Renters rights bill - 1 May 2026 good or disaster?

[Rosie8880]

So the renters rights bill has now been confirmed. From May 1 next year all tenancies will become rolling/ periodic and section 21 no fault evictions will end. Reading some blogs some landlords feel this is the end of private landlords. I don’t feel it is. Housing is a serious thing obvs and for many decades it’s been seen as a financial wealth building instrument, first, and a home second. I think tenants will stay in properties for longer now which will onto benefit local communities, and minimise people having to move around all the time. Will there be a shortage of housing now - I don’t feel there will be. As less people hopefully will need to move all the time. There will be less need. Plus the homes that do get out on market will help lower asking price as more homes are made available. But let me know your thoughts

As a landlord I’m in it to make profit and build a pension. My choices are (1) invest in BTL or (2) invest in a ETF ( exchange traded fund) which pays dividend. With the mounting costs AND RISKs with BTL it’s either put rent up to counter balance profit and risk OR move out into ETF. The cost, risk, benefit of BTL are reducing…. So if the chancellor increases landlord tax (NI or CGT), the risk will not make sense. Of course if tenants caused less damage to properties they rent then landlords refurbishment costs will be less. I always give very good tenants a monthly discount on rent (good = reporting damage and repairs quickly, heating property, ventilating, not being rough with the kitchen or bathroom and taking off shoes when at home in the property).

Not necessarily. Many pension portfolios consist of rental properties, some of the most ordinary houses I deal with are owned by such companies. They have an almost infinite capacity and can afford the most stringent checks

I am still getting my head around the accounting for this so was not aware of the restriction on interest deductability. In addition to rental income we now have new self employment accounts to deal with. So a steep learning curve. Thankfully I am retired so have time to research it and make sure I get it right.
I have done self assessment in the past so am aware of the basics of that at least. Currently I am looking at Making Tax Digital. As the total Taxable Income is going to be less than £50k there is no rush.

@Another2356 this is not necessarily true. My family rented a farmhouse on private estate land owned a local Lord. No mortgage and pure profit. There were extensive grounds (around 2-3 acres) that had been left to overgrow for at least a decade. We hacked back brambles that had claimed large portions and used a stout John Deere lawn tractor to tame the overgrown garden/orchard. The agents then sought to increase our rent due to the improvement of our labour!

There was no rolling contract. We lived there for 8 years with 4 fixed term contacts. The landlord did no maintenance in this time but sought to increase rent by several hundred pounds per month each time the contract came up for renewal purely based on the fact that tenants had transformed the place from a dump into somewhere desirable to live. The house itself was still a rat infested dump with rotting window frames but on first view looked like a country idyll with cut lawns, pruned bushes and trees and multiple planters and hanging baskets and flower borders.

Because there was no rolling contract it was very difficult to time the end of contract with purchasing timetable when we left due to delays with vendors and land registry. The landlord issued a S21 notice despite no rent arrears to try and force us to leave before ongoing purchase had completed. Because he’d lined up new tenants at increased rent. We were told they would be showing up with removal vans and we had to vacate. Obviously this was all bluff and bluster and in the end we completed on the new sale within days of the end of the fixed term contract (not due to threats) but could have done without the stress.

If nothing else the bill that sanctions the move to rolling contracts for long term tenants is a long overdue good thing that only negatively impacts agents that earn fees (paid by the landlord) from fixed term contracts requiring constant renewal.

It’s pot luck though.

You might get a fab landlord. You might get one who means well but is clueless and you have to tell them what they are supposed to be doing. You might get one who is intimidating and you are scared to speak to. You might get one who you never hear from until the day they tell you that you have to move out. You might get one who is an alcoholic who lets themself into your house while you are out at work and helps themself to your drinks cabinet.

All examples from personal experience.

It's a fucking disaster.

Rentals will become harder to find as LL's leave the market. This will result in increased competition and higher rents.

"Ah, but that's what the bill is designed to address"

Bollocks!

The legislation mentions "market rate". While all you idiots were frothing at the mouth and demanding your renters rights. You weren't watching what was really going on. Your market rate will be set by the only LL in town. And from now on that LL is likely to be a huge fuck off, faceless conglomerate like Lloyd's Bank, who have been busy buying up FIFTY THOUSAND houses to rent back to you.

Dave, with his four buy to lets, was the scum of the earth wasn't he?

He was stopping you buying your first home wasn't he?

Good luck finding somewhere to live now that the only LL's left in the market are the banks.

You think there will be fair rents when the market is literally owned buy one single company?

You fucked yourselves over!

If you thought rents were high now, wait a few years. And who do you think you will call when your shower leaks or your boiler breaks down?

You think the Lloyd's gives a fuck?

"Your call is important to us, please hold, you're currently number 168 in the queue"

Tenants complaining about small landlords, do you want large institutions to be your landlord?

You have a point.

The tax you pay is income tax.
It's a tax on income
Not a tax on profit
You can't deduct your mortgage payment.
I'm assuming you're on a residential mortgage here by the way you worded your post. I'm assuming you're not a limited company in which case it would be corporation tax rather than income tax
Sorry if I've got it wrong but you might want to check

This and MTD will result in private landlords who are in two minds, to sell up. It will be great for institutional and large-scale private landlords, they can hoover up all those properties. With little competition and no rent control, they can pick and choose who they want as tenants and charge what they want.

Yes it is a residential mortgage.

We are aware that we cannot deduct the mortgage payment as an expense.

The house was not bought as a Buy to Let. It was a main home.

