But pressure on the courts is only expected to intensify after Section 21 is abolished.

Jessica Parry, a partner at law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, said there will be an “inevitable influx of cases” to the courts.

She added: “The courts are already overburdened and simply cannot cope with a huge influx of residential tenancy disputes. If the process is too slow, expensive and uncertain, private lettings will become considerably riskier, and could discourage residential landlords from the sector altogether.

“If so, this could lead to supply issues and increased market rents to off-set the new risks involved. This could end up hurting the very renters the new regime aims to protect.”

Waiting two years to sell

In place of Section 21, the Renters Reform Bill will bring in specific grounds on which a landlord can regain possession of their property.

Labour is concerned some of these grounds could be exploited, so is keen to bring in tighter rules to combat this.

Proposed amendments include not letting a landlord claim intention to sell or move in with a family member for at least the first two years of a tenancy – currently they only have to wait six months.

The opposition party has also said it would require the landlord to offer the property for sale to the tenant before trying to evict them on the sale ground.

In addition, Mr Pennycook wants a “hardship test” to be applied to some eviction grounds – by that, he means allowing the courts to refuse a possession order if they think it will cause greater hardship to the tenant than the landlord.

The current bill includes a ground for “persistent rent arrears”, to be used when a tenant falls into two months of arrears at least three times.

Labour wants to remove this entirely and give the courts power to adjourn or even suspend possession claims brought to them on the basis of rent arrears.

Contesting rent increases and pets’ rights

Under current rules, landlords must give a Section 13 notice at least two months before increasing the rent.

If the tenant challenges this, a tribunal can set the rent to the market rate. This could prove a gamble for the tenant, as if the market rate is higher than the proposed rent increase then their bills could spiral even higher.

Labour wants to amend this, so that the tribunal can only set the rent at the amount proposed by the landlord or lower – and that any rent increase decision made by the tribunal only comes in two months afterwards.

The proposed amendment means landlords who need to increase their prices due to higher interest rates could be forced to foot the extra costs themselves.

Currently, landlords can also refuse tenants who want to bring their pets with them. The new bill “requires landlords not to unreasonably withhold consent”, leaving tribunal judges to decide whether pets can or can’t stay.

In Labour’s most recent report from its National Policy Forum, the party has also vowed to develop a whole new right for tenants to have pets in private rental properties.

£10,000 EPC bills

Labour has previously said five million properties would need to be upgraded to an energy performance rating of C or better by 2030.

Its £28bn investment into green pledges has since been rowed back on. Ed Miliband, Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero, has previously said he would reinstate policy proposals scrapped by prime minister Rishi Sunak requiring landlords to upgrade their properties’ energy efficiency.

Property investors were going to be barred from renting out their homes unless they shelled out to increase the EPC rating of their homes to a C by 2028.

It was understood that landlords were going to be required to spend no more than £10,000 on energy improvements, even if that expenditure did not bring the home to the minimum rating required.