Last week we were pleased to see the Renters’ Rights Act pass into law, providing better stability and stronger rights for renters. This blog sets out some of the key measures in the Act, and looks at areas which may directly affect homelessness services.
Positive changes for renters
The Renters’ Rights Bill received Royal Assent on 27th October 2025 and became an Act of law. The Government has not yet set out exactly when the new measures will come into effect, although the process of implementation is expected to begin in a few months.
Tenancies and evictions
The Renters’ Rights Act will end fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies. The vast majority of tenancies will be converted to periodic tenancies which automatically renew each month. To end a tenancy, either a tenant would serve a notice to quit (giving at least 2 months’ notice) or the landlord would have to serve a valid and legal eviction notice.
The Act will outlaw Section 21 evictions, which up until now have allowed landlords to serve tenants with eviction notices without a reason and have been a significant driver of homelessness.
In most cases, a landlord will only be able to evict a tenant on grounds of rent arrears or anti-social behaviour, or if they want to sell their property or move into it themselves, or move a family member in.
If they do evict on the grounds of selling or moving in/moving a family member in, they are not allowed to relet the property for 12 months after the tenants have moved out. Eviction on the grounds of selling or moving in/moving a family member in is not permitted in the first year of a new tenancy, and the notice period a landlord must give a tenant for eviction on these grounds has been extended from 2 to 4 months.
Rents
Under the act, landlords will only be able to raise the rent once a year and must give 2 months’ notice. Renters will have strengthened powers to challenge rent hikes at the First-Tier Tribunal.
The Act should end damaging practices around upfront rent and bidding wars. Landlords will only be able to ask for one month in rent upfront, and it will become illegal to accept offers above the asking rent, meaning bidding wars will no longer be incentivised.
Rights and standards
Landlord practices of not renting to tenants who have children or who are in receipt of benefits will be outlawed as discrimination. Landlords will also no longer be able to unreasonably refuse a tenant from keeping a pet in the home.
As outlined in this blog, the Renters’ Rights Act will apply the updated Decent Homes Standard to all forms of private rented accommodation, including privately rented supported exempted accommodation. The Government have not yet confirmed the timeframes for this but have set out that it could take effect from 2035 or 2037, with a possible earlier phased implementation.
The Act will also create a new Private Rented Sector Ombudsman and a national landlord database. It also expands the number of landlord offences that a tenant can claim rent payments back for via a Rent Repayment Order.
Considerations for homelessness services
Removal of reapplication duty
The Renters’ Rights Act removes the reapplication duty from the Housing Act 1996. The reapplication duty is currently owed by local authorities where they have discharged their statutory housing duties to someone by finding them suitable accommodation in the private rented sector, but the person then becomes homeless again within a 2-year period. The local authority would owe that person a main housing duty again, if it was satisfied that the applicant was homeless, eligible for assistance and not intentionally homeless.
The Government argue that the removal of S21 and other measures in the Act should mean that private tenancies will be more secure, so the reapplication duty will no longer be required. However, some homelessness organisations have warned against this, highlighting that affordability challenges and other types of legal eviction which are possible under the Act mean that people could still become homeless after being placed in the private rented sector.
Grounds for possession for supported accommodation providers
The Act recognises that the nature of supported accommodation means that sometimes providers will need to gain possession of properties for reasons that are not covered by the other general grounds for possession. With the Act’s removal of S21, a number of new grounds for possession have been introduced for supported housing providers so that they can end tenancies where necessary. This is to enable them to continue to operate housing safely or effectively, or otherwise protect the viability of their service.
A new ground for possession has been introduced where it is needed to return the property to use as supported accommodation. This ground can only be used in cases where the property is usually intended to be supported housing, but the current tenancy was not granted for this purpose.
Further grounds have been introduced which can be used by supported accommodation providers if the tenancy was originally granted as supported accommodation, including where there is no longer a need for support, where the support is no longer meeting the tenant’s need, where the funding for support has ended, where the property has special adaptations that are not needed by the current tenant, or when a person is not engaging with support.
Decent homes standard
As outlined in this blog, the Renters’ Rights Act will apply the updated Decent Homes Standard to all forms of private rented accommodation, including privately rented supported exempted accommodation. The definition of ‘supported exempt accommodation’ for the purposes of this legislation is the same as in section 12 of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, so would include hostels. The Government have not yet confirmed the timeframes for this but have set out that it could take effect from 2035 or 2037, with a possible earlier phased implementation.
Next steps
As part of the Renters’ Reform Coalition, we will be calling on the Government to set out a clear timeframe for implementation of the Act as soon as possible, and we will update members as soon as further information is available.
If you have particular views or concerns about what the Renters’ Rights Act will mean for your service, please contact Alex using the email address below.
