The King’s Speech: key bills for rural businesses
Knight Frank looks at the main bills announced in the King’s Speech that may potentially affect rural landlords, estates, and farms.
4 minutes to read
King Charles III delivered the first Speech to Parliament by a King in over 70 years, setting out Rushi Sunak’s Government’s legislative programme for the rest of this government term. The King's Speech included 21 bills but largely no surprises. Some were newly introduced bills while others are already being debated in the Houses of Parliament.
There are four bills that could potentially impact some rural businesses in the short to medium term. They include the Renters (Reform) Bill, the Leasehold and Freehold Bill, the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill, and The Trade Bill.
Here is a summary of each bill and also a rating on the likelihood that the bill will become law as published by The i newspaper and how much political fighting may occur over the bills according to Politico.
Renters (Reform) Bill
This bill is currently proceeding through Parliament and was covered in a previous article. Prior to the King’s Speech, it was announced that the ‘no fault eviction’ section would be delayed even when the bill became law.
The government says it wants better court systems and processes in place first. The bill will extend to England and Wales and apply to England, setting out to:
- abolish ‘no fault evictions’ - but only when new court processes and possession grounds are in place
- strengthen landlord grounds for possession
- introduce stronger powers to evict anti-social tenants
- ending blanket bans on pets
- support quicker and cheaper resolution when there are disputes - preventing them from escalating to costly court proceedings
- create a digital Private Rented Property Portal to bring together key information for landlords, tenants, and councils.
It was also announced that the following amendment will be brought forward:
- make it illegal to have blanket bans on renting to tenants in receipt of benefits or with children
The i: how likely is it to pass into law? 3/5
Politico: bust-up potential 8/10
The delay to the ‘no fault eviction’ section may mean some hotly contested debates in Westminster that could mean the bill may be touch-and-go on whether it becomes law.
Leasehold and Freehold Bill
The government says that it wants to create better fairness in the housing market and further reform leaseholds. This was one of their manifesto commitments building on the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rents) Act 2022. The bill will extend and apply to England and Wales and aims to:
- make it cheaper for existing leaseholders to extend their lease or buy their freehold
- increase the standard lease extension term from 90 years to 990 years for both houses and flats, with ground rent reduced to £0
- remove the requirement for a new leaseholder to have owned their house or flat for two years before they can benefit from these changes
- increase the 25 percent ‘non-residential’ limit preventing leaseholders in buildings with a mixture of homes and other uses such as shops and offices, from buying their freehold or taking over management of their buildings
- improve leaseholders'’ consumer rights by amongst other things, replacing buildings insurance commissions for managing agents, landlords, and freeholders with transparent administration fees and granting freehold homeowners on private and mixed tenure estates the same rights of redress as leaseholders
- ban the creation of new leasehold houses in England and Wales.
The i: how likely is it to pass into law? 3/5
Politico: bust-up potential 6/10
The bill doesn’t ban leaseholds outright but the complexities around this area may mean that it is delayed until after the next general election.
Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill
No animals have been exported live for slaughter since the government announced its intention in 2021. This bill is intended to bring into effect a permanent ban on animals exported for slaughter. However, live animals will still be able to travel to be bred or for competitions.
- The bill will ban the export of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and horses for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain.
The i: how likely is it to pass into law? 4/5
Politico: bust-up potential 5/10
It is likely this bill will make it through Parliament before the next general election as it is seen as in effect in place anyway. Breeders will be relieved that their trade will be spared the ban.
The Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill
The UK has become a member of a free trade area called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). It includes 11 countries such as Canada, Japan, Australia and Singapore. It will mean that 99 percent of current exports to the CPTPP countries will be eligible for tariff-free trade. The bill will extend and apply to the United Kingdom and will:
- give CPTPP parties greater access to our government procurement market
- enhance regulatory cooperation between the UK and CPTPP parties on conformity assessments
- bring our approach to geographical indications (GIs) into line with CPTPP
- expand copyright protections so performers from CPTPP parties are covered.
The i: how likely is it to pass into law? 5/5
Politico: bust-up potential 3/10
The government has said that dairy farmers would benefit from reduced tariffs on cheese and butter exports to Canada, Chile, Japan, and Mexico and better trade opportunities for whisky producers. It is highly likely the bill will become law.
Photo by Mark Topliff