The Renters’ Rights Bill: What It Means for Students and Letting Agents

The UK’s private rental sector is on the brink of major reform. The Renters’ Rights Bill, expected to become law in 2025 and take effect in early 2026, will significantly reshape the rules governing renting in England.

For students, this likely means safer homes, stronger rights, and greater protection from eviction and unfair treatment. For letting agents, it signals a need to adapt, modernise, and ensure compliance with a more regulated and transparent system.

Here is what the key changes are, and what they mean for both students and letting agents (via www.gov.uk).

1. Abolish section 21 evictions and move to a simpler tenancy structure where all assured tenancies are periodic – providing more security for tenants and empowering them to challenge poor practice and unfair rent increases without fear of eviction. We will implement this new system in one stage, giving all tenants security immediately.

Students: You will no longer face being evicted just for asking for repairs or querying rent increases. The change gives you greater security and flexibility, especially during transitions between academic years or accommodation changes.

Letting Agents: You will need to use formal legal grounds if your client wants to regain possession. Tenancy agreements and management practices will need updating to reflect the new system.

2. Ensure possession grounds are fair to both parties, giving tenants more security, while ensuring landlords can recover their property when reasonable. The bill introduces new safeguards for tenants, giving them more time to find a home if landlords evict to move in or sell, and ensuring unscrupulous landlords cannot misuse grounds.

Students: You will have more time to find a new place if you are asked to leave for a valid reason. The Bill also ensures that possession grounds cannot be misused to disguise no-fault evictions.

Letting Agents: You will need to ensure any claims for possession under the new grounds are accurate, justified, and fully documented. Managing expectations with clients will be important.

3. Provide stronger protections against backdoor eviction by ensuring tenants are able to appeal excessive above-market rents which are purely designed to force them out. As now, landlords will still be able to increase rents to market price for their properties and an independent tribunal will make a judgement on this, if needed.

Students: You will be protected from unfair rent hikes designed to drive you out. Rent can still be adjusted annually, but only to match local market conditions.

Letting Agents: Rent reviews will need to follow a clear and justifiable process, and any increase could be scrutinised by a tribunal. Transparent rent-setting becomes even more important.

4. Introduce a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman that will provide quick, fair, impartial and binding resolution for tenants’ complaints about their landlord. This will bring tenant-landlord complaint resolution on par with established redress practices for tenants in social housing and consumers of property agent services

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Students: If you have unresolved issues with your housing, such as disrepair or poor treatment, you will have access to a faster, free way to get help.

Letting Agents: You may need to liaise with the Ombudsman on behalf of your landlords. Ensuring that your agency handles complaints and repairs promptly will be crucial.

5. Create a Private Rented Sector Database to help landlords understand their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance (giving good landlords confidence in their position), alongside providing better information to tenants to make informed decisions when entering into a tenancy agreement. It will also support local councils – helping them target enforcement activity where it is needed most. Landlords will need to be registered on the database in order to use certain possession grounds.

Students: You will be able to check whether a landlord is compliant before renting, providing more confidence and security in who you rent from.

Letting Agents: You will need to make sure your clients are registered on the database to maintain access to possession rights. It will also be a tool for showcasing good letting practices.

6. Give tenants strengthened rights to request a pet in the property, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. To support this, landlords will be able to require pet insurance to cover any damage to their property.

Students: Bringing a pet to university is now more possible. You can ask to keep one, and your landlord cannot say no without a good reason. They can require pet insurance, but not unreasonably deny the request.

Letting Agents: You will need to help landlords handle pet requests fairly and ensure any tenancy agreement includes clear terms around pet insurance or related conditions.

7. Apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector to give renters safer, better value homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities.

Students: You will benefit from safer, warmer, and better maintained housing, particularly in older properties often used for student lets.

Letting Agents: You will need to advise landlords on necessary upgrades and carry out compliance checks. Properties that fall below standard could become unrentable or subject to enforcement.

8. Apply ‘Awaab’s Law’ to the sector, setting clear legal expectations about the timeframes within which landlords in the private rented sector must take action to make homes safe where they contain serious hazards.

Students: If your home becomes unsafe, you now have the legal right to timely repairs and action, without having to wait months or chase endlessly.

Letting Agents: Maintenance response times will need to be fast and documented. Failure to act promptly could result in legal action or financial penalties for your client.

9. Make it illegal for landlords and agents to discriminate against prospective tenants in receipt of benefits or with children – helping to ensure everyone is treated fairly when looking for a place to live.

Students: If you are receiving Universal Credit or you are a student with a child, you will now be protected from blanket bans or unfair rejections.

Letting Agents: Letting criteria must be applied fairly and without discrimination. Advertising practices and vetting processes will need to be updated to reflect the law.

10. End the practice of rental bidding by prohibiting landlords and agents from asking for or accepting offers above the advertised rent. Landlords and agents will be required to publish an asking rent for their property and it will be illegal to accept offers made above this rate.

Students: You will not have to compete in bidding wars just to secure a room. The price listed must be honoured.

Letting Agents: You will need to advertise properties with a clear, fixed rent and reject any offers above that amount, even if voluntarily offered.

11. Strengthen local authority enforcement by expanding civil penalties, introducing a package of investigatory powers and bringing in a new requirement for local authorities to report on enforcement activity.

Students: Your local council will be better equipped to deal with rogue landlords, inspect unsafe housing, and ensure your rights are protected.

Letting Agents: You will be working in an environment with stricter local enforcement. Non compliant landlords could face tougher penalties, and agents may be held accountable for oversight failures.

12. Strengthen rent repayment orders by extending them to superior landlords, doubling the maximum penalty and ensuring repeat offenders have to repay the maximum amount.

Students: If your landlord or agent breaks the law, you could be entitled to claim back more rent, and more easily than before.

Letting Agents: Agents representing non compliant landlords could find themselves involved in repayment claims. Strong documentation and legal compliance will be essential.

Final Thoughts

The Renters’ Rights Bill is designed to make renting fairer, safer, and more stable. For students, it means a clearer path to safe, decent housing with fewer power imbalances. For letting agents, it is an opportunity to professionalise further, support landlords with compliance, and improve tenant experience.

At Housr, we’ll strive to continue updating you on how these changes unfold, and how to stay ahead of them, whether you are looking for your next student pad or managing properties in busy university areas.

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