The defining trend in British housing in recent decades has been towards private renting. The sector in England nearly doubled in size between 2004 and 2013. By 2023 almost two-fifths of households were either renting privately or socially. Meanwhile, the dream of home ownership has steadily eroded: 39% of 25- to 34-year-olds owned their home in 2023, 20 percentage points lower than the peak (59%) in 2000. Many younger adults now rent from a private landlord as the default, and expect to do so for the rest of their lives.
Which is why the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act is important. Until last week, landlords could evict a tenant for requesting a reasonable repair, or challenging a rent hike. A poll in 2023 for the charity Shelter found that tenants who complained to their landlord or local authority were 159% more likely to be served a no-fault eviction notice than those who did not. The fear was that complaints could cost tenants their homes. It was customary for landlords to pre-emptively evict tenants if they wanted to raise rents.
In a market where rates are dictated by landlords, the unequal power dynamic is best exemplified by what happened when rent hikes were challenged at tribunal: sometimes the judgment was that tenants should pay above what they had come to court to challenge – to match “market rates”.
As of 1 May, when new laws came into force, landlords in England will need a legal reason to evict tenants. Tenancies will no longer be fixed-term. Furthermore, landlords wishing to raise rents will in future need to follow a formal process that was previously rendered largely redundant by the ease with which they could evict. This means residents can more easily challenge them and, if an increase would cause financial hardship, may even be granted the right to delay it for a two-month period while they look for alternative accommodation. They will no longer face the threat of a tribunal raising the rent above what the landlord originally asked for. Tenants in Wales will also gain limited new protections.
The new law is a welcome step forward, but there’s a long way to go. The success of the act depends on long-term funding for councils to properly enforce the rules. Polling is clear: voters across the political spectrum – from Labour to Reform UK – support rent caps in some form. But ministers said no. They also could have protected renters from the rush of section 21 evictions that ensued ahead of the act’s implementation, which were predicted by campaign groups. Shelter, for example, warned that the decision not to immediately abolish no-fault evictions wrongly prioritised landlords, even though they were less likely to suffer hardship than tenants.
The rush by landlords to evict people, and boost their incomes in advance of last week’s deadline, perfectly exemplifies why change was imperative. On the doorstep ahead of this week’s local elections, politicians of all stripes will surely try to take credit, but this was a win for the charities, MPs and campaigners who worked tirelessly – over several parliaments – and finally won the argument that improved renters’ rights. The result is that protections are finally coming into line with the reality of modern life.
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