Renters’ Rights Bill Becomes Law: Here’s What It Means for You

Renters’ Rights Act becomes law

Described as the biggest shake-up to renting in England in more than 30 years, the Renters’ Rights Bill has officially become law.

With nearly 20% of UK households now privately renting, the reforms will affect millions of tenants and landlords alike. The government says it will announce when each measure comes into force “in the coming weeks.”

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Long-Term Tenancies Replaced by Rolling Contracts

Under the new law, all tenancies will move to periodic or rolling agreements, replacing the standard 12- or 24-month fixed contracts.

This means renters can stay in their homes as long as they wish, giving them greater stability. If they choose to move, they’ll only need to give two months’ notice, rather than being locked into a year-long deal.

The government claims this will “end the injustice of tenants being trapped paying rent for substandard properties.”

Fixed-term tenancies will still apply in Wales and Northern Ireland, but Scotland has operated rolling agreements since 2017.

The Bill also bans “bidding wars”, where tenants are pressured to offer above the asking price. Landlords must now advertise a clear, fixed rent.

The timing couldn’t be more pressing: UK private rents have surged 5.5% in the past year, hitting an average of £1,354 a month (ONS, September 2025).

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‘No-Fault’ Evictions Abolished

More than 11,000 households in England lost their homes last year through no-fault evictions under Section 21.

The new law abolishes this process. Landlords can no longer evict tenants simply because they want the property back, unless they plan to sell or move in themselves, and only after 12 months, with four months’ notice required.

However, eviction remains possible for:

• Property damage
• Anti-social behaviour
• Serious rent arrears (now defined as three months’ rent, up from two)

Landlords will also be banned from evicting tenants who complain about unsafe or poor conditions.

The reforms introduce a Decent Homes Standard for private rentals, alongside Awaab’s Law, named after Awaab Ishak, the two-year-old who died from mould exposure in Rochdale. This requires landlords to fix serious hazards within strict time limits.

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Rent Increases: Once a Year, Fair Market Rate

Landlords can now raise rents only once per year and must give two months’ notice.

Tenants who believe an increase is excessive can challenge it at a First-Tier Tribunal, a civil court that will assess whether the rise reflects the local market rate.

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Deposits and Upfront Rent

Deposit protection rules remain unchanged:

• Maximum five weeks’ rent if annual rent is below £50,000
• Up to six weeks for properties charging above that

However, the law now caps upfront rent payments to one month, stopping landlords from demanding several months’ rent in advance, a common barrier for low-income tenants.

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Student Accommodation

The law distinguishes between institutional student housing and private lets.

• In purpose-built or university-managed housing, landlords can still give two weeks’ notice for students to vacate.
• In shared private housing, landlords can evict students to make way for new tenancies, provided four months’ notice is given and more than half the occupants are students.

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Pets, Families, and Benefits

Tenants can now request pets, and landlords cannot “unreasonably” refuse. Disputes can be challenged, though landlords may require pet insurance to cover potential damage.

It will also be illegal to discriminate against tenants who receive benefits or have children, a long-overdue end to the “No DSS” policies that excluded millions.

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Mixed Reactions

After a decade-long campaign, the Renters’ Reform Coalition hailed the law as “historic.”

Director Tom Darling said:

“Scrapping Section 21 gives tenants real security in their homes.”

Tenant Elizabeth Sugden, 35, from Manchester, welcomed the change after being forced out last year when her landlord doubled the rent.

“It’s literally ruined my life,” she said. “We’ve been in temporary housing ever since. Our lives are on hold.”

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Landlords Nervous

The National Residential Landlords Association says the reforms have created uncertainty.
Chief policy officer Chris Norris warned many landlords are “nervous” and will now “screen tenants more carefully.”

He also questioned whether courts have the capacity to handle the expected rise in eviction and rent disputes:

“If fraud is reduced by 0.1 percent, will that be considered a success? This feels like a document written by people with no ambition or money to solve the problem.”

Small landlords like Maureen Treadwell fear the bill will backfire:

“I’ve taken chances on tenants before, and they turned out great. Would I do that now? No. If they can’t meet affordability targets, absolutely not.”

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Analysis: A Step Forward, But Not the Revolution Promised

After years of delay and half-measures, the Renters’ Rights Bill marks real progress, ending no-fault evictions, curbing rent hikes, and giving tenants more power to challenge exploitation.

But critics note that without enforcement funding, the reforms risk becoming symbolic.

Local councils – already overstretched- will now shoulder the burden of enforcing housing standards, and the court backlog could mean tenants still wait months for justice.

For now, it’s a step toward fairness, not the end of England’s rental crisis.

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But here’s the kicker…

For decades, successive governments, red and blue alike, have treated housing as a commodity, not a human right. The result is a generation renting from the new landed gentry: buy-to-let barons, hedge-fund landlords and offshore trusts.

This bill doesn’t change that. It simply puts a softer cushion on the same hard floor.

Until housing is built for people, not profit, renters will always be living on someone else’s terms, and someone else’s mortgage.