Renters Rights Bill

The Renters Rights Bill was passed by Parliament on Wednesday 22nd October 2025 and is now awaiting Royal Assent which is anticipated to be given by the end of the month. The bill was passed with no further amendments that will affect any of your properties so therefore the new legislative requirements will be as per the previous emails and content that we have been confirming over the past 4-6 months. Those blogs can be found on our website by clicking HERE. We will keep you notified as soon as the implementation date is announced which is now anticipated for a date early in 2026, although it will be a phased implementation with additional secondary legislation needed for some areas of the bill.

We would like to confirm and reassure you that we are ready for the implementation and will keep not only yourselves, as Landlords, compliant but your properties and tenancies as well.

Digital Tax

The Government/HMRC are now implementing a phased process whereby all those self-employed/sole traders and/or those that receive rental income as individuals will need to submit quarterly income statements to HMRC via a digital platform (an HMRC recognised and compatible platforms such as SAGE, XERO, QuickBooks or other accounting software or through accountancy practices). The phasing is based upon the following income thresholds:

From April 2026 – For those who have a gross income greater than £50,000 based on 2024/25 self-assessment tax return

From April 2027 – For those who have a gross income greater than £30,000 based on 2025/26 self-assessment tax return

From April 2028 – For those who have a gross income greater than £20,000 based on 2026/27 self-assessment tax return

The threshold values are based upon the gross income and not the net income (so expenses are not considered in the threshold value). The threshold values also exclude any PAYE and any dividend income.

We are still looking at ways that we can help you with the above, and our software providers are looking at how they can provide you with that information as well.

HMRC have also confirmed that they presently will only be looking at the quarterly returns if an issue appears in the annual self-assessment submission at the end of each of each tax year. There is no requirement for any payments to be made on account each quarter unless you do so currently as part of your existing self-assessment returns.

More information can be made available on the Government website by clicking HERE.

We will provide more information on what we can do to help you with this process in due course once we have feedback from our software providers.

As always, we are here to help and support you with all the legislative changes and to ensure that you and your properties/tenancies remain complaint with those changes as they come in.

Final Stage and WE ARE READY!

As you may have picked up the Renters Rights Bill is due back to the House of Commons on Monday 8^th September for debate (consideration of amendments stage) on the amendments put forward by the House of Lords.

Some of these amendments will be passed without further amendment as they were put forward with Government agreement by the Labour peer Baroness Taylor (Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government in the House of Lords) while others that have been put forward by other party’s peers or independent peers will be debated and possibly go back to the Lords for further scrutiny in what is called the “ping pong” stage.

This stage will happen quickly with final agreement happening by the time the House of Commons breaks up on the 16^th September for the party conference season and then achieving planned Royal Assent by the end of September.

What will happen once the Renters Rights Bill gets Royal Assent?

When this happens, and the commentary is that it will, the government have already said that agents and landlords will have at least 2 months to prepare for the changes (which also allows time for any secondary legislation to go through such as amendments to the Tenants Fees Act etc), with the anticipated commencement date being the 1^st January 2026 with the following changes reported to be coming in initially on that commencement date:]

• Abolition of Section 21 notice
• Conversion of all fixed term tenancies to a periodic basis with tenancies now becoming Assured Tenancies and AST’s
• Tenancy termination notices periods changing
• Revised Section 8 notice grounds and notice periods
• Revised rent review process
• Barring of up-front multi-month rent payments
• Changes to the initial months’ rent payment before signing the tenancy agreement
• Ending of “bidding wars”
• Changes to the allowance of pets, children, and benefits recipients etc
• Introduction of the first-tier tribunal process

And of course, the implementation of the increased fines for non-compliance.

What is happening further along the line?

These items will happen later down the line:

• Decent homes standard
• Awaab’s Law
• New Landlord database
• New property database

Please be assured that we are ready to implement all of these changes as and when they come into force and as always, we will guide you through these changes and make sure that you remain legally compliant with all your statutory duties under this incoming legislation.

What if I need help?

We are here to help you with these changes by offering our FREE In-Person Tenancy and Property Compliance Audit. CLICK HERE to find out how we can help you.

Latest on The Renters Rights Bill

This week saw the final of the bill in the House of Lords, where the Lords formally recorded the few amendments to the bill that they wish to be passed back to the House of Commons. This was a formal crossing the “T’s” and dotting the “I’s” exercise and took less than 20 minutes.

