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

I'm also a landlord with just one small flat. Most of our tenants stay for some years and seem happy. It's managed by a good agent and we've only put the rent up once, slightly, in the last 12 years. However some of the more stringent rules and regulations mean that we will probably have to sell the flat - it's in a beautiful listed building where very limited changes are allowed and the insulation levels can't be raised to give us the EPC level required for letting. Our current tenant is an elderly man who rents because he doesn't want to buy and I hope very much that we won't be forced to evict him when he's been living there happily for more than five years.
As@whirlyheadposted earlier, our flat has also hardly gone up in value at all over the time we've owned it, and though we charge a reasonable rent we probably get a return lower than we would in a savings account.

Id love to kick one of our tenants out. She's caused so much hassle over the years, and other people in the block of flats keep complaining. But - the rent is paid on time - and flat is reasonably well kept, so the only option i have is to keep increasing the rent each year until hopefully she will decide too expensive. Only other option woild be to report her to housing benefits, as its a 2 bed flst and she no longer has custody of her daughter.

Landlords have had their rights eroded over the last few years. Landlords with one or two properties will give up, and their properties will be bought by big corporations who care nothing for tenants, and will charge enormous rents.
Those big corporations have skilled lawyers who will find reasons to evict whoever they want.
It's almost like the government wanted their mates to profit isn't it?

So no, it's not good. It ends small time landlords, takes away competition in the market, and rents will rise to compensate for loss of control.

Landlords always seem to get the bad press. Rents will go up as there are less Landlords now. Many sold up in advance of this legislation. That wont impact house prices.
Private Landlords provide a service that local authorities cant. There is no such thing as affordable housing so people will always be looking to rent. Landlords might become even more fussy about who they agree to rent to. Ultimately still bad for tenants.

It’s clearly bad for Landlords , not having flexibility with your own property can never be a good thing . There is no profit at all in being a one / two BTL owner and with all the extra costs being introduced there is no profit . This will be bad for tenants because they’ll be no money in the pot for repairs etc and if Landlords end up subsidising costs out their own money there’s no point having a BTL . If they then sell the property to vast conglomerates that’s also bad for tenants as they’ll lose the ‘ personal ‘ aspect eg if a tenant is late with the rent because of a change in jobs for example a small landlord can agree it . A large conglomerate will add late payment fees and have a whole legal army behind them to evict if necessary . Be careful what you wish for . As an aside I think this government is beyond stupid to introduce this at a time when there are no houses , where are people going to live if private landlords give up .

The bit I do not understand about the State’s take on this - no landlords were paying themselves a wage were they? Most just did the actual work part (their own time) for free? So how can corporations reasonably provide the landlord service so much cheaper?

Because I have a fairly small one bed flat my tenants will typically be single people who would not be entitled to social housing. Some have been intending to buy eventually, or working in the area on contract for a couple of years. My current tenant is elderly and doesn't want the bother of owning his own property.
One of my concerns is that in future landlords may not be allowed to turn down potential tenants - personally I don't want students as I have seen the mess that they can make of a property. I also want just one person with good financial references and without pets. I'm sure that other landlords feel the same.

Any rental increase can be challenged, however small. The tribunals are going to be very busy so long backlogs, and no possibility of putting the rent up until you get to tribunal and even then it can’t be backdated. So it’s in tenants’ interests to challenge any increase.

I don’t mind about pets, I have always allowed them as a dog lover myself.
I believe you will still be able to do credit checks / affordability checks. You cannot discriminate against people with protected characteristics but I don’t think this includes students, you can choose not to rent to them.

A lot of larger London buildings have head leases stating no pets/no students/no benefit claimants/no rentals to tenants making a noise or the freeholder can revoke a leaseholders (flat owners) long term lease. So what happens to those head leases? They were signed years ago.

It’s an odd term but one that I’ve used to mean it wasn’t a case of buying to let and using it as an income stream. It was a side effect of another choice.

These are the people who will remove a good chunk of stock from the rental market. Renters are then free to buy those houses if they want? Rental is a choice for some people to get a better property than they could buy.

My understanding is that the Head Lease still over rules everything else so a no pets building stays no pets. This isn't London specific, lots of places have these

Very bad for students and their landlords, both of which want one year contracts as they move around. Also bad for tenants like doctors who need to move around every august for their rotas. I'm a student landlord and this could leave me with problems if one party if a group refuses to move out preventing a new group from moving
in.

Daft move by the government IMO. I am an “accidental landlord” and I have one house which I used to live in, but have been renting out for 20+ years. I have always charged a fair rent. The current tenant has been there a few years and pays below market rate and I’m a good landlord ie get things fixed immediately. In recent years the amount of tax I’ve had to pay on rental income (ie can’t deduct mortgage costs) has started to irk me, and now with this new bill, if/ when he gives his notice, I will sell the property as it’s just too much hassle. I may even evict him and sell. I can’t see how reducing the rental housing stock - given that many people say the same as me- is a good thing.

thats the sort of attitude that gets landlords giving up .

Landlords have been hit by many many things that have made them sell over the last few years, this is just the latest

Will late payment fees be allowed with the new law? I don’t think so.

And the company can have the best legal in the world behind them, but they still have to follow the law and use a legitimate reason to evict a tenant, which will take months from start to end, as it does now.

If may affect owner occupiers of flats as well if landlords cannot get problematic tenants out? For example, in certain mansion blocks the reason certain types of tenants are not allowed by the head lease is to keep building insurance costs down. A certain profile is just not a risk insurance/lenders etc are willing to take on without upping the cost significantly. And if there is a way round it via a head lease structure then surely all block owners including landlords will enter into agreements to exclude a certain profile of tenant anyway?

Landlords are a blight on society, they only care about easy money.

The Chancellor has crashed the pound again which means it is easier for foreign investor property groups to buy up and then sell back at a racket? You would think our Government had learnt from the care sector and SEND? It appears not. Coupled with the failures to build houses en masse (they are massively behind on targets) - and not giving any incentives to buyers - whaf exactly do people think is going to happen?

You don't think they're necessary then?
For students?
For contractors?
For doctors etc on rotation?
For people who for whatever reason cannot currently get a mortgage?
Where do you suggest these people live?

@Snakebite61 - so do you actively want international private equity groups to buy up UK rental property and charge back to social housing tenants and students at an inflated costs and the taxpayer to pick it all up? Because that is what you will get. Like others have said, Dave down the pub who was topping his pension up with 1-2 properties and doing the DIY was never the problem.

Exactly.

So many great perspectives. Something had to change - tenants have been for past 40 + years been second class to owner occupiers in a way, when think about it. I’m a landlord - agricultural land and residential in UKcities and overseas. When think that tenants can be made to move for no good reason other than landlord asks, to not be able to have pets (in appropriate properties), to live with the uncertainty of always feeling you could be moved on - that’s a terrible way to live. If there is a glut of landlords selling up which reaches a tipping point - aka severe lack of affordable rents properties - I believe government will step in and seek to buy up those properties or if vacant for over a year and it’s that servere, introduce CPO laws. Think there will be a period of adjustment but it’s a step bright direction.

Landlords will give up on students. This is what happened in Scotland, particularly Glasgow, when similar legislation was enacted.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/housing-shortage-university-of-glasgow-b2227907.html

It is getting better now, but only because private student lettings companies are constructing purpose built blocks at a rate of knots. Those are the sorts of companies which demand a 50 week contract.