We were unable to sell it when buying another property so decided to let it.
The mortgage company know it is now rented out and have changed the mortgage accordingly.

A letting agency is managing the rental. We are aware it will be income tax which is due.

Registratiom with HMRC for self assessment has been done for the sole trader self employment and rental income.
The self employment is not a limited company.

When we were landlords 6 months all our tenants went on a rolling contract anyway. I thought this was the normal practice.

It’s a good deal for students and their parents.

Surely the only thing you can deduct is the fees and insurance then?

So there will be tax to is pay

Quite. You might not have planned it at the outset, but once you are in it you have to professionalise and be very intentional about it. If only because there is a lot of legislation now and if you don’t comply the repercussions can be severe.

I can see it been a disaster for tennants. There are whole companies (offshore, investment banks or private equity based) who are buying up rentals. Once most of the rental market belongs to Blackrock/ people like Mike Ashley/ the investment banks it will be terrible for anyone who is renting.

These big corporate companies have whole teams dedicated to skirting the law and sailing as close to the wind as they can get away with, it will run by the word of the law not the spirit. There will be rent rises every single year keeping every property at market rent (no more below market rentals). There will likely be selling off of car parking in flats to people like europark and each tenant will have to pay to have a space and a permit to park. Those who have a space as part of their flats in cities will probably find they can't rent them out anymore. Just like when private equity get hold of anything, everything will be squeezed for money.

Anyone who is slightly risky as a tenant (benefits, ccjs, bad reference, children, pets, missed payments) will find it hard to rent. If you get behind on payments it will be straight to proceedings and enforcement of contracts (no understanding talk with the landlord), it will be like been behind on a loan payment with a bank. Maintenance will be done by a huge company and likely difficult to get hold of. Good luck trying to win in court against Blackrock/ the banks/ private equity companies.

Why would any LL evict someone 'for no reason' ? I'm sure in many cases there's some very good reasons why.

One would hope the Government introduces laws to restrict how much corporations can raise rents above CPI by, so they can’t just dictate ‘market rates’ for themselves. Also there should be laws around minimum standards of homes with increased regulation to make sure no home is unsafe / not fit for purpose.

Overall, I think businesses running rentals will mean better quality homes than current system with private landlords. And I say this as a private landlord (with a lovely property!). I’ve just been on the other side as a very not-wealthy renter in my 20s.

Having been through a section 21 a few years ago I NEVER want to experience it again. It nearly destroyed me and my husband. Our place we rent is by no means perfect but I'd love to feel safe and secure

@BeetlejuiceBeetlejuice is it good for students?
What happens when the students only want to rent between September - May/June? Will landlords be able to rent to others for those 3 months? I suppose it could work in tourist areas although I'm not sure tourists would be happy with the standard of student rentals (no kitchen equipment, generally very basic beds/bathrooms etc).
Won't landlords just give up on student rentals? Shortage of student rentals will cause major problems, and hike up rents in the few remaining properties.

I don’t think it will change things much because all the changes are what I already do, and what I think most landlords do (rent increase once a year etc). Unscrupulous landlords who increase rent by extreme amounts or evict tenants to be able to do so, well I have no experience of that but if it stops that then fine. I’ve only asked a tenant to leave if I’m selling, which is one of the grounds covered by a Section 8, which I’ll use rather than Section 21.
The property market is fairly flat, the rental market is doing well. I would love a long term tenant in my London flat but most only want a year (I had one for four but that was during Covid). I’ve only increased the rent with each new tenant.
In two years I hope to live abroad for a year. I live in a very desirable family area in London. Houses rent easily. But I’m only going for a year - even without the new rules there’s no guarantee I’d get my home back, so I’ll probably just do short term rents which is not as financially beneficial for me and a family misses out. But as I say the new rules don’t change this.
I did have a nightmare tenant once. He paid first months rent then stopped. I had complaints about him from the first weeks. Luckily he left after his tenancy was up (six months), but he caused some damage and of course I received no rent. It could have been worse - it would have taken at least another six months to get him out through the courts. I think this is a real issue that landlords face and there’s no help for this in the new Bill.

LL here who has just put their rental up for sale. We had the same tenant for years who had to move for work. So when they told us we decided it was the perfect time to sell up.

I think renters needed more protection from crap LLs but there needs to be some balance.

Just about the only industry in this country, that was running along tickety boo for everyone, and now this Liebour shower comes along and ruins it.

There is always a multi agency involvement before evictions is actioned. Even for single men, we will engage with mental health services or anything to try to stop the ASB and support the tenant but sometimes there is nothing that can be done.

Yes, families with kids become the duty of the council but most are not "families" and those without kids become intentionally homeless.

But, HAs always, ALWAYS try to get that tenant to sustain their tenancy and that's written into legislation. No HAs can evict tenants easily, but without S21 it is going to get a million times harder to protect communities.

The number of Landlords is also down sharply in Wales.

There are plenty of houses to buy where I live but nothing to rent within 20 miles. The local FB groups are full of people asking for a rental property but you'd be mad to be a landlord under the Welsh regulations. My own house is apparently unfit for human habitation (due to the pitch of the stairs) although it's pretty typical for the area. I couldn't rent it out if I wanted to!

I dont have any figures to compare, and i think its unfair to tar social housing residents with a brush suggesting they're better or worse than private residents..

Sadly, some people are just arseholes no matter what type of tenancy they have.

But HAs have the staff to manage these, we are all trained in enforcement, whereas private landlords dont have the same and its expensive.