The Renters’ Rights Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 4 February 2025 and has now progressed to the committee stage. With its enactment date predicted to be at some point in the spring, now is the time for landlords to consider what steps they should be taking to prepare for what will be called the Renters’ Rights Act.
The Renters’ Rights Bill includes a number of proposed reforms for the rental sector, notably, the abolishment of section 21 ‘no-fault evictions’, a private rented sector database and a raft of changes to the current possession grounds. As currently drafted, the legislation will also apply some of the current section 21 prerequisites to section 8 notices.
Notably, not all of the section 21 requirements will transfer to section 8 under the draft legislation. In this article, we highlight whether the current section 21 requirements for landlords will be applied to section 8, and the new requirements that landlords should be aware of.
Deposit
Under the current regime, one of the prerequisites of serving a valid section 21 notice is that landlords must be able to demonstrate that they have correctly protected the tenant’s deposit. To satisfy this requirement they must be able to show that:
The Renters’ Rights Bill proposes to apply this requirement to section 8 notices where the landlord is relying on any of the grounds for possession save for the anti-social behaviour grounds. This means that a s.8 notice will only be valid if a landlord is able evidence compliance with the steps outlined above. If a section 8 notice is found to be invalid for this reason, the landlord will have to rectify the issues with the tenant’s deposit and re-serve a section 8 notice. This will re-set the clock and inevitably delay the recovery of possession of the property.
Pre-tenancy documentation
Under the current section 21 regime, landlords are also required to provide tenants with the following documentation at the start of the tenancy and annually, in the case of gas safety certificates:
Currently, it doesn't look like these requirements will be applied to section 8 under the Renters’ Rights Act. However, it's anticipated that although it won’t be a statutory requirement for the purposes of section 8, the courts will expect landlords to comply with these measures as a matter of good practice. It would therefore be prudent for landlords to ensure that this documentation is routinely provided to tenants at the outset and throughout the tenancy as required.
In addition to the above, the Renters’ Rights Bill proposes to introduce the following new requirements:
Private rented sector database
Landlords of private rental properties will be required to register on the database or face a range of penalties, including the inability to serve a valid section 8 notice.
Increased tenant protections
Landlords and agents will now be prohibited from refusing to rent to potential tenants who are in receipt of benefits and potential tenants with children. Similarly, landlords will also be prohibited from unreasonably barring tenants from keeping pets in their properties; however, they will be permitted to require tenants to obtain insurance to cover any potential pet-related damage.
Awaab’s Law and The Decent Homes Standard
Awaab’s Law was introduced in 2023 and effectively implies a covenant into all social housing tenancy agreements requiring landlords to investigate and rectify dangerous damp and mould within set time periods and all emergency hazards within 24 hours. These requirements will be implemented in a phased approach from October 2025. The Renters’ Rights Bill proposes extending the requirements of Awaab’s Law from the social housing rental sector into the private sector with landlords facing serious costs consequences for non-compliance.
Landlords should also be aware that the Renters’ Rights Bill proposes to introduce another social housing requirement, the Decent Homes Standard, to private rental properties. Under this, all rental properties will now have to meet minimum standards for safety, warmth and decency.
Reform of existing section 8 grounds and introduction of new grounds
Arguably some of the most notable changes are to the section 8 possession grounds themselves. Under the Renters’ Rights Bill, section 21 ‘no-fault evictions’ are set to be abolished, leaving only the section 8 procedure and grounds available for landlords to evict their tenants. Key changes include the qualifying period for rent arrears which will increase to three months, with the accompanying notice period increasing from two to four weeks.
A number of new grounds are proposed including provisions for landlords who can show a serious intention to sell the rental property and for landlords who want to seek possession of the property to allow an immediate family member to occupy the property.
The implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act will see a wholesale reform of the private rental sector. Whilst the legislation is still in draft, it should be noted that this reform was a manifesto commitment so there are unlikely to be any significant amendments to the bill as it progresses through parliament. Landlords and agents should therefore get ahead and start acquainting themselves with the changes and making the necessary changes now so that they are ready to hit the ground running when the legislation is implemented.
For further information, please contact our property litigation team.
