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

If this doomsday scenario does manifest and the situation for renters becomes worse - aka, and even smaller supply of affordable homes, genuinely think government will not have a choice but to do more - aka CPOs. Housing is crashing the public sector now (temporary housing & lack of affordable housing), there will be anarchy if it gets worse. Unless the country vote in reform then it’s well chaos full stop.

I am a landlord so no hate for LLs. I am no fan of Starmers Labour but they have done a couple of things quickly - for first time in 40 + years they have enabled local gov to reinvest monies from sales of properties back into capital build. Plus this renters rights bill which had to come.

in 2029 those born in 2013 will be able to vote. People born in 2000 will be 29, peop
borm in 1990 will be 39. The majority of voters may end up being under 50. Governments tend to direct policy to the bigger voter base. It is a total $$$$ show atm and am hoping the country votes in hope not the looney reform party at next election

Renters rights are fine in principle, but it would need to be against a backdrop of an increase in supply of housing and helping people onto the housing ladder - the latter two are not offered. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/16/britains-biggest-housebuilder-urges-government-to-support-first-time-buyers
What Labour are doing is not going to work. They are literally selling off to foreign investors and squeezing what is an essential service (housing) even more. I just do not agree with this approach at all, and all the experts are telling them it is madness.
You cannot just try and plan for a next election with 16 year old plus votes and a coalition with the Green Party and hope for the best. They actually need to realise that this is quite dangerous territory.

The principle of a stable housing market and rights is all fine and good, but if the financial side is not at all worked out and neither the supply side, it is very dangerous.

Are you for real? Do you own a home @SunnySideDeepDown?

A LL needs a huge pot of money for repairs

eg if the boiler goes kaput circa £4k

Repairs to roof/ guttering/leaks

Keeping the house in a good state of repair ie regular replacement of carpets, a new kitchen and bathroom every 10 years, full decoration every time a tenant moves house. £20-30K

Replacement of kitchen appliances when they stop working - they have to be replaced immediately you can’t leave a tenant without cooking facilities.

Other repairs that nay occur - eg a leak in an underground pipe which means having to dig up the hallway and front garden cost£1k +

It’s not like owning your own home where you can put off fixing some jobs in a rentals things have to be fixed/replaced immediately. No waiting until you’ve saved up the money to do it.

And tax - it has to be paid

A “government spokesperson said: “We are building the 1.5m homes this country needs to restore the dream of homeownership, and have introduced a new, permanent mortgage guarantee scheme helping buyers with a deposit as small as 5% to own a home.””

We know they are lying and behind on targets due to skills shortages and increased employment costs! And where is all the advertising making people aware of the new mortgage guarantee schemes? If interest rates are coming down, they need to be proactively pointing people in that direction - it is all a catch 22, if people have zero confidence they do not buy and housebuilders do not build? You cannot get finance into a falling market etc I just do not understand which planet any of these politicians live on!
You cannot just have some “ideas” and not think any of it through and have a complete disconnect between various government departments. It is all so frustrating.

But won’t tenants now be able to give all 2 months notice ? How would a LL know they only wanted to stay a short time…?

If a private landlord's flat is managed by an agent and is in a block there will be a service charge, this is used to build up a pot of money to pay for future work. Typically this includes repairs and decorating in communal areas, lift maintenance, heating of common areas, gardening, inspection and maintenance of fire alarms and fire doors, entry system etc. etc. etc. If you have gas there has to be a regular gas inspection and an electrical inspection (though less often).

A lot of these investment properties are actually investments in student accommodation I think.

The Large Corporate landlords don't use small local lettings Agents so they will be badly affected. I know quite a lot who already have been as they don't have enough Rental stock

Fuck it, we will sell off and move on.

It can be increased to whatever the landlord decides between tenants. Most landlords have increased rents in the last 6-12 months to compensate for this anyway. I increased all mine to current market rent in the summer. Some went up by 15+% because I’d not bothered increasing them for quite some time. I’ve had no tenants leave as a result.

Of course there are circumstances where a property has to be let out. In my own case we own our own home and were posted abroad so it’s either leave it empty or rent it out. My best friend has inherited a house upon the death of a parent. Another friend has been posted to work at the other side of the Country, yet another has married a guy who also owns his own home as they are in 40s-50’s. It’s really not hard to see how these situations arise.

Those people you mentioned are still making a choice to actually become a landlord though. I can understand in your situation, if you’re posted abroad but there’s a chance you’ll be coming back, the most sensible thing is to rent out your house for the foreseeable future. But someone who inherits a house, or marries someone and ends up with two properties? You sell the house. If you choose to rent it then you’ve chosen to become a landlord - therefore not ‘accidental’

Well of course. But as the poster has pointed out, they didn't intentionally buy a property to rent out. That is what the term accidental landlord means.

In some ways I agree with what you are saying @SilverPink . However, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to be a private landlord; surely it’s more important that you provide quality housing at or below market rate and respond quickly when/if any difficulties arise.
In my case, this is my one and only owned home and we do intend to return to it, maybe this makes us be even more careful to maintain it well. We have had to rent ourselves too all the years we have been abroad so I can see both sides. We are more concerned with who is in our house and don’t actually make a profit after management fees, gardener, maintenance etc but our house is older and more difficult to maintain so def not a typical renter.