Draft Residential Tenancy Law referred to Scrutiny
Scrutiny
9 July 2025
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During the debate on the Draft Residential Tenancy (Jersey) Amendment Law 202- (the Law), today, Wed 9 July, Deputy Inna Gardiner called for a referral of the Law to the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel. Therefore, the Panel shall continue reviewing the Law in order to present a robust and evidence-based report to the Assembly before the next States Sitting on 9th September 2025, when the debate shall resume.The Panel’s review to date has included:
- A public call for evidence, with 248 submissions received from tenants, landlords, letting agents, legal professionals and advocacy groups.
- Public hearings with the Minister for Housing and key stakeholders including Caritas Jersey, the Jersey Estates Agents’ Association and the Jersey Landlords Association.
- A comprehensive report with 34 recommendations to consider from independent advisor, the Right Honourable Michael Tomlinson.
Key themes from the stakeholder submissions and public hearings:
- Misinformation and confusion has affected stakeholder and public engagement on the draft Law.
- There is broad, cross-sector support for more data collection on the rental market to inform future policy and provide clarity of housing conditions and rents.
- Many tenants reported positive and constructive relationships with their landlords, however, this experience is not universal. Likewise, landlords noted having to deal with occasional problems created by tenants who do not meet contractual obligations.
- Stronger safeguards have been called for by groups who reported examples of tenants in vulnerable situations, e.g. without signed tenancy agreements, no notice periods and sudden rent increases.
- All stakeholders expressed the need for the new Law to include resourcing of enforcement bodies, clear communication and guidance, with practical tools to help landlords and tenants comply with new rules.
By allowing extra time for the draft Law to be further examined, the Panel will be able to present a detailed report of its Review, together with the independent advisor’s report and proposed amendments for States Members to carefully consider ahead of the resumed debate of the draft Law in September.
Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Panel Chair, Deputy Hilary Jeune, said: ‘Residential tenancy legislation affects thousands of Islanders and the Panel is very grateful to all of the people who have taken the time to share their views and experiences with us. This is a ‘once in a decade’ opportunity to modernise the Law and my Panel is committed to ensuring that landlords and tenants alike stand to benefit from a system that has been robustly examined, challenged and improved. The detailed scrutiny and refinement stage can now begin and we look forward to the Assembly’s post-scrutiny debate of this draft Law which has an impact on so many Islanders.’