The House of Commons is now on its summer recess and will be resitting on the 1^st September, with the bill scheduled for the Lord’s amendments to be voted on, on the 8^th September 2025. As some of the Lord’s amendments were proposed by backbenchers or opposition parties they will probably be rejected (due to the Labour majority) it will then need to go back to the Lords (for acceptance of the rejection/reamendment – known as ping pong) before coming back to MP’s again. It is very likely that it will be given Royal Assent before they break for their conference season on the 16^th September 2025.

Baroness Taylor (Labour Minister in the Lords) said, whilst debating an amendment to give landlords and agents 3 months’ notice (from Royal Assent) for implementation for new tenancies and 6 months’ notice for implementation for existing tenancies (this amendment didn’t pass and was withdrawn) “implementation will not be immediate as we have secondary legislation to pass. We are making good progress on drafting that secondary legislation and the regulations and guidance that goes with it. All of this will allow us to implement in a timely manner”. The intent here is that as soon as the bill receives Royal Assent the government will get on with the implementation as quickly as possible with the commencement date within 3 months of the implementation date – so towards the end of the of the year. 

Part of the notable amendments which did get passed during the Lord’s report stage and which will be coming back to the Commons are:

1. Pets – the ability for landlords to request up to an additional 3 weeks rent deposit rather than an insurance policy (which was deemed to be too expensive for tenants and limited availability). This is likely to succeed as it was proposed by Baroness Taylor on behalf of the government.
2. Grounds 1A on the new Section 8 reducing the period from 12 months to 6 months before a landlord can relet the property if they don’t sell it.
3. Local Authorities will have the power to enter private rented properties without giving the landlord 24 hour notice to check on breaches of duty to the tenant and building condition/repairs. Presently they had to give both Landlords and Tenants 24 hours’ notice.
4. Assured Advice for letting agents so that they can obtain specific advice and rely on that advice to fulfil their obligations from the Primary Authority (local authority). The Tenants Fee Act 2019 has not been integrated into this scheme presently but will be.
5. An amendment to the Protection of Eviction Act 1977 where both parties (must include all tenants) agree a different notice period to quit and such notices to quit can be withdrawn.
6. A new ground for possession where the property is needed for a carer for the Landlord (or a member of the Landlord’s family) and where that property is close the Landlord or family member.

Whilst it seems a long way away for commencement it will quickly come round and you can be assured that we will have the complete knowledge of the changes and implications and how best to ensure that you, your properties, and your tenants remain fully compliant with the new legislation from day 1.

As always, we will guide you through these changes and make sure that you remain legally compliant with all your statutory duties under this incoming legislation.

More to follow as it journeys along it final stages. If you haven’t yet read all our “Bite-size” blogs, please click HERE and read them.

We start this catch-up blog with the fact that despite being with the House of Lords for 6 weeks not a lot has happened, news wise, with the Renters Rights Bill. It has now passed through its committee stage and is now heading to the report stage which will then be followed quickly (probably on the same day) with the 3^rd and final reading in the Lords before it heads back to the House of Commons for their consideration of any amendments and for Royal Assent.

As it headed through the committee stage, the Lords tabled over 330 amendments of which the Government rejected all the amendments proposed by opposition and backbench peers’ whist accepting only those amendments which they highlighted and debated on during the 3^rd reading in the House of Commons. Those amendments have already been covered to some extent in our previous blogs.

During the debates there were several issues which the Lords felt would have a detriment to the bill and consequently to landlords as well as tenants, some of these being:

Pets – The peers felt that a tenant with a pet would remain in a state of ongoing state of housing insecurity in case a landlord withdrew consent for the pet in the property. The Government responded to this … once consent is given it cannot be revoked unless it became an anti-social behaviour issue.

Section 21 – The peers felt that court reform should be in place before the Section 21 notice was revoked due to the current backlog in the court lists. The Government responded to this … we are committed to court digitisation to improve efficiency.

Rent increases – The peers felt that tenants may challenge all rent increases as they would automatically go to a back logged First Tier Tribunal and no increase could be back dated if the First Tier Tribunal ruled in favour of the landlord, so tenants had nothing to lose. The Government responded that whilst they acknowledged the concerns raised, they said that all rent increase disputes would go through a filtering process so that unfounded cases could be screened out immediately which would help to alleviate pressure on the First Tier Tribunal system.

