Renters bill

[JosieMain]

With the new bill coming into law later this year/ early 2026, a question:- is the only way to move tenants on (should they not have breached contract nor fall behind with rent arrears, aside from other specialist areas - student, employment, homeless accommodation), if a property is being sold, redeveloped or landlord moving in? As if so, tenants will have rights to stay in property forever until those points come into play. Aka no more section 21.
Intersted in views of is this interpretation right + is this reasonable.

Can I ask why you’d want to move a tenant on who stuck by all the rules and paid rent on time, unless you were selling or moving in yourself?

I agree with @Catterbat , why, if a tenant is a good tenant, paying the rent etc, would you want them to leave unless you were selling or moving in? I have tenants who have been with me for many years, they are great, pay the rent and take care of the property, surely that is a landlords goal?

The new rules:

www.totallandlordinsurance.co.uk/knowledge-centre/evictions-and-section-21

@JosieMain that is exactly how I understand it. Tenants can also leave more easily, rent fairness can be challenged, and tenants are allowed to have pets.

All that said, what @Catterbat asks is reasonable. I am a landlord, and would much prefer to have good tenants.

Although I would say that the changes coming into force in 2030 will be forcing me to sell.

That is my understanding, no more no fault evictions. I can understand why it has come about, people being evicted and then a higher rent demanded for new tenants.

The problem isn’t so much with existing tenants, but it is difficult to know whether your new tenant will be good, even with references and deposits. If the tenant does decide to stop paying rent or breaches the contract, the landlord will have to go to court to argue over whether or not it is a bad enough breach to justify repossession and the procedure is significantly more difficult and expensive than the no fault section 21 route.

It is one of a number of factors reducing the numbers of houses for rent and pushing amateur landlords out of the market which is in many ways a good thing, but institutional landlords aren’t going to care if a good tenant falls on difficult times and doesn’t pay for a couple of months or pays reduced rent.

yes it’s right you can only move them out if selling , or moving in , not sure about redevelopment because what’s to stop a landlord just saying you’ll have to go because I’m putting a new bathroom / kitchen in .

I suppose generally speaking you wouldn't want to, but you might want to rent to family or friends, for example. Or the tenants may not be in breach of contract, but difficult to deal with.

Why would you randomly want to get rid of good tenants who pay the rent and look after the property?

You will still be able to evict who don't pay and to get possession back if you want to sell or live in the property yourself.

What more do you need?

The new rules are targeting dodgy landlords who evict tenants who dare to complain about poorly maintain properties or because they want to charge a much higher rent to new people...

Can you give me an example of behaviour which wouldn’t breach a contract but be severe enough to force someone out of their home?

I’m am/was landlord. I was pro-active and caring. Tenants said “jump” and I said “how high?”

It’s taken me 12 months to get tenants out. Section 21 is just a request to move out so my tenants ignored it. I was on the verge of court proceedings.

I’ve cleaned up the house 🙄 and it’s just sold. Fingers crossed it’ll go to completion.

I’m so glad I’m not going to be a Landlord any more. You’re on a hiding to nothing. The govt is only interested in corporate landlords. Corporation taxes etc. I’ve heard on the grapevine that Lloyds Bank and John Lewis are some of the biggest landlords. (Sorry, can’t provide a source.)

I don't think a move to corporate landlords is a bad thing, @PashaMinaMio .

I used to know a few people who rented flats from Norwich Union (now Aviva) back in the 80s. They had secure tenancies, controlled rents, the properties were modern and well maintained and the flats were lovely, far nicer than anything I've ever rented privately.

What changes in 2030?

All rented properties must have an EPC rating of C or higher.

None of mine meet this, and everything I am able to do has already been done. Loft insulation, modern condensing boilers etc. I cannot insulate the walls so I have no other option. I suspect many landlords will be in a similar position. And if they can make enhancements, the costs will be passed on to tenants, so not only will there be fewer properties, those that remain will demand much higher rents to cover the upgrades.

Pretty disastrous for people who rent.

Could a landlord say they wanted to sell, but not put it on the market? Do they have to prove they’re selling it?

they have to provide evidence

I wouldn’t - I’m a tenant atm

I don’t rent out property any more, but in the past we did and have not renewed tenancies several times despite the tenant paying on time and looking after the property. The sole reason on each occasion was because they were inconsiderate of neighbours. By which I mean noisy, rude, untidy…we valued the neighbours goodwill more than we valued the money.

That is good news. Why shouldnt tenants have some security at long last? Especially those who always pay on time & look after the property.

AST through agent paid deposit one months nothing for a year took £10k to remove loss of rent and baliffs. £6k to refurb we’ve moved all rentals to air b and b
renters bill will hurt tenants not landlords hence 28k landlords selling up every month Hamptons course

I wouldn't force them out because of this but a while back we had tenants who were young graduates and they were just incredibly hapless.

They would phone the agents for all sorts - e.g. power surge has tripped the circuit breaker, how do we flip the switch? Can you help us change a light bulb? The clocks have changed and we can't work out how to reset the water heater timing? We have lost the instructions for the washing machine and also have an inability to Google the manual?

Basically clearly the offspring of mumsnetters who did everything for them until they left home.

We had agents so they fielded all of this which helped but if you managed your own property, it would have driven you up the wall

If you charged each time you needed to assist with things like this then they'd soon start working it out for themselves.

Absolutely. Sadly I don't think it's possible.

They would also just overstate the issue. E.g they called to say the washing machine was broken but when the agents popped round, it turned out to be that it was switched off at the wall. Really stupid stuff like that.

We paid out a lot in call out fees until we instructed the agents to do a better job at asking idiot questions before sending someone out

@ Parsley4321-
That’s dreadful, and I’m led to believe you’re far from alone. The system will penalise the small landlord - my DD rents in London from a couple who own the flat as a retirement plan: she and her DH pay below market rent because they are good tenants and the landlord doesn’t want them to leave. But I suspect when they do leave, the owners will sell up, so another property lost to the rental market.

It's stupid beyond belief.

The reason this bill was passed is to eradicate the private landlord, leaving only the commercial ones. But in the UK this is inappropriate, we don't have huge tower blocks spread across the country.

It will make renting even more expensive.

The "market rate" for rent will in future be set by the landlords themselves, it will be similar to a cartel. If there are only half a dozen "Superlords" who own all the rentals in a city, the market rate for rent across the area can be set artificially high and nobody can challenge it.