Renters' Rights Act

Renters' rights changed on 1 May. Find out how this affects students in our guide below...

What is the Renters' Rights Act?

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 is legislation that made significant changes to housing law.

The first changes came into force on 1 May 2026 and applies to tenancies that were already entered into before it became law. This means your current tenancy for the 2026/27 academic year may come under the new laws, regardless of what your contract says. You can read more about the government's plans in their 'Implementing the Renters’ Rights Act 2025' guidance.

If you entered into a tenancy before 1 May 2026, your landlord should have sent you government-issued information sheet by 31 May 2026 to tell you about the changes. The sheet looked like this.

The impact of this Act will depend on what type of accommodation you're renting as a student. The different types of accommodation are:

'Off-street housing': Living in a house or flat

This is where you are living either on your own or sharing a house or flat with housemates. There will be differences, depending on whether there are 1-2 bedrooms or 3+ bedrooms (an HMO).

Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA)

Accommodation that was specifically designed and built for student living, like a privately-owned hall of residence. Some local examples are One London Road, Orme House and Q Studios.

They should be