Renters' Rights Bill

What does the bill mean for landlords and tenants?

Published: 05 February 2025
Reading time: Two minutes

What’s been called the biggest shake-up to the private rental sector in 30 years is speeding through the UK Parliament. Corporate Communications Manager Jamie Douglass has been looking at what the bill means for landlords and tenants.

The Renters’ Rights Bill is currently passing through Parliament and is now making its way through the House of Lords - there have even been suggestions it may become law by the end of March 2025. By legislative standards, this is fast, and emphasises the UK government’s determination to get it on the statute books. It will have a targeted impact in Scotland and Wales, but on the whole it will affect renters and landlords in England. It also presents opportunities for the sector and will bring some consistency across England, Scotland and Wales.

Safer and more secure

Friends sitting around a table on their laptops

The stated aim of the bill is to give renters “greater security” and provide “safe and decent homes”. It has also been called the 'biggest shake-up to the private rented sector in 30 years'. There are roughly 11 million private renters across England and Wales, and there has long been broad political consensus that they need greater protections. Before the Renters’ Rights Bill there was the Renters (Reform) Bill, introduced by the previous Conservative administration which sought to end so-called “no fault evictions”, and whilst that disappeared from the parliamentary pipeline, many of the provisions have been retained.

Will the Renters’ Rights Bill apply to existing tenancies?

The UK government says the new rules will apply to new and existing tenancies. It’s worth saying that until we see the final bill however, we won’t know for certain if this happens as planned.

So what are the main provisions? The Renters’ Rights Bill contains a number of measures, but the most significant are:

a ban on ‘no-fault’ section 21 evictions
a limit on rent increases within tenancies to once per year to market prices, with the right of appeal to independent tribunals
scrapping fixed-term tenancies and replacing these with “periodic” tenancies, which tenants can end with two months’ notice
making it illegal for landlords and agents to discriminate against prospective tenants in receipt of benefits or with children
an end to bidding wars by no longer allowing offers above the listed price to be asked for, encouraged, or accepted
a new Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for the private rented sector
applying “Awaab’s Law” to the private rented sector, requiring landlords to address hazards, such as damp and mould, within a specified time period
a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman for landlords and tenants in England
a private rented sector database on which all landlords must register themselves and their properties. This will help identify good landlords while driving out the less scrupulous.

Many of these measures will be welcomed by renters, and tenant campaign groups have publicly done so. In particular, the landlords database will help tenants who are seeking assurance as to the quality of the relationship they are getting into with landlords, and certainty on living costs.

As for landlords, in place of no fault evictions there will be clearer means for landlords to obtain vacant possession - greater clarity all round and assurance on the process if there’s a valid reason. This is already in place in Scotland.

New costs and many days in court?

Woman holding boxes, getting ready to move home

The right to appeal rent increases has always existed, but so-called 'vexatious claims' have hitherto been limited by the fact tribunals could also decide rents were too low – and could even backdate any increase. The new bill states appeals can only result in a reduction, which itself can be deferred by an additional two months. Given appeals are free (in order to ensure they are available to all) this opens the door to near-automatic appeal of any increase, even if tenants expect the case to fail.

Who will bear the costs?

Landlords will have new duties, costs and risks, which could prompt them to reassess their place in the market. When landlords exit the market, the properties often become owner-occupied. This is, of course, great news for the new homeowners, not so much for the private rental sector as a whole. Between 2019 and 2023, 163,000 properties disappeared from the market. UK rental costs are already at an all-time high; average rents in the UK increased by 9 per cent in the 12 months to December 2024, whilst in London it was closer to 12 per cent. Moreover, with rental increases only to be allowed once per year, it is likely the market will move to raise rents ahead of the bill being signed into law.

The bill is intended to make the market fairer and safer for tenants and contains many provisions that could go some way to achieving this. But that depends on whether the final effect is to drive rents even higher.