The Renters' Rights Act

Landlords now require a valid reason to evict their tenant from their property. This means you are required to serve a Section 8 eviction notice with a specified ground to end the tenancy. The tenant will then have 4 weeks to vacate the property, so it’s even more crucial that your tenants are vetted thoroughly before they sign the contract.

In addition, for grounds 8 & 10 – Rent Arrears will now only be served once the tenant is 3 months in arrears, not the 2 months as was previously the case.

In the private rented sector, tenancies now roll on from month to month, or week to week (depending on your arrangement), with no end date.

Tenants now need to provide a 2 months’ notice, instead of 1 month.

When advertising a rental property, landlords and agents must state the rent and can no longer suggest a price range. This rule also encompasses any communications between the landlord, agent and tenant.

The stated amount sets a ceiling for offers, not a starting point. It is now considered an offence to accept offers over the stated amount, with the first offence costing £7,000. A property can state one rent amount for “furnished” and a different amount for “unfurnished” on the same property – but it needs to be very clearly stated. ​

You can accept an offer below the stated amount, but this amount cannot be increased until the first rent review 12 months later.

As the title suggests, it is now an offence to require rent in advance. It’s important that potential tenants pass referencing to remove the need for advance payments. Using the right property management team, who can handle this for you, is even more important.

On a periodic tenancy, it’s important to know guarantors can give “reasonable” notice to end their role as guarantor.

If a guarantor isn’t notified of rent increases, their responsibility as guarantor is removed automatically.

If they are removed as guarantor, there is now no requirement to re-reference the tenant to ensure that they are able to meet the affordability for the rent by themselves.

Reasonable grounds include:​

Another tenant has an allergy (most applicable in HMOs)​

The property is too small for a large pet or several pets – a Great Dane in a small flat.​

The headlease prohibits pets​.

Reasonable concern for the animal’s welfare – if a dog is going to be left home unattended all day every day.

All landlords will need to register on the PRS Database. This applies regardless of whether their property is managed by an agent. Please note that agents will not be able to register on behalf of their landlords.

It’s expected that there will be an annual fee to register on the database, however a cost is yet to be released.

Landlords will also need to register with a property redress scheme – even if they have their properties manged by an agent who is already registered with a scheme.

There will be a fee for registering, but the cost is yet to be released.

You will need to be registered before your property can be marketed – breaching this could result in a penalty of £7,000. Following the first penalty, if you haven’t registered with 28 days, you can be penalised again with a penalty of £48,000.

A new, independent Private Landlord Ombudsman will provide landlords with tools, guidance and training on how to deal with complaints from tenants early on, while also providing tenants with information on how to sort complaints against landlords quickly and fairly, without the need for court proceedings.