THE Housing Minister plans to reinstate an ‘independent body’ for tenants to appeal against rent rises – but has received a fierce backlash from Reform Jersey over the proposed make-up of the panel.
Deputy David Warr yesterday lodged a proposition to appoint four members to the Rent Control Tribunal, which has lain dormant since 2009.
But Reform Jersey has raised ‘serious concerns’ about the independence of the tribunal, after it emerged that the chair of the Landlords’ Association, Guy Morris, was among the proposed panel members.
In a statement, Reform Jersey party leader Deputy Sam Mézec said the minister had made a ‘serious error of judgment and is setting the tribunal up to fail’.
He said: ‘The proposed membership of the Rent Control Tribunal is inadequate. The minister has failed to propose a membership which represents a balance of the perspectives in our society.
‘He has instead chosen to stack it full of landlords, including the chairman of an organisation which opposed the creation of a tribunal which could allow claims to be made against their members.
‘This is a clear conflict of interest which will leave tenants across the Island with little faith that this tribunal will provide them with any justice.’
Mr Morris will also be joined by Simon Burgess, Ian Gray and Neil Buesnel, if the proposition is approved.
Deputy Warr, who lodged the proposition as part of the Fair Rents Plan to tackle Jersey’s ‘dysfunctional’ rental market, said: ‘The tribunal provides a degree of protection for tenants unfairly charged for rent.
‘A case can be brought forward to the tribunal who will pass judgment on whether the rent being paid is fair. Tenants and landlords can both bring forward cases. The point of the tribunal is for unreasonable increases in rent to be brought to attention. The Rental Control Tribunal has been in the pipeline for a bit but we recognise the market is becoming dysfunctional as tenants can’t move quickly or easily.
Due to adverse things in the market, we have reinstated the tribunal which hasn’t been in action for over ten years as we recognise the need for it currently.’
Addressing the criticism, Deputy Warr stressed that the members of the tribunal were scrutinised and put forward by an independent body.
He added that Mr Morris would be one of four panellists and could be voted down by the other members if there were disagreements. He said: ‘All members have been tenants at one point and are well invested into Jersey society.’
He continued: ‘I think the positive is that we are creating a tribunal. It is disappointing that the tribunal is being criticised for its members instead of seeing the positive that we have re-established it [the panel] to help protect renters.
‘You can’t win. We were asked to set up the panel and now it is met with criticism.’
Separately, Deputy Mézec cited a lack of government action on excessive rent increases, after he revealed a constituent was told their rent was going up by £450 a month.
The unnamed constituent declined to comment as they were facing a ten-day notice period in which they might lose their home as a result of the rent rise.
In a tweet, Deputy Mézec said: ‘I think it is a disgrace. I have had lots of people contact me recently who are in the same position [of high rent increases]. The government need to ban this sort of thing – they have tried asking nicely for landlords to not raise rent prices but it is clearly ineffective. The government need to go ahead and ban large rent increases.’
However, Deputy Warr said: ‘It is difficult to comment on a number that has been picked without context. What does £450 mean as a percentage of their previous rent? It could fairly be taking into account inflation rates or it may be an unreasonable increase.’
The latest House Price Index showed rental prices had gone up 12% compared to the same quarter in 2021, while the most recent Retail Price Index report found the annual rate of inflation to be 7.9% – the largest 12-month jump since September 1991.
