England’s 11 million tenants are set to have greater security in the future as the Labour Party introduces a new bill banning termination without fault.

The Conservatives introduced a tenants’ rights bill, but initial plans for a ban were shelved indefinitely before the whole bill was scrapped because of the election scheduled for July.

Now the Labour Party has presented a tougher version of the bill, which, among other things, provides for a strict ban on landlords evicting tenants without giving reasons under Section 21.

Homelessness and tenant rights charities welcomed the tougher plans, which also end blanket bans on welfare recipients or people with children and Awaab’s Lawforcing landlords to address problems such as damp and mould, into the private rental sector.

A Conservative spokesman said any new laws must be “coherent and well thought out” to ensure “choice and freedom” in the housing market.

Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, said the abolition of Section 21 evictions was “long overdue” and would give tenants “more confidence to take action against dilapidation and poor treatment” by landlords and letting agencies.

Mr Twomey also welcomed the planned doubling of notice periods before evictions and said a proposed ban on landlords “pitting tenant against tenant in bidding wars cannot come soon enough”.

The promise of better protection against unreasonable rent increases is welcome, he added. However, tenants remain “vulnerable to backdoor evictions due to high rents.”

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate agreed that the government had done the right thing by putting a stop to the no-fault evictions that have “plagued England’s renters for years now”.

She called on the Labour Party to go further, pointing out that 60,000 tenants were evicted from their homes last year due to rent increases.

“Tenants need to know they will not be forced out of their homes by exorbitant rent increases, and the discriminatory practices that drive so many into homelessness must be eradicated,” she added.

However, Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, sounded a note of caution: it was vital that the bill was fair to both tenants and landlords, who would need time to prepare for the sector’s biggest shake-up in 30 years, he said.

The current backlog in the courts continues to pose a problem for all eviction proceedings, he added, and Westminster’s cross-party select committee on housing has warned that there is a risk of overload.

“This does not serve the interests of tenants and landlords seeking justice,” Beadle said.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner promised that there would be no further hesitation or delay in re-orienting the rights of tenants and landlords.

“Tenants have been abandoned for too long and too many are stuck in degrading conditions and powerless to do anything because they face eviction,” she said.

“Most landlords act responsibly, but a small number of unscrupulous landlords are damaging the reputation of the entire sector by exploiting the housing crisis and forcing tenants into bidding wars.”

The Conservative spokesman added: “Poorly drafted legislation will reduce supply, drive up rents and limit choice for tenants.”