Due to demand from tenants, there are some big changes proposed about the way we rent property in the UK. The Renters’ Rights Bill is currently passing through the House of Lords and is expected to become law later this year. This will be one of the biggest changes to rental legislation for decades.
As many students rent a room, flat or house either individually or with sharers, these proposed changes will almost certainly impact you depending on whether you choose to live in a building managed by an operator or a landlord/letting agent. It has always been the case that you need to read the wording of contracts carefully, but now it is even more important as the changes might be imposed quickly and will include different clauses. This hasn’t yet been made into a law and the final details won’t be clear until that happens but it is important you keep up to date with the changes so you can be in a position of knowledge when the time comes.
- Contract Lengths –Your landlord may not be able to impose a fixed term tenancy on you. This means that signing up to a 6 month or 12-month contract will no longer be the norm. Instead, you will sign an agreement to rent a home and you can stay in until you decide to leave. However, you will need to ensure that you give notice to your landlord in the timeframe stated in your contract. This is expected to be two months before the date that you wish to leave. This is good news for flexibility but it will be your responsibility to give notice to ensure you don’t pay rent beyond when you want to. The proposed changes might also mean if you are sharing and only one of you gives notice, you will all need to leave at the end of the notice period.
- Upfront Rent – One of the proposed changes is to prohibit landlords from asking for rent upfront, even if you don’t have a UK-based guarantor. The amount that landlords are able to ask upfront is yet to be determined and could impact rental payments that are made termly. Therefore, if you are used to paying every in-line with your student loan, you might need to adapt and budget for monthly payments.
- Section 21 – Once the Bill is passed, landlords will no longer be able to evict tenants with no reason. The purpose of this is so tenants can not only live in peace and challenge the quality or service without the fear of being evicted.
- Rent Increases – a landlord will not be able to increase the rent more than once a year and when they do so, it should be in line with the average rent in the local area. If it isn’t, there will be a process to challenge this without the fear of being evicted.
These proposed changes are not only new for the tenant, but also for the landlord. Due to this, It is expected that there will be a period of transition. As tenants, you should understand the changes and ensure your landlord complies. These changes have been brought in to give you, the renter, more rights.
Written by Sarah Canning – Student Accommodation Features Editor
