The “Renters’ Rights Bill” was introduced to Parliament on 11 September 2024.
This is the Labour Government’s take on the Conservative party’s “Renters’ Reform Bill”, which reached the second reading in the House of Lords before parliament was prorogued in July 2024 and the Renters’ Reform Bill was halted in its tracks.
The Labour Government haven’t let the work of the Conversative Party go to waste and have kept a lot of the provisions of the Renters’ Reform Bill in their new Renters’ Rights Bill, with some notable changes. On the whole, the Renters’ Rights Bill is more tenant-friendly than its predecessor.
I have set out some of the key provisions of the Renters’ Rights Bill, and explained where these provisions differ to the Renters’ Reform Bill, below:
Both Bills allowed for the abolishment of section 21 notices. However, the Renters’ Reform Bill adopted a phased approach and did not intend to abolish section 21 powers for existing tenancies until after the Lord Chancellor had assessed the county court eviction process to ensure the Courts could cope with the assumed influx of section 8 notices.
The Renters’ Rights Bill does away with the Lord Chancellor’s review and will abolish what Labour calls the “scourge of section 21 evictions” for new and existing tenancies at the same time.
Both Bills abolish fixed-term tenancies, meaning that all tenancies will be periodic (month to month, rather than for a fixed term). Existing fixed term tenancies will convert to periodic tenancies immediately. The idea is to give tenants more flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances, rather than being tied to a fixed housing contract.
No tenancies will be assured shorthold tenancies (“ASTs”) anymore. They will instead be assured tenancies.
To end a tenancy, tenants can give 2 months’ notice to the landlord at any time of the tenancy under the Renters Rights Bill. This is different to the Renters’ Reform Bill where a tenant could not give 2 months’ notice until at least 4 months after a tenancy started (effectively creating a minimum term of 6 months). Under the new Bill, tenants can give notice on day 1 of the tenancy starting, creating a 2 month term.
Some of the changes that the Renters’ Reform Bill proposed are being scrapped. For example, there will now be no new Ground 8A. Ground 8A was a mandatory ground for eviction where a tenant has been in 2 months of rent arrears at least 3 times over a 3 year period.
The current mandatory Ground 8 (rent arrears) requires at least 2 months’ rent arrears, however this is being amended to a minimum of 3 months’ rent arrears. This is one of the most common grounds relied on for serving a section 8 notice. The notice period is currently 2 weeks, but is being extended under the Renters’ Rights Bill (and the Renters’ Reform Bill) to 4 weeks.
The new mandatory ground 1A is being retained in the Renters’ Rights Bill, but it can only be exercised after 1 year, rather than the 6 months proposed by the Renters’ Reform Bill. Ground 1A allows the landlord to service a section 8 notice if they wish to sell the property. Landlords must give the tenant at least 4 months’ notice, rather than the 2 months’ proposed in the Renters’ Reform Bill. In addition, a landlord may not re-let the property for 12 months from the notice date or will risk a fine of up to £7,000.
The notice period for relying on Ground 1 (which allows occupation by the landlord or a member of the landlord’s family) has been extended from 2 months to 4 months and cannot be exercised within the first year of a tenancy.
The new mandatory ground 4A will be retained in the Renters’ Rights Bill, but only for full-time students living in Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs). The notice period has been extended from 2 months to 4 months.
Ground 6 (the right of redevelopment by landlords) now requires 4 months’ notice, rather than 2 months.
The proposed wider scope of the existing discretionary ground 14 (antisocial behaviour) has been rejected in the Renters’ Rights Bill. The Renters’ Reform Bill proposed amending the wording from showing that behaviour was “likely to cause” a nuisance or annoyance, to “capable of causing” a nuisance or annoyance. This is not carried forward in the Renters’ Rights Bill.
There are a number of new grounds and this is not an exhaustive list.
Currently, a ground under section 8 can be relied upon, even if the tenant’s deposit hasn’t been protected in a tenancy deposit scheme. This is changed under the Renters’ Rights Bill, so that the tenancy deposit must be protected or must be repaid before a section 8 ground can be relied upon.
Landlords must advertise the rent for the property to be let on the advertisement for letting. They also cannot accept or invite a higher rent than that which has been advertised, even if it is offered by the prospective tenant. These two provisions are new in the Renters’ Rights Bill.
Rent can only be increased by serving a section 13 notice giving 2 months’ notice to the tenant. The rent can only be increased once a year to the market rate. Rent review clauses in tenancies will not be permitted.
Tenants can challenge rent increases by an application to the First-Tier Tribunal if they consider that the increase is higher than the market rate. The FTT cannot impose a higher rent than the landlord proposed in the section 13 notice – currently, the FTT can increase the rent to higher than the landlord proposed, which the Labour Government considers may deter tenants from challenging a rent increase. Rent increases are also no longer going to be backdated, so the increase will only apply from the date of the FTT determination.
Awaab’s Law was not being brought into effect in the Renters’ Reform Bill, but now is being brought in by the Renters Rights’ Bill. Awaab Ishak died as a result of mould inhalation in social housing. His parents fought to introduce a law which required social housing landlords to remedy damp and mould in rented properties within a fixed period of time.
The Renters’ Rights Bill will extend this requirement into the private rented sector, by implying terms for hazard repair into tenancy agreements. If the landlord does not remedy the hazard within a fixed period of time (no details on what this time period is yet), the tenant can issue a claim for breach of the tenancy agreement.
Both Bills introduced a new property Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman. Tenants can escalate complaints to the new ombudsman.
Under both Bills, Landlords could not unreasonably withhold consent to a request for a pet, although the Renters’ Rights Bill shortens the time period for a landlord to respond to a request from 42 days to 28 days. Landlords can require tenants to obtain pet insurance covering damage to the rented property or they can obtain the insurance themselves and require tenants to pay the premiums for this. Any refusal for a pet could be challenged by referral to the new Ombudsman or via the Courts.
Blanket bans on tenants with benefits and those with children will also no longer be permitted under the new Renters’ Rights Bill.
It remains to be seen how the market will respond to the proposed changes to rental situations, although our experience is that Landlords are waiting to see how the changes will work when they come into effect, rather than exiting the market in anticipation. The Labour Government anticipate the Renters’ Rights Bill coming into effect during Summer 2025, and so if you would like advice on an existing tenancy or are considering ‘future-proofing’ your agreements, then please get in contact.
Should you wish to discuss any of the issues raised in this article, please contact Lydia Robison.
