Minister proposes residential tenancy law reforms

Major updates to Jersey's residential tenancy law have been proposed by the Housing Minister Sam Mézec.

Deputy Mézec said the suggested changes to existing legislation, which has been in place since 2011, included enabling tenants to challenge rent increases and limiting the use of fixed-term tenancies.

Guy Morris, chairperson of the Jersey Landlords Association (JLA), said they thought the proposals were "just more red tape".

The minister said the plans "aim to balance the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords to introduce more clarity".

Mézec said Jersey was in "a housing crisis" and that "renters in particular have faced great difficulties, compounded by out-of-date laws which fail to provide them with safe, secure and affordable homes".

Mézec said he wanted to ensure that tenants "know their rights" and had more protection regarding evictions.

He said he wanted to strengthen the notice provisions in periodic tenancies, so landlords could still regain possession of their property when they needed to, but tenants could not be removed from a property unfairly.

He added that he was pleased with feedback the proposals had received and that landlords had told him they made sense and would help raise standards.

Guy Morris, chairperson of the Jersey Landlords Association (JLA), said there was a lot in the proposals which the group supported, including only being able increase rents once a year.

He added however, the JLA thought other elements such as a capped rent increase of either 5% or the current inflation rate depending on which is lower, were "unfair".

Mr Morris said: "We think the existing law which only came out in 2011 strikes the right balance between landlords and tenants.

"We think the proposals are just more red tape."

The minister said he "strongly disagreed" with Mr Morris' comments and said the proposals would hopefully encourage younger people who might be unable to afford property in Jersey to stay on the island.

The States Assembly is due to debate the proposals in the summer.

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