More tenants will be protected against arbitrary rent hikes, under legislation due to be debated in the House of Assembly today.

Any home with an annual rental value of $27,000 ($2,250 a month) will be covered under rent control rules, as part of the Rent Increases (Domestic Premises) Control Amendment Act.

Currently, only homes with an annual rental value of $24,600 ($2,050 a month) are covered by the law.

Tenants rights for anyone in a home which falls under the required annual rental value include:

• unless the tenant chooses to leave at the landlord's request, the landlord is not permitted to arbitrarily terminate the tenancy, and may only do so after obtaining a court order;

• protection from arbitrary rent increases;

• protection from having to provide the landlord with large deposits.

Energy Minister Michael Scott is scheduled to give the bill its second reading in the House today, the final sitting before the Christmas break.

Mr. Scott told The Royal Gazette yesterday that the bill intends to protect the public from "shrinkage of the pool of protected units".

He said the amendment follows a review of valuation of all premises in Bermuda by the Land Valuation Department.

In a busy day for the Energy Minister who also speaks on Justice, Mr. Scott is also expected to give second readings to the Police and Criminal Evidence Amendment (No. 2) Act, and the Anti-Terrorism (Financial and Other Measures) Amendment Act.

He describes the first of these as simple housekeeping amendments to include offences not covered by the PACE Act 2007; while the Anti-Terrorism bill is another piece of legislation aimed at making sure Bermuda is not used as a backdoor for illegal activities.

Also tomorrow, a debate is expected on the National Training Board Amendment Act, which means the Labour Minister will be able to make decisions over the NTB without getting permission from the House of Assembly.

Keen NTB critic Charlie Swan will lead the United Bermuda Party's response; he will likely speak about the lack of information about the NTB which has been allowed into the public domain.

Mr. Swan has tabled parliamentary questions demanding to know which trades are going to be included on the NTB's apprenticeship programme, other than welders, electricians and mechanics.

Finally today, there is a chance UBP MP John Barritt could go through with his Court of Appeal Amendment Act, which would give the prosecution the same right of appeal as the defence in criminal cases.

Mr. Barritt's bill — tabled twice before in previous parliamentary sessions — comes after controversial cases which have remained closed against the wishes of some, including Roger Bowen's death by drunk driving case and the Kellon Hill and Rebecca Middleton murders.