Renters’ Rights Bill – February Update

Following on from our September update, the Renters’ Rights Bill moved quickly through the House of Commons and is currently moving through the House of Lords. The second reading, where the Bill will be debated in detail, is scheduled for 4 February 2025.

The latest updates on the Bill are as follows:

Abolishing Section 21 “no-fault” evictions (which currently allow landlords to evict residential tenants without providing a reason) remains one of the main provisions that the Bill seeks to implement.
All possession claims will be by way of a Section 8 notice with new grounds to be introduced to allow landlord to seek possession where they are intending to sell their properties (new ground 1A). The notice period for this ground is 4 months and it will not be possible to rely on this ground during the first 12 months of the tenancy. Landlords will therefore not be able to market or let the property for 16 months from the date of the notice (being the 4 months’ notice period plus an additional 12 months). Therefore, if the sale does not go through, the property will have to stay vacant until the end of the 16 month period.
New ground 4A allows landlords letting to students to regain possession of their properties in order to let to other students. The notice period under this ground is four months and the notice must take effect between 1 June and 30 September to align with the university academic year. The property must also be a house in multiple occupation (HMO).
Fixed term tenancies will be banned which will bring a lot of uncertainty to both landlords and tenants. Tenants will no longer have to wait 6 months to give notice to leave and can do so from the first day of the tenancy which might result in vacant periods for landlords while they search for a new tenant. Tenants in return will lose the long-term certainty of a fixed term tenancy.
A new requirement will be introduced requiring tenants to be provided with a written statement of their tenancy. However, it is not yet known what this will look like.
Landlords will need to sign up to the National Landlord register, also known as PRS Database, requiring that all landlords and properties are registered before they are let.
Landlords and agents will be prevented from asking for more than one month’s rent in advance for Housing Act 1988 tenancies, licenses and student tenancies. This may cause problems for tenants with weak credit histories trying to enter the private rented sector and international students who will struggle to secure suitable accommodation as they have no credit history in the UK or a UK guarantor. If landlords are not able to request additional sums to be paid upfront for security, these people are unlikely to be offered tenancies at all.
Guarantors will not be liable for the rent where there is only one tenant and that tenant dies, but the guarantor will be liable for all other losses caused by any other breaches of the tenancy agreement. If there are two tenants and only one dies, the guarantor remains liable for the rent in full unless the tenant who dies is a member of the guarantor’s family.

The Renter’s Rights Bill is currently expected to gain Royal Assent by the end of March.