The Renters\u2019 Rights Bill was turned into an act this week, being granted Royal Assent on Monday 27 October.<\/p>\n
While the law has officially been passed, the roadmap for rule implementation has yet to be announced by government, who said they would add clarifications in the \u201ccoming weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n
After the bill\u2019s passing, campaign group the Renters Reform Coalition declared \u2018BREAKING NEWS: We\u2019ve won!\u2019 \u2013 signifying that the Act is generally seen as more of a win for tenants than landlords or agents.<\/p>\n
The latter two groups typically counter this by suggesting the fresh Act will result in higher rents, as they account for higher levels of risk being taken on.<\/p>\n
However, with tenant affordability being stretched by rising rents in recent years, there are question marks over whether tenants have the capacity to take on any more rent increases.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: \u201cFor too long, millions of renters have lived at the mercy of rogue landlords or insecure contracts, with their futures hanging in the balance. We\u2019re putting an end to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cA secure home isn\u2019t just bricks and mortar \u2013 it\u2019s the foundation for opportunity, safety, and a better life. No child should grow up without one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Section 21 eviction ban has been one of the most talked about aspects of the new Act, which will force landlords to evict tenants only when they have a reason. It\u2019s thought it will come into force in mid-2026.<\/p>\n
The challenge with this, as it stands, is landlords would be forced to go through the sluggish court system, where it can take a year from a tenant falling into arrears before a non-paying tenant is removed, given the cost of escalating cases to the High Court and getting a court-appointed bailiff.<\/p>\n
Allison Thompson, national lettings managing director at LRG, said: \u201cBased on current indications, we expect key provisions such as the abolition of Section 21 and the transition to periodic tenancies to take effect in early to mid-2026, with elements such as the national landlord database and Decent Homes Standard to follow later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abolishing Section 21 has been talked about for six years, as you have to go back four Prime Ministers before finding the one who first announced that it would be abolished \u201cimmediately\u201d \u2013 Theresa May.<\/p>\n
The benefit for tenants is without Section 21 evictions being an option, they don\u2019t need to fear being evicted in retaliation if they complain about the condition of a property.<\/p>\n
Landlords will still be able to evict tenants when they break the tenancy agreement, for example by not paying the rent for three months, or committing antisocial behaviour.<\/p>\n
They can also serve an eviction notice to sell or move into their property, though they aren\u2019t allowed to re-let the property in this situation for 12 months.<\/p>\n
Scott Clay, director at Together said: \u201cThe removal of Section 21 or \u2018no fault\u2019 evictions could now trigger a swathe of unjust cases being overlooked or ignored, causing costly and time draining situations for legitimate landlords.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a clear roadmap on how the reforms will be rolled out \u2013 which has dubiously been promised in the \u2018coming weeks\u2019 \u2013 the potential impact to housing activity is in limbo until we know more. What we must avoid is more houses being left empty for months on end, worsening rather than improving our housing crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Renters\u2019 Rights Act means periodic tenancies will be the norm, meaning they will operate on a rolling basis rather than contracts running for one or two years.<\/p>\n
To look at how this will affect the market you can look at Scotland, which introduced rolling contracts in 2017.<\/p>\n
\t <\/p>\n
These tenancies enable tenants to terminate their agreement with two months\u2019 notice, meaning landlords will have to be more on-hand when it comes to finding a new tenant.<\/p>\n
For landlords meanwhile they need to give tenants four months\u2019 notice, while they cannot serve an eviction with a view to moving or selling in the first 12 months of a tenancy. Clearly tenants are therefore granted more flexibility than landlords.<\/p>\n
Scott Goldstein, property disputes partner at law firm Payne Hicks Beach, said: \u201cThis considerably increases the freedom of tenants to end their tenancies if their circumstances change, but it will lead to yet greater uncertainty for landlords faced with the prospect of losing their rental stream before they are able to find a suitable replacement tenant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Periodic tenancies are generally seen as a bad thing for letting agents, who will lose a significant revenue stream in the form of tenancy renewals.<\/p>\n
The introduction of periodic tenancies could also make landlords less keen to let one and two-bedroom properties to students, given that they can no longer reclaim their properties at the end of the academic year.<\/p>\n
HMO landlords with three or more beds can use the Ground 4A Exception, which enables them to regain possession of their property with four months\u2019 notice. For this to take place the tenancy needs to be agreed at least six months before it starts.<\/p>\n
There are separate rules for tenants in purpose-built student accommodation, applying to companies and university-owned providers, rather than individual landlords. In those cases landlords can give tenants a notice period of just two weeks.<\/p>\n
Landlords cannot prevent a tenant from keeping a pet unless they have a \u201cgood reason\u201d.<\/p>\n
There were attempts to enable landlords to demand tenants take out pet insurance, or pay an extra deposit to keep a pet in the House of Lords, but they were all quashed by the government, effectively meaning landlords are being forced to take on this extra risk of property damage.<\/p>\n
On the upside, pets generally lower stress and anxiety, so a more pet-friendly rental system could mean a healthier set of tenants across the England and Wales.<\/p>\n
Campaigning organisation AdvoCATS has given the new Renters Rights Act a lukewarm reception, claiming the new legislation will be significantly less effective in increasing the number of pet friendly landlords than it could have been.<\/p>\n
Jen Berezai, its founder said: \u201cThis huge piece of new legislation had the potential to make renting with pets easier and fairer for both tenants and landlords alike, and that opportunity has been squandered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s just one example: a PRS (Private Rental Sector) professional who had convinced over 2000 landlords to alter their stance on pets on the understanding that they\u2019d be able to ask for pet damage insurance, but that premise is no more.<\/p>\n
\u201cA minimum of 2000 pets taken out of rescue. Scale that up across the country, it would have been the answer to every rescue\u2019s prayers.<\/p>\n
\u201cPet damage insurance offered a practical, affordable and budget friendly solution to tenants wanting to rent with pets, which was also popular with landlords wary of potential damage costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were bitterly disappointed that such a common-sense way of persuading more landlords to be pet friendly was taken off the Bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The introduction of a private rented sector database and Ombudsman.
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The launch of new offences and criminal penalties for landlords.
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Limiting advance rent payments: Landlords will only be allowed to ask for one month\u2019s rent in advance.
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All homes will have to meet a Decent Homes Standard, though it\u2019s not expected to be implemented until as far away as 2035, as the government plans to give the sector time to cope with new minimum energy efficiency rules introduced in 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Renters\u2019 Rights Bill was turned into an act this week, being granted Royal Assent on Monday 27 October. While the law has officially been passed, the roadmap for rule implementation has yet to be announced by government, who said they would add clarifications in the \u201ccoming weeks\u201d. A tenant-first Act? After the bill\u2019s passing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-second-home"],"yoast_head":"\n