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We've created a series of videos breaking down five key aspects of the Renters' Rights Bill that could significantly impact the private rental sector. These videos aim to explain the potential benefits and unintended consequences of the proposed changes, helping you understand how they might affect tenants, landlords, and the wider rental market. If you would prefer to read our thoughts, you can do so further down this page.
With our decades of experience and daily insight into the lettings market, we have plenty of our own thoughts on the government's plans to change the renting landscape. Many of the proposed changes will benefit tenants, however we believe some of them will actually make renting harder for plenty of tenants, for reasons we have listed below.
Intention: The government intends to ban advance rent payments to remove barriers for housing benefit tenants who may struggle to meet such requirements, making renting more accessible to them.
Reality: While this may assist housing benefit tenants, it excludes students without guarantors, gig workers, and those using advance payments to meet affordability thresholds. These groups may face fewer rental options, relying instead on costly guarantor services equivalent to a month's rent.
Intention: Banning rental bidding aims to create transparency by ensuring tenants know the maximum they’ll pay when viewing properties.
Reality: Landlords may inflate advertised rents to account for the restriction, causing less transparency and driving market rates higher. This could result in tenants paying more and skewing data for annual rent reviews, perpetuating rising rental costs.
Intention: Allowing no minimum term contracts provides flexibility for tenants to move quickly due to personal or property-related issues without being tied to long-term agreements.
Reality: Landlords may hesitate to invest in property upgrades without tenancy length guarantees. Student housing and short-term visitor rentals could face disruption, with residential properties replacing traditional short-stay options like Airbnbs or hotels.
Intention: Extending the rent arrears threshold from 2 to 3 months and requiring 4 weeks’ notice before legal action aims to give tenants more time to resolve financial issues.
Reality: This change increases arrears to 18-19 weeks before court proceedings start, burdening tenants with higher debts while landlords endure longer financial losses, benefiting neither party.
Intention: Removing Section 21 introduces indefinite tenancies, aiming to provide tenants with greater security.
Reality: Landlords may become risk-averse, excluding tenants with uncertain income or poor credit due to the extended process to regain possession. Indefinite tenancies may still end for rent arrears, affordability, or landlord requirements, offering little real change in security for tenants.
