News

On 23^rd October 2024, the Renters Rights Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons.  This legislation is now being reviewed in its committee stage, followed by further readings and scrutiny in both Houses of Parliament.

The new law is expected to come into force by the middle of the year.

When this Bill becomes law, it will change the legal position in respect of residential tenancies, not just for new tenancies, but also for existing tenancies as well.  

What are the main changes that the Renters Rights Bill brings to the Private Sector?

Essentially, this proposed reform intends to increase the rights of Tenants by allowing them to have more security in their homes.  The most significant change is that Landlords will lose the right to evict tenants without a reason and it thus abolishes the use of the Section 21 notices which dealt with possessions on “no fault” evictions.

Type of tenancies

The Act will abolish fixed term tenancies.  All new tenancies will be periodic tenancies.  This means that the tenancy will be ongoing until the Landlord or the Tenant brings this to an end by serving the appropriate Notice.  Tenants will continue to have the right to end their tenancy by giving one month’s notice.  Landlords will be able to evict their tenants if any of the grounds for possession in the Act are satisfied. 

A new Private Rented Sector Database

As part of this legislation, an online database will be created where all Landlords must register.  This should help ensure that all Landlords are in possession of the requisite information about their rights and responsibilities in respect of the Tenancies they have created.

A new Private Sector Landlord Ombudsman

There is not an Ombudsman for Tenants against Landlords at present.  The new law will create one which will deal with issues Tenants face in their property and complaints against Landlords will be resolved through this system.   The Ombudsman’s decision will be binding on Landlords.  However, Landlords will not be able to use this system if they have an issue or complaint against their Tenants. 

Rent Increases

Tenants will have greater rights in the ability to challenge rent increases by Landlords.  Landlords will be able to increase the rent once a year by serving a two months’ notice on Tenants.  Should the tenants wish to challenge the rent increase, they will be able to do so via the Property Tribunal, the process of which will be simplified and the decisions taken by the Tribunal will not be higher than the Landlord’s proposed new rent.  However, any rent increase decided by the Tribunal will take effect from the Tribunal decision date, not the date requested in the rent increase notice.  There is a concern that tenants might use this loophole to clog up the tribunal system by automatically appealing every rent increase when their worst-case scenario being that the effective date of the rent increase is delayed.

Grounds for Possession

The Grounds for Possession will change from the current grounds found at section 8 of the Housing Act 1988.  Whilst many of the grounds will be kept such as rent arrears, anti-social behaviour and damage to the property, there will be new grounds introduced such as when the Landlord intends to sell the property, which is a common reason Landlords currently use when issuing a section 21 Notice but is not presently a ground Landlords can rely on. 

The most significant change here deals with the notice period of each ground and most notice periods have been extended to allow more time for Tenants to arrange moving out of their property thus it is hoped that the system will work better by allowing sufficient time for Tenants to find alternative suitable property.    The notice periods vary from 2 weeks to 4 months depending on the seriousness of the ground and the requirement for a speedier possession. 

We will provide further updates on this Bill as it passes through Parliament so please continue to check our website for these updates.  

Curwens has an experienced Litigation Team available to assist our clients. If you require legal assistance with your residential tenancy or require assistance with seeking possession of your property, please contact our Litigation Team on 020 8363 4444

Sara Alili is a Litigation Solicitor and an Associate Solicitor at Curwens