It will also require landlords to carry out essential repairs within a reasonable timeframe. The Renters Reform Bill has been a long time in the making, and will still take many more months to make its way through Parliament.
Our special report looks beneath the surface of the bill to ask what effect, if any, this legislation will have on housing supply, rental prices, tenant security and the scourge of poorly maintained, unfit and unsafe homes. We talk to the experts to find out how it will impact the private rental sector, and hear views from tenants and landlords alike, to get both sides of the story. It’s everything you need to know.
Also inside
In an exclusive interview with The Big Issue, London Mayor Sadiq Khan introduces his new book, Breathe, and reveals the health scare that started him on his journey to fix the capital’s toxic air
Sophie Ellis-Bextor is here to reminisce on how her essential lockdown kitchen disco came into being. She also talks about the “kaleidoscopic pop†of her brand-new album, Hana, created with longtime collaborator Ed Harcourt
Shane Meadows goes back to the old England of the 1760s in his new gothic crime drama, The Gallows Pole, a tale that resonates with the poverty and hardship so many face today
Shirley Collins fell in love with folk singing at a young age, but her soaring career was brought to a tragic and abrupt end when a broken heart caused her to lose her voice. Find out how she found it again in her Letter To My Younger Self
The story of The Orchid Outlaw takes us to the lonely roadside verges and neglected scrublands of urban centres, where Ben Jacob worked covertly – and illegally – to rescue rare and fragile plants from the onslaught of development
In the stadium gig arms race, Beyoncé is killing it. But how did we get here? Malcolm Jack charts the journey of stadium shows from the unpolished, inaudible chaos of The Beatles in the 1960s to the maximalist eye-popping – and wallet-shredding – extravaganzas we have now
Plus much more!
