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The Renters' Rights Act is a new law aimed at improving the rights of tenants in the private rented sector in England and Wales.  Several key changes from this Act will come into force on May 1st 2026.

How this will affect you will depend on where you live, whether this is University Accommodation, Purpose Built Student Accommodation, or a shared house rented from a landlord or agent.

These are some of the key changes coming in in may:

Abolish section 21 evictions

Section 21 Evictions are the procedure by which a Landlord can end any tenancy which is not in a fixed term, by giving two months notice, without there needing to be any fault on the tenant’s part. These do not often affect annual tenancies for students but for people renting a long term home this provides more security. Landlords can still evict for other reasons such as rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, selling the property, or if they previously lived there and need the property as their home. 

Landlords will still also be able to serve notice to end some student tenancies at the end of the academic year.

Make it easier to get out of a contract you do not want to be in

All tenancies will now be periodic. This means that if you no longer want to rent a property you will be able to give 2 months notice to leave and this will end your liability for the rent. If you share a house on a joint contract this will end the tenancy for everyone, so you need to be aware this could affect you if a housemate moves.

Make it less likely to be evicted if you are in rent arrears

Currently if the rent on a property is 2 months in arrears and the landlord goes to court, there is no defence and the Judge must evict you. The notice period for this eviction is 2 weeks.

The Act will increase the threshold of arrears where the judge must evict you to 3 months of arrears, and the notice period to 4 weeks, giving more time to sort out financial difficulties and pay off any arrears.

Limit Rent In Advance

Landlords will only be able to take up to 1 months rent in advance of the tenancy starting meaning they cannot request large payments in place of a guarantor.

Make it easier to request a pet in the property

Landlords must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse a request to have a pet. They can ask you to take out or pay for pet insurance to cover any damage to their property.

Incentives to prevent signing up early

Landlords renting to students can serve notice to end the tenancy at the end of the academic year, but cannot do this if the property was signed for more than 6 months in advance. This should prevent the pressure to sign up very early in the year.

Which tenancies does this apply to?

These changes apply to any property rented from a landlord or letting agent in England which you inhabit exclusively. 

These changes do not apply to properties where you live in the same house as your landlord.

They do not apply to Accommodation rented directly from your University.

Purpose Built Student Accommodation is not covered if the provider is a member of the ANUK Code - https://www.anuk.org.uk/ - but there are some changes which will affect this type of accommodation.

We will be uploading pages in this section explaining these changes in more detail over the coming weeks.

If you have any questions, or concerns, or just want to know no more you can speak to The LUU Advice Team, or why not come to our Smart Moves: Housing Advice Week in LUU Foyer from 10th to 12th February, where you can ask about anything housing related with experts from LUU Advice and Unipol, pick up free stuff, make items to decorate your home and much more.