As a landlord are you considering…

[Didyousaysomethingdarling]

Giving up and serving a section 21 notice before the law changes 1st May 2026?

The law is changing: the Renters' Rights Act has received Royal Assent and will abolish Section 21 notices from 1 May 2026

I think you’d be mad not to.

No. As far as I can see you can still remove people for non payment of rent, can still put the rent up. You can get people out if you want to sell which would be my only reason.

I do want to sell one of mine but am on a mortgage fix and the market in my town is terrible so it didn't make sense to do it now.

I think the timelines for removing tenants will be very lengthy and costly.

English courts have significant backlogs for Section 8 evictions, with
average waits for private landlords reaching nearly 8 months (33.8 weeks) in mid-2025, the longest since 2022, despite falling overall case numbers, raising concerns about the system's ability to cope with new renter reforms. Delays are especially bad in London, and more tenants are staying post-order, requiring bailiffs.

I'm still in it, the numbers still work for me and when they don't I'll be selling everything.

I'm still in it too..after a period with a non paying tenant, I'm now receiving full rent again so it's worth it. Even if I sell in the future, it would be to another landlord so tenants can stay. In hindsight wish I had never got into it and won't be getting any more properties but we are where we are. Alot of landlords selling though, I get texts from agencies with deals.

Im telling my tenant I will not renew her lease when it’s up in March, but that’s because she has been late in paying her rent, is quite high maintenance and is currently one month in arrears. If she was a good tenant I’d be happy to keep her. It’s my main source of income and have no plans to sell, though I may move in there in the future.
I think if your tenant is good then why give notice? You can still raise the rent annually. The only reasons I’d want a tenant to leave are covered under the brew rules and so what if it’s four months notice required? You just plan for that. And I think most tenants will leave when asked, in my experience it’s the tenants who give notice that they want to terminate. I’ve only once had to give notice for non payment of rent and creating a nuisance, and this more recent time I’m just not going to renew.

We have 3 rentals, our current tenants are good tenants but we have had problem tenants in the past. We plan to sell as they naturally leave, the returns aren't worth the hassle and the stress anymore.

I have a lovely 3 bed family house I was planning to rent out. Due to the reforms I will Airbnb it instead. Much less hassle.

Yep. Well we sold up. Our tenants (a multi generational family of 6) were gutted. Their rent is much higher in their new place.

I'm in Wales, so we are ahead in the rental law reform. I sold 2 years ago. My tenants gave notice and there was absolutely no way that i was renting it out again with the rule changes. I sold at a low price, but having it sat empty was very expensive. I was fortunate to complete in mid march so got to max out two years of isa allowance with my equity straight away, and have been blissfully earning 4%+ interests with zero stress since.

No, we rent out a flat and have no plans to stop, the changes make no difference to us and we are pleased tenants have more protections. We would never evict unless for something serious so would be under s8 anyway.

For me there are two main issues - anti social behaviour and delays in the court system.

At the moment, if neighbours complain about tenants enough, the landlord can issue a S21 and move them on. No fault makes it easier for them to get something else.

While theoretically a landlord can issue a S8 for anti social behaviour, in paractice this will take longer to enforce. And many neighbours who are prepared to talk informally to a landlord will refuse to make a statement/attend court when the anti social people they are complaining about still live next door. The losers from this will be those forced to live in adjoining properties.

Yeah, never planned on renting long term as had a brilliant tenant i didnt want to force to move, but now she has handed her notice in as she is buying a family home its the perfect opportunity; wouldnt bother risking it now.

The market for holiday lets is completely saturated. Also the tax rules have changed recently meaning you can't off set start up costs. The new fire regs ( which are stricter for holiday lets) can cost thousands. You will have to pay double council tax until you qualify for business rates. So not necessarily easier especially if you don't clean it yourself.

We were going to holiday let our 2 bed but kept it as a rental. Where we are ( home counties) the Air Bnb market has totally tanked.

My tenants left at the beginning of summer so I decided to sell up. My last tenants were hard work so I am very relieved that I no longer have to deal with them.

I'll be keeping mine. The new regs don't hinder me in any ways I consider too much.

The combination of a bundle of new social housing and this has seen a fair number of shit landlords locally sell up.

We have agreed to sell one property (it has adaptions) to the council. This would allow our tenant (who was introduced to us by a council scheme 4 years ago) to stay there with the security of it being social housing. However, this is the third time in eight years they've asked to buy this property and it always ends up falling through on their side so none of us are holding our breath.

Long term good landlords shouldn’t have a problem because you can get rid of bad tenants, it’s right to protect good renters from landlords who evict for no reason

Ours is up for sale and luckily the tenants gave notice they will be leaving at rhe end of January so wont have to go through the whole palaver.

We will keep ours. They all have rent protection insurance. The tenants in all of them are long term good tenants who look after their homes and have below market rents. If the tenants leave in one of our properties at some stage we will sell it but not til they are ready to leave and that may be years away

No, I would only want my tenant to leave if I sold, and I would prefer to sell with her in situ as she's been brilliant and is a life long long term reliable tenant.

I don't need to sell as the figures work very well but I would like to as I am an accidental landlord only renting it to move house quickly.

A quick look at the market in the area my house is shows MANY similar houses on the market so I will stick for a while or until mortgage fixed rate is up.

You can still raise the rent annually.

Not automatically.

anthonygold.co.uk/insight/rent-increases-under-the-renters-rights-bill-2025-new-rules-for-landlords/

all rent increases will only be initiated by the landlord serving a section 13 notice. The amount of notice required for the rent increase will also increase to two months’ notice before the new rent takes effect.
Additionally, if a tenant believes a proposed increase is excessive, they will still be able to apply to the Tribunal. However, the Tribunal will only be able to award new rent that is lower than the proposed rent, or at the same amount as the proposed rent instead of a market rent higher than the proposed rent. Further, if a tenant challenges the increase, the new rent will not take effect until the Tribunal has made its decision. Therefore, tenants will be at a much lower risk and be more encouraged to appeal the notice in the Tribunal as even if the Tribunal upholds the proposed rent as a justifiable and reasonable increase, it will still delay the time by which the rent increase will come into effect.

Sold mine (having rented out for 30 years as responsible landlord) as soon as this government came in, and so relieved. I knew it c would be bad but not this bad.
Article today in The Telegraph about other countries including New Zealand and Portugal that thought they would rinse evil landlords and are now scrambling to offer huge incentives to get people renting out again.

You can’t just tell a tenant that you will not renew the lease and expect them to move out. You still have to give formal notice, which you can only do if you have complied with all regulations. Until April, you can use Section 21, but after the new rent act becomes active it will be much more complicated. Moreover, all tenancies will become rolling tenancies, and fixed terms will no longer be allowed.

Short answer: if you want them gone, serve a valid Section 21 notice now.

Personally, I’m not going to try to end my current tenancies because I have responsible tenants, but I will sell once the properties become vacant.

Can you link?

You know all the new rules were put in place by the previous government?