Renters' Rights Act

IMPORTANT: These changes are not in force yet. We do not know exactly when they will come into force.

What students need to know about the Renters’ Rights Act

The Renters’ Rights Bill has now passed into law and is now the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. It is a set of changes to how tenancies work.


The changes are not yet in force but are expected to take effect sometime in spring 2026. The changes will therefore impact existing tenancies in the current 2025/2026 academic year as well as future tenancies.

The changes will affect most tenants in England, but the rules relating to student tenancies are complicated. Not every tenancy will be affected, and different tenants will be affected in different ways depending on who they rent from.

End of section 21 notices

Most tenants who rent from a private landlord have an ‘assured shorthold tenancy’ or ‘AST’ as their contract. This type of tenancy usually runs for a fixed term of six or twelve months.

After that, it becomes a ‘rolling’ or ‘periodic’ tenancy. A periodic tenancy runs from month to month, or week to week, without any fixed term. Sometimes there is a 'break clause' in the contract allowing the landlord or the tenant to end the fixed term early.

In an 'assured shorthold tenancy', a landlord can evict the tenants without giving any reason, as long as the fixed term has ended. They start that process by serving a ‘section 21 notice’ which tells the tenants that the landlord requires the property back after two months.

Once the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force, Section 21 notices and 'assured shorthold tenancies' will be abolished. Instead, most tenants will have:

1.         A fully assured tenancy. This means that the landlord has to give a reason to evict the tenant.

2.         All tenancies will be rolling contracts. This means tenants can decide when they want to end the contract by giving notice to their landlord .

Tenants can serve 2 months’ notice to end contract

Once the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force, a tenant will be able to terminate their contract by serving at least 2 months’ notice on their landlord. There are rules the tenant must follow for the notice to be valid. It must be in writing and expire at the end of a rental period.

 If you’re on a joint contract, one tenant can give notice without the agreement of their housemates. This will end the tenancy for everyone.

If you are unsure about how to give notice correctly or your position in a house share, we would recommend making an appointment with a housing adviser.

New type of notice for landlords to serve on students

The Righters’ Rights Act will take away a landlord's ability to give notice to tenants without a reason. However, the Government has agreed an exception to this for students. Landlords will be able to give a notice to require students to leave the property at the end of the academic year. This will be known as a Ground 4A notice.

This will only apply in some circumstances. It will only be available to a landlord who intends to rent the property to a new set of students in the next academic year. The notice will have to be given four months in advance, and specify a date in June-September when the landlord wants the students to move out. This will only apply to students living in an HMO (house in multiple occupation). It will also only apply if the landlord has given the student a written statement of their wish to rely on Ground 4A and the tenancy has not been entered into more than 6 months before the tenancy start date.

Students living in halls or other university accommodation

Students who live in university halls will not be affected by the changes to notices, or the new rolling contracts. That is because students living in halls usually have licence agreements. The new rules will only affect tenants with 'assured shorthold tenancies'.

Students that have a tenancy granted by a university also will not have an AST. For example, students who live in houses or flats owned or operated by the university. This is because the law allows universities to issue a different type of tenancy, called a common law tenancy. These won't be affected by the new laws.

Purpose Built Student Accommodation run by private companies

The Renters’ Rights Act provides an exemption for private halls or 'PBSAs'. These are university halls run by private companies, not universities. Precise details of the exemption are still awaited.

Accommodation offered to students in private student halls will be exempt from the new tenancy rules. For example, they will be able to give fixed term contracts and students can be asked to leave at the end, without giving any reason.

However, they will only be allowed to do this if the companies managing these sites agree to join an approved code of practice. The code of practice will be really important. It will give students the right to terminate their contracts in certain circumstances, and it will also give them the right to make complaints.

Important: These changes are not in force yet and will apply differently to those already living in private halls. We do not know exactly when these changes will come into force, but it is likely that it will be during the current 25/26 academic year. Students already living in halls will not fall within the exemption and once the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force, their tenancy will convert to a rolling contract like students living outside of halls. The exemption will apply to new tenancies granted by private hall providers after the changes come into force.

Students living in social housing

The legal changes will only have a minimal impact on social tenancies, and the Government has said that the reforms will take effect in the private sector before they apply to social housing.

Students who have licence agreements

The key reforms only apply to tenancies, not licences. A tenancy is where you have your own space that the landlord cannot enter without prior notice. With a tenancy, you have what is known as 'exclusive possession' of a space.

A licence gives you non-exclusive permission. For example, if you live with your landlord, or your landlord provides cleaning services or meals to your room. After the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force, it will still be possible for landlords to grant licences rather than tenancies.

Students should be wary of some landlords trying to avoid the new changes by granting ‘sham licences’. This is when a landlord calls something a licence when it should be a tenancy.

It is very uncommon for a contract to be a genuine licence, unless:

·      you live with your landlord

·      you live in halls run by your university

We recommend booking a contract check if you are asked to sign a licence agreement so that we can give specific advice to you.

Other changes

The Renters’ Rights Act will make several other changes to rental law. . Most of these changes will only affect students who rent from a private landlord and who have an ‘assured tenancy’. We do not yet know when all these changes will take effect.

These are the headlines:

• Rental bidding. Landlords and letting agents will no longer be allowed to invite higher ‘bids’ to rent a property. Tenants can challenge the rent by asking for the rent to be assessed by the Property tribunal in the first 6 months of the tenancy.
• Rent in advance. Landlords will be banned from demanding large payments of rent up front at the start of a tenancy. We expect this may impact international students who rely on paying rent in advance, or landlords often refuse to rent to them. Students in this position may need to sign up to a guarantor scheme. Students can pay rent in advance voluntarily once the tenancy starts but cannot be required to do so by their landlord. Some students may prefer to do this to help them with budgeting.
• Rent increases. Landlords will have to follow a set procedure to increase the rent including giving tenants 2 months’ notice of the proposed increase. Tenants can challenge the increase in the property Tribunal. As rent increases are limited to once per year this may not affect students unless they are renting the same place for more than one academic year.
• Written statement of terms. Landlords will have to give tenants a written statement of terms of their tenancy and any other required information.  This will usually be in the form of a written tenancy agreement.
• Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman. Landlords will have to join a complaints scheme.
• Private Rented Sector Database. Details about properties (including safety certificates) and landlords will be put on a public database. You will be able to check out any landlord you are considering renting from, in advance.
• Prohibiting rental discrimination. There will be tougher laws when landlords choose tenants to prevent discrimination against tenants with children and tenants receiving benefits.
• Renting with pets. Landlords will need to give a good reason if they say no to pets and follow a procedure
• Decent Homes Standard. There will be a new minimum standard for safety and comfort in rented properties. Landlords will face fines if they breach this.
• Awaab’s Law. This is named after a boy who died from illness caused by damp and mould in his home. Landlords will be required to start repairs according a specified timetable.
• Enforcement and investigatory powers. Councils will get stronger legal powers to take on criminal landlords.
• Rent repayment orders. Tenants will have increased rights to reclaim rent from their landlords who commit criminal offences. For example, not applying for an HMO licence, or harassing tenants.

Last updated November 2025.