The Renters Rights Bill and its Impact on Landlords and Tenants

🏠 Renters’ Rights Bill: Major Tenancy Reform Unveiled

The government has announced sweeping reforms to the private rental sector through the new Renters’ Rights Bill. This legislation introduces a modern tenancy system designed to protect renters from arbitrary evictions, improve housing standards, and provide landlords with clearer, fairer rules.

🔚 Ending Section 21 Evictions

The Bill will abolish Section 21 “no fault” evictions, which currently allow landlords to remove tenants with minimal notice and no justification. This change will give renters greater security and the confidence to challenge poor practices without fear of losing their home. Landlords will benefit from simplified regulations and expanded, well-defined grounds for possession.

📆 Periodic Tenancies Replace Fixed Terms

Fixed-term assured tenancies will be removed. These often force tenants to continue paying rent even when a property is substandard or personal circumstances change—such as a job move, relationship breakdown, or buying a first home.

Under the new system, all tenancies will be periodic. Tenants can remain in their homes indefinitely and end the tenancy at any time with two months’ notice. This offers flexibility and ensures renters aren’t trapped in unsuitable accommodation.

⚖️ Strengthened Grounds for Possession

The Bill supports responsible landlords by clarifying and expanding the grounds for possession, while ensuring tenants are protected from unfair eviction and given adequate time to relocate.

• Court Process: Landlords must apply to court to evict a tenant, providing evidence that the legal ground is met.
• Mandatory vs Discretionary Grounds: Courts must grant possession for mandatory grounds if proven. Discretionary grounds allow judges to consider whether eviction is reasonable.
• Tenant Fault Grounds: Landlords can serve notice at any time for antisocial behaviour, property damage, or significant rent arrears.

🛡️ New Protections for Rent Arrears

To prevent viable tenancies from ending unnecessarily:

• The threshold for mandatory eviction will rise from two to three months’ arrears.
• The notice period will increase from two weeks to four.
• Discretionary grounds remain available for repeated late payments.

🏠 Landlord Rights to Reclaim Property

Landlords will retain the right to reclaim properties for personal use or sale, with added safeguards:

• A 12-month protected period at the start of each tenancy will prevent eviction for these reasons.
• A four-month notice period will apply, giving tenants time to find a new home and reducing the risk of homelessness.

🏘️ Sector-Specific Grounds

New possession grounds will be introduced for accommodation tied to specific purposes—such as temporary housing, supported living, or “stepping stone” schemes—ensuring availability for those who need it.

Social landlords will gain expanded rights to reclaim properties for redevelopment, including:

• An extended version of ‘ground 6’ to support regeneration.
• A new ground allowing possession when tenants have been rehoused during redevelopment.

In most cases, landlords will be required to offer suitable alternative accommodation.

📋 Compliance Requirements

Landlords who fail to protect deposits or register properties on the private rented sector database will be barred from regaining possession—unless they rectify the issue. These restrictions will not apply to cases involving antisocial behaviour.

💷 Fairer Rent Increases

The Bill will standardise rent increases and empower tenants to challenge unfair rises:

• Rent can be increased once per year to market rate via a Section 13 notice, with two months’ notice.
• Tenants can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal if they believe the increase exceeds market value.

🔧 Tribunal Reforms

To improve confidence in the appeals process:

• Tenants will never pay more than the landlord’s proposed rent.
• Rent increases will no longer be backdated.
• In cases of hardship, the Tribunal may defer increases by up to two months.

Rent review clauses and other informal methods of increasing rent will be prohibited, ensuring transparency and consistency.

🚀 Implementation Timeline

The new tenancy system will be introduced in one stage:

• All existing and new private tenancies will convert to the new rules on a single implementation date.
• Fixed-term tenancies will become periodic.
• Section 21 and legacy Section 8 notices will no longer be valid.

The government will provide advance notice and work with stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition. Existing rent increases and notices served before implementation will remain valid.