Therefore, the conclusion is that given the majority that the Government has in the House of Commons it is very unlikely that any final proposed amendments during the 3^rd reading in the House of Lords will be passed by the House of Commons when it comes back for those considerations and debate.

So where does that leave us on timescales ….. No date has yet been set for the report stage and 3^rd reading in the House of Lords although that is expected to happen within the next couple of weeks with progression through to the House of Commons by the end of June.

Once it has come back to the House of Commons it is expected to be brought back before the MPs to debate any proposed amendments and then go for Royal Assent before the House of Commons breaks for their summer recess.

The Government have already intimated that the following will happen:

1. There will be a period of between 2 and 3 months from the date of Royal Assent to the commencement date of the legislation to enable landlords and agents to adjust to the new requirements and to put processes in place plus to bring any secondary legislation requirements in to being.
2. The legislation will come in on a phased basis over probably 12-18 months with the big hit items being immediate such as:

• Abolishing Section 21 Notices
• Introducing greater Section 8 grounds
• Pet consents
• Rent reviews and limiting rent increases to once a year
• Discrimination against families and benefit recipients

While things such as the new single Property Ombudsman and landlord/property databases along with the Decent Homes Standard (We will visit the current proposals of the Decent Homes Standard in our next blog) will take longer to implement.

Given the above we can expect that the commencement date of the new legislation will be somewhere around October/November this year. As always, we are prepared for it and we will ensure that you and your properties remain complaint as the legislation comes in.

If you have missed any of our previous blogs, they can be found here

With all of the forth coming legislation rapidly creeping up on us, we believe, now more than ever that a self-managing landlord needs the input of a professional property management company to ensure that they are and will be complying with that new legislation which is why we have come up with a new service to enable you to keep focusing on what you have been doing such as managing rent payments and undertaking repair requests etc.

Our new service is focused on ensuring that you and your tenants tenancy remains fully compliant and that you can maximise your return on your investment.

For just a small amount of money each month we will ensure that your tenancy meets with all the existing and new legislative requirements and that you can sit back not worrying about those changes.

Our NEW Compliance Service includes:

• Ensuring all certificates are properly issued and remain current.
• All prescriptive information has been issued correctly
• Periodic inspections and inspection reports
• Checking and testing of smoke/CO detectors
• Tenancy communication on issues that may arise from any breaches of the tenancy
• End of tenancy inspection and report
• Issuing of any Section 8 or 21 notices
• Attendance at court and any bailiff appointments
• Providing rent review evidence and tenant notification
• Right to rent confirmations and any updating
• Registering you with the new Landlord and property databases

Please contact us to see how you can afford this, it is not what you may think.

Following from last week’s blog about the proposed new rent review processes we are now looking at the proposed changes around letting to children/families, housing benefit tenants and those with pets.

Children/Families

Presently it could be considered discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 if a family with children are refused a viewing by either the Landlord or their agent because women are more likely to live with children than men are.

This part of the proposed legislation goes further, building upon the Equality Act 2010, to specifically say that a Landlord must consider renting to those families with children and cannot dismiss their application, subject to the property having enough bedrooms etc, even if they have not allowed children in their properties previously.

However, a landlord will always have the right to choose who they let the property to. They must not be seen to be discriminating with the property advert, at the viewing or accepting offers or refuse outright to consider families. The decision on who to let the property to can be made on merit with regards to income etc, house size, credit history etc for all applicants as you can presently.

Any restrictions from letting to families with children, either due to clauses in a mortgage, long leasehold leases (those of you that have mainly apartments on long leasehold with a superior landlord) or insurance policies will now be prohibited (made invalid) under the new legislation. This also applies to those tenants who are receiving housing benefit.

Housing Benefit/Universal Credit Tenants

Present legislation bars advertising “No DSS” or “No Housing benefit Tenants” or outright refusing such applicants a viewing or tenancy if they can meet your referencing requirements (affordability, credit history, previous eviction etc) and the property meets with their suitability. This will not change in the proposed legislation.

The primary change coming however affects the ability to issue a Section 8 notice if their rent arrears are due to administrative issues in the payment of their housing benefits by the DWP etc and therefore you will not be able to issue a valid Section 8 notice because of those rent arrears.

Pets

Presently landlords have the right to decide if they want pets in their properties or not, both for existing tenants and for any new tenants. The new legislation now changes that, on the basis that the landlord cannot any longer refuse a request from a tenant (existing or new) to have a pet without good reason.

If a landlord consents to a pet for either existing tenants or new tenants, they can insist on the tenants either providing suitable pet insurance for the property or for a landlord to purchase such pet insurance and charging the tenant the cost of the premium. This will require secondary legislation to the Tenants Fee Act 2019 to enable such provisions to become a permitted payment under the act.

 What does that mean in practice:

There will be several reasons why it would be reasonable for a landlord to refuse a pet, although these are not all documented in the legislation, they will include such reasons as:

1. Where a superior lease prohibits pets in a building (such as a block of flats).
2. Where the property is not suitable, such as a room in an HMO or where it would be considered impractical for a pet (depending on that specific pet) such as a studio flat or a small property with no garden for a large dog etc.
3. A tenant either refuses to obtain pet insurance or to reimburse a landlord the cost of the premium each year.

Lastly, there is nothing to stop a landlord advertising the property with an additional pet rent per month to cover extra wear and tear/additional cleaning, as is the situation now, but this extra payment could be considered by a deposit adjudicator should there be an issue over deposit wear and tear charges, cleaning charges or damages to the property. Any “pet rent” must be clearly transparent in the initial advert and be a reasonable amount and therefore it is unlikely that this additional rent will be allowed with an insistence on the tenants also taking out an insurance policy as it may be deemed to be unreasonable because the landlords end of tenancy liability/damages would be covered by the insurance policy.

We, at Taylored Propman, still advocate that given good tenants living in a good condition property with a fair market rent these changes should not be detrimental to the Landlord and as always, we will be able to provide end-to end support to you through this process.

Please contact us so that we can offer advice and help you through these changes

• Email us: office@tayloredpropman.co.uk

Renters Rights Bill

• Timescales
• Existing Tenancy Conversation
• New Section 8 Notices
• Rent Reviews
• Letting to Tenants on Benefits, families, Children & Pets

Following from last week’s blog about the proposed new enhanced Section 8 notices we are now looking at the proposed changes around rent reviews. 

Rent Reviews

The bill proposes that rent reviews can only be applied on the following basis:

• The rent for the property will not be allowed to be raised any more than once per calendar year.
• As all tenancy agreements will now be a statutory periodic tenancy all rent review notifications will need to be issued on the new proposed Section 13 notice.
• Two months notice for an increase in rent via the Section 13 notice must now be given.
• The new proposed rent must be no more than the current market value of the property. Evidence of the market value should be provided to the tenant should they request that.

One of the major changes is that should the tenant not agree the revised rental level with the Landlord they have the right to refer it to the First Tier Tribunal for adjudication. The tribunal will then set the new rate, at what they consider the market rate to be, however this will be at a level no higher than that on the Section 13 notice even if that is below the market rate that they determine. Presently, if a tenant refers a rent increase to the tribunal, the tribunal can set a new rent at either a fair or market rent, even if it is higher than the new revised rent and it can be backdated to the rent review date.

The new rent, as determined, will only commence from the next rent due date following the tribunals decision and will not be allowed to be back dated.

First tier tribunal costs are yet to be determined but the present situation is that the applicant pays the fixed cost and can apply for costs at the discretion of the tribunal although it is normal for each party to bear their own tribunal costs unless one is deemed to have acted unreasonable, and in the case of the Landlord, the tribunal could award a rent repayment order for the most extreme unreasonable behaviour of a Landlord during the process. Presently it is envisaged that most of such referrals by the tenant will be dealt with by written submission and not by a hearing.

In both the House of Commons debates and the Lords, it has been discussed that the new referral system makes it advantageous for the tenant to refer every rent increase to the tribunal as they have a mechanism to delay any increase although it may cost them a small application cost. Given this potential detrimental situation for a landlord, representations have been made to the Housing Minister to reconsider safeguards for this, what could be determined, unreasonable tenant behaviour. Currently First Tier Tribunal decision periods are between 14-20 weeks so this could be a “great” way for tenants to put off a justified rent increase. We would look to overcome this by having that pro-active conversation with the tenant regarding the proposed rent review in the first place. We can only wait and see on this.

If a new tenancy is issued by either having new tenants (including where existing tenants change, I.E. one leaves and is replaced by another) the property can be let at any rent level even if it is above market rates as per normal.

We, at Taylored Propman, still advocate that given good tenants living in a good condition property with a fair market rent this change should not be detrimental to the Landlord and as always we will be able to provide end-to end support to you through this process.

Please contact us so that we can offer advice and help you through these changes

• Email us: office@tayloredpropman.co.uk

Renters Rights Bill

• Timescales
• Existing Tenancy Conversation
• New Section 8 Notices
• Rent Reviews
• Letting to Tenants on Benefits, families, Children & Pets

Following from last week’s blog about the transformation of tenancy agreements including the abolition of the Section 21 Notice we are now looking at the proposed new enhanced Section 8 Notice and grounds for possession. The use of the Section 8 notice will be the only way that a Landlord could evict a tenant and regain possession of their property.

New Section 8 Notices

The existing grounds for possession contained in the current Section 8 Notice will be amended both in definitions but also in timescales. There are proposed 9 mandatory grounds and 9 proposed discretionary grounds as briefly described in the table below, these exclude the grounds for students/student lets and also social housing or employment housing, they also exclude the grounds associated with possession requirements when a leasehold properties lease expires or for possession by a superior landlord etc:.

New Section 8 Notices – Mandatory Grounds

Possession Ground	Points to note (summary of the ground conditions)	Notice period	Amended or new Ground
1. The Landlord or their family wants to move in	The tenancy must have been running for more than 12 months before the notice period expires	4 Months	Amended
1A. The Landlord wants to sell	The tenancy must have been running for more than 12 months before the notice period expires	4 Months	New
2. Mortgage possession	Subject to a mortgage being granted at any time during the tenancy period the lender can service notice for possession at any time	4 Months	Amended
6. Redevelopment	Landlord seeking to redevelop the property which cannot be done with the tenants in situ. The tenancies must be running for more than 6 months before the notice period expires	4 Months	Amended
6A. Enforcement action	Landlord is subject to an enforcement action or a banning order and needs to regain possession to become compliant again	4 Months	New
7. Death of a Tenant	The tenancy was passed on by will or intestacy	2 months but it must be served within 24 months of the tenant’s death	Amended
7A. Severe ASB/Criminal behaviour	Tenant is convicted of a criminal offence, breached a behavioural order or convicted of a noise nuisance	Immediate	Unchanged
7B. No right to rent	At least one tenant has no right to rent	2 weeks	Unchanged
8. Rent arrears	Tenant is at least 3 months in arrears at the time the notice was served and at the court hearing. Outstanding Universal Credit payments are now exempted from this ground.	4 weeks	Amended

New Section 8 Notices – Discretionary Grounds

Possession Ground	Points to note (summary of the ground conditions)	Notice period	Amended or new Ground
9. Suitable alternative accommodation	Suitable alternative accommodation is available for the tenant found or owned by the Landlord	2 Months	Unchanged
10. Any rent arrears	Tenant is in any arrears when the notice is served and on the day of the court hearing	4 Weeks	Unchanged
11. Persistent arrears	The tenant has persistently been late paying their rent	4 Weeks	Unchanged
12. Breach of the tenancy agreement	The tenant has breached the tenancy agreement, except for rent arrears	2 Weeks	Unchanged
13. Deterioration of the property	The tenant has caused the condition of the property to deteriorate	2 Weeks	Unchanged
14. Anti-social behaviour	The tenant or other adult living at the property or anybody visiting has been guilty of causing nuisance, annoyance or convicted of using the premises for illegal or immoral purposes or convicted of an indictable offence	Immediate	Amended
14ZA. Offence during riot	Tenant or other adult living at the property is convicted of an indictable offence at a riot in the UK	2 Weeks	Unchanged
15. Deterioration of furniture	Tenant has caused the condition of the furniture to deteriorate	2 Weeks	Unchanged
17. False statement	The tenancy was granted on a false statement	2 Weeks	Unchanged

Grounds 1 and 1A  (6A) – These amended/new grounds are effectively replacing the use of Section 21 Notice. The notice periods commence from the date that the notice is dated which should include sufficient time for the notice to be served on the tenant. If we take the new notice (Ground 1A), if the landlord wishes to sell the property this can be served on month 8 of the tenancy so that the notice expires immediately after the end of the first 12 months of the tenancy.

There are also certain prohibitions associated with the new and amended grounds 1 and 1A, such as if the tenant is given notice and leaves and then the landlord either decides not to sell or doesn’t move in then they can’t relet the property for a period of 12 months from when the tenant has moved out.

Lastly, if the Section 8 notice is served and the Landlord seeks possession at a court hearing and the grounds for possession are not reasonable or are inaccurate the Landlord and/or agent could be subject to either a civil penalty or a rent repayment order as, and if, directed by the judge. If the tenant leaves after notice is served and can then prove that the grounds are unreasonable or inaccurate to the first-tier tribunal the Landlord and/or agent could be fined and/or a rent repayment order could be made.  

As always, we will guide you through these changes and make sure that you remain legally compliant with all your statutory duties under this incoming legislation.

Please contact us so that we can offer advice and help you through these changes

• Email us: office@tayloredpropman.co.uk

Renters Rights Bill

• Timescales
• Existing Tenancy Conversation
• New Section 8 Notices
• Rent Reviews
• Letting to Tenants on Benefits, families, Children & Pets

Following on from last week’s bitesize blog where we have started our series to look at the various changes regarding the Renters Rights Act in a bit more depth and what it means to you as a Landlord.

Renters Rights Bill – Existing Tenancy Conversion

This week we are looking at the change from Assured Shorthold Tenancies to an Assured Tenancies. The main difference between the two types of tenancy agreement is that under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy a Landlord has the legal right to seek possession of the property after the end of the fixed term whereas under an Assured Tenancy the tenant has a right to stay in the property until such time as they give notice or they break one of the grounds that is listed in the Housing Act 1988 and then the Landlord can seek possession, or possession is sought by the Landlord because they either wish to sell the property or they wish for themselves or a family member to move in to it.

Existing and New Tenancies

From the commencement date of the act all existing tenancies will convert from being Assured Shorthold Tenancies into Assured Tenancies, this will happen effectively overnight and new tenancies will be in the form of Assured Tenancies under the Housing Act 1988. There are a couple of exceptions, but we will detail those shortly. This overnight conversion means:

• All tenancies become periodic Assured Tenancies and Section 21 notices under the Housing Act 1988 will no longer be applicable.
• There will no longer be any fixed terms under the Assured Tenancy, so effectively all tenancies continue until either the Landlord or the Tenant gives notice. If possession of a property is sought, for any reason, then that can only be achieved via the new extended Section 8 notices.
• The Housing Minister has intimated that a Landlord or their agent will need to serve a prescribed notice to the tenant informing them of the changes to their tenancy agreement status within 28 days of the commencement date. This form of notice will be available before the commencement date. Presently there will not be a requirement to issue any new tenancy agreements, however, the Housing Minister has suggested that in time all old tenancy agreements will need to be replaced but he hasn’t given a timescale for that yet.
• Following the transition, all other terms of the existing tenancy agreements remain except for those changed by the act – those that are changed include the term of tenancy, any clauses that detail the tenancy going into either a statutory periodic basis or a contractual basis after the expiry of the fixed term, notice periods, use of prescribed forms, rent review clauses and pet clauses etc where they are at odds with the new Act provisions.
• Individual tenants will have the right to give notice independent of any other tenants, whereas previously if they were joint tenants,(two tenants or more), the notice had to be given jointly. Once one tenant gives notice that will bring the whole tenancy to an end no matter if the other tenant/s want to stay. That has an advantage in so far as a new rent can be asked for, as part of the new tenancy, irrespective to when the last rent increase was.
• Rents will only be able to be increased once per annum and must not be more than market value. Tenant’s will have the right to appeal any rent increases through the first-tier tribunal, but we will come on to that in a later blog.
• The tenancies that remain unaffected by these changes are corporate tenancies, those where the tenant is a Company. All existing terms and conditions of these tenancies remain as is once the Renters Rights Act commences.
• There are different changes specifically aimed at student accommodation, either purpose built or shared houses. You don’t have any of those with us, but if you do have them elsewhere, please let me know and I will be happy to share those changes with you.

First Month’s Rent Payment

There are major changes happening to the way a Landlord or agent can collect the first month’s rent prior to the execution of the tenancy.

• A Landlord or agent cannot collect the first month’s rent before the tenancy has been executed. This means that the first month’s rent cannot be paid until the tenancy agreement has been signed by both parties and dated which legally binds both parties into the tenancy.
• Legally a tenant could sign the agreement, have it executed and move in without paying the first month’s rent, However, there are mitigations for this:
  • A Landlord will still be able to insist on the security deposit (up to 5 weeks’ worth of rent) being paid prior to the tenancy being executed.
  • Normally we would take 1 weeks rent as being a holding deposit to enable the tenant to be referenced etc, this can still be done in addition to the security deposit.
  • Presently under the legislation a tenant is only allowed to pay 1 month’s rent at the start of the tenancy rather than 6 months or other amounts of rent if they want to or if referencing necessitates further monies up front. However, once the tenancy has started a tenant can pay whatever rent they wish upfront, just not before the first month’s rent has been paid and not before the start date of the tenancy.
  • If a Landlord has taken multiple rent payments upfront before the commencement date of the Act they will be able to retain that rent payment in advance.

Therefore, although the tenancy agreement will be signed and executed prior to the start date and prior to the first month’s rent collection a Landlord or agent will be able to request and to receive/hold both the deposit and the holding deposit (effectively 5-6 weeks’ worth of rent) before the tenancy agreement is signed and executed which gives some degree of surety of the first month’s rent being paid on the start date of the tenancy.

Existing Section 21 Notices

Existing Section 21 notices for possession of a property which have been issued before the commencement date of the Act and haven’t yet reached the point where a court application can be made (I.E. they haven’t yet reached the 2 month notice period) will be valid for another two months only after the commencement date. If a Section 21 notices reaches the end of its 6-month validity period less than 2 months after the commencement date, then it is limited by the 6-month validity period of the original notice.

Again, as we have always said, these changes will impact private rental Landlords and agents but we at Taylored Propman Ltd will continue to guide you through this process and ensure that you always remain compliant with the new legislation.

If you have good tenants and a good quality property, and good agents there is nothing to be nervous about the changes coming.

Next week we will discuss the new Section 8 Notices and grounds for possession.

Please contact us so that we can offer advice and help you through these changes

• Email us: office@tayloredpropman.co.uk

Renters Rights Bill

• Timescales
• Existing Tenancy Conversation
• New Section 8 Notices
• Rent Reviews
• Letting to Tenants on Benefits, families, Children & Pets

As we enter the next few months of the Renters Rights Bills journey into law, we thought that we would explore each of the areas in a bit more detail by explaining it in bitesize chunks every week, over the next 12 weeks. The Renters Rights Bill is halfway through the Lord’s process having had its second reading and now off to Committee and then the Reporting stage.

Once it is back to the House of Commons it is unlikely to have major changes made to it since the 3^rd reading in the House of Commons due to the large majority that the Government have there and their reluctance to accept any amendments, other than their own put forward at that 3^rd reading and debate.

Renters Rights Bill – Timescales – Updated May 2025

We start this week’s bitesize blog with a look at the possible timescales, obviously these are not written in stone but are best informed guesses from various bodies such as the NLA, ARLA Propertymark, UKARLA etc:

House of Lords Committee Stage – currently in the Committee stage.

House of Lords Reporting Stage – probably shortly before the end of May.

House of Lords Amendments – these will be reviewed and amended in the House of Commons probably during June.

Royal Assent – probably by the end of July if there is no further holdup in either the House of Lords or the House of Commons

Commencement date – The Government has promised at least 2 month’s notice between Royal Assent and the commencement date of the Act. In practical terms given the summer recess this means that the enactment date will probably be between October 2025 and December 2025.

Although it is envisaged as being a “Big Bang” commencement date with all existing and new tenancies transforming from Assured Shorthold Tenancies to Assured Tenancies and all fixed term tenancies becoming periodic tenancies overnight, certain items such as the Landlords Database, Property Register and the Decent Homes Standards with probably come in on a phased basis later during 2026, when both technology and guidance catches up.

As always, we will guide you through these changes and make sure that you remain legally compliant with all your statutory duties under this incoming legislation.

Please contact us so that we can offer advice and help you through these changes

• Email us: office@tayloredpropman.co.uk

Renters Rights Bill

• Timescales
• Existing Tenancy Conversation
• New Section 8 Notices
• Rent Reviews
• Letting to Tenants on Benefits, families, Children & Pets