The Renters Rights Bill

April 14, 2025

Whilst it still has a few stages to go through before it becomes law, it has been widely documented that the Renters Rights Bill is expected to come into play during the Spring/Summer of 2025. It is expected to bring some large changes to the Private Rented Sector. Worrying landlords who feel it will make it incredibly hard to regain possession of a property, potentially encouraging poor tenant behaviour and increase rental arrears across the sector. In this blog we aim to provide some further clarity to landlords on what we expect to come in and how it will affect or benefit their investment.

Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs):

The Renters Rights Bill will see the end of minimum fixed term tenancies. This means that all tenancy agreements will effectively be Periodic Tenancies from the moment they start. However, one positive change for landlords is that tenants must give 2 months’ notice to vacate a property. There has been no mention of any changes to the way in which notice must be given. I.E. In writing, in line with the rent payment date. This effectively means the shortest possible tenancy is 3 months. With the majority of properties being let unfurnished, which provides quite an upheaval for any move, it is hard to see how the vast majority of tenants would actively choose to move after 3 months. The minimum fixed term currently is 6 months, so it stands to reason that there won’t be major changes to the lengths of tenancies on the whole.

No Fault Evictions:

The Government have confirmed that they intend to abolish the Section 21, No Fault Eviction. In reality it is very rare that the Section 21 is used to serve notice for ‘No Fault’. Most of the reasons a landlord may want to regain possession of their property will be covered in the updated Section 8 Grounds for Evictions. Effectively, this is to be brought in to stop the ‘Retaliation Eviction’ that has become a buzz phrase in the news. Whereby a landlord would serve notice if a tenant complained about the condition of the property or similar.

Grounds for Eviction:

In place of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, the Government has introduced a wider range of clearly defined grounds that landlords must rely on when seeking possession of a property. These grounds are split into mandatory and discretionary categories, covering everything from persistent rent arrears and anti-social behaviour to selling the property or moving in a family member. Each ground comes with its own required notice period and legal criteria, aiming to provide greater fairness, transparency, and protection for tenants while ensuring landlords can still reclaim properties when needed.

You can view the full official breakdown of grounds and notice periods on the Government website here.

Rent Increases:

Rents can be increased once every 12 months, using the standard Section 13 Rent Increase Notice. The increase must not exceed market value rent, and the tenant must be given 2 months’ notice of the increase. The only difference here is that the notice of the increase has extended from 1 month to 2. This is no real change from how the vast majority of landlords already work. It is being put in place to stop ‘Back Door Evictions’, another buzz phrase in the news. Whereby landlords hike the rents to unachievable levels to force the tenants to leave.

Rent Payments:

Landlords will no longer be able to ask for more than 1 months rent to be paid in advance. This means rent on all tenancies will be paid on a monthly or weekly basis. Again, the vast majority of tenancies are set up so that the rent is paid ‘Monthly in Advance’ so there will be no real, material changes by this alteration. In fact, this change may make it harder for tenants with poor credit to rent properties as there are often cases where tenants offer to pay 6 months in advance as they are unable to pass the reference checks.

Rental Discrimination:

Landlords will no longer be able to automatically reject tenants with children or pets or tenants who claim housing benefit. They will have to consider all applications that come in for their rental property. However, they are still perfectly entitled to pick whichever applicant or applicants they wish. Landlords will also be able to insist that any tenants with pets, take out an insurance policy to cover any damage caused to the property by the pets.

Private Rented Sector Database & Decent Homes Standard:

There will be a central database established which will show all landlords and all rental properties. It will also show any enforcement action taken against a landlord and property. The landlord and property will have to be registered on the database before the property can be advertised To Let. There will also be a Landlord Ombudsman, where tenants can raise issues with how a landlord is treating them or looking after the property. The Decent Homes Standard will be brought into the private rented sector which will put in more regulations on to the quality of property landlords have to provide. In reality the hope is that this will root out the poor landlords and force them out of the sector. Creating less stock, which will increase demand and rents for the better landlords. It will also open up opportunities for the better landlords to grow their portfolios as other landlords looks to off load their rental properties.

Further thoughts from our Head of Residential Lettings: