Renters’ Rights Bill – where are we now?

By James Carpenter

Partner – Head of Commercial Litigation

21 October 2025

Blog News

A centrepiece of Labour’s election manifesto, the proposals for reform of the legislation surrounding the residential rental market were published just over a year ago in the form of the Renters’ Rights Bill.

Over the last year, the Bill has been making its way through the parliamentary process and at the time of writing it is back with the Lords who are considering further amendments to the draft Bill made by the Commons since it was passed back to them in July 2025.

The cornerstones of the Bill largely remain as they were and include (amongst many other changes):

• Fixed term tenancies will be abolished; 
• Abolition of the s21 Notice (no fault) route to possession;
• No contractual rent increases – any increase will have to go through the s13 procedure before it can be implemented;
• A ban on rental bidding – an asking rent will have to be published and honoured;
• Greater enforcement powers, fines and rent repayment orders to protect tenants from landlords who fail to comply with their legal obligations;
• A national landlord’s database will be created;
• A Decent Homes Standard will be introduced.

The practical effect of the key changes means that once a tenancy is entered into, it will run from month to month until either the tenant serves notice, or the landlord can establish and meet one of the grounds for regaining possession of the property which are known as section 8 grounds. These grounds are split into compulsory grounds (such as for non-payment of rent) and discretionary grounds (such as where the landlord wants to move back into the property). 

This substantially limits the scope for a landlord to evict their tenant and if possession is sought on a discretionary ground, then the outcome will be uncertain.  Further, landlords and tenants will be forced to take the question of possession through an adversarial Court process as the landlord will either have to prove a compulsory ground for possession or both sides will have to lay out their cases and evidence for, or in opposition to, a possession order sought on discretionary grounds. 

Landlords will still be able to propose an increase in the rent, but will have to serve a notice under s13 Housing Act 1988 whereupon the tenant can object and the matter will have to be decided by a Tribunal.  However, until the Tribunal makes its decision the new rent cannot be enforced, and it will not be applied retrospectively once determined.  There will therefore be plenty of scope for savvy tenants to delay rent increases as a matter of routine.

The passage of the Bill is almost complete and within days or weeks at most we can expect it to be given Royal Assent.  Implementation of the changes is unlikely to be immediate and we should hear soon about the proposed timetable for introduction of the changes.  It is likely the changes will be phased in, but we expect most to come into force in early 2026.

A year on and there are still uncertainties about how the Bill will be implemented in practice.  The Courts and Tribunals are struggling with existing caseloads with many suffering extensive delays and the Bill is going to only add to the burden on them.  This means that landlords will have to expect delays in seeking possession from tenants and, in due course, when looking to increase the rent.  Further the regulatory and compliance burdens are becoming more stringent with substantial fines and other consequences for non-compliance. 

Anecdotally we have seen landlords selling up and leaving the market as a consequence of the changes proposed in the Bill.  Any exodus is likely to increase if resources are not made available to ensure a smooth implementation of the Bill.  It is not a stretch of the imagination to see that the exodus of landlords and properties from the private rental sector is likely to result in an increase the cost of renting.   

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