Call of the month - Renters' Rights Bill
This month we had a call relating to the new Renters’ Rights Bill that has been proposed by the Government.
The situation
The member was concerned over proposals to abolish fixed-term tenancies and the lack of flexibility around landlords who rent to the student market. The member owns a property that is let out as an HMO to students and is concerned about the potential void periods that will occur if student tenants don’t want to stay through the academic year.
In the new Renters’ Rights Bill, fixed-term tenancies will be abolished in almost all cases. This includes student HMOs and other types of properties. The only relates to purpose-built student housing. Under the new laws all tenants will be able to give two months' notice to end the tenancy.
The advice
For this member, we advised that there is a student clause in the bill applicable only to HMOs. This clause means that in HMOs where all the residents are full-time students can be served notice with a 4-month notice period.
However, the tenants must be informed of the landlord's intention to give this notice before the tenancy begins. Possession can only be taken by the landlord between 1 June and 30 September and only if the landlord intends to relet to full-time students.
This may present problems depending on the timing of commencement. Particularly if the Bill comes into force in June next year where it would be too late to serve the new notice and potentially too early to allow to rely on a pre-existing Section 21 notice.
The Bill is not yet in force so it is not yet clear whether this will occur. The NRLA will be working with the government to highlight these problems and work to improve the bill for landlords and maintain a PRS that works well for landlords and tenants.
To keep up to date with our campaigning and any changes to the bill, please check out our Renters’ Rights Hub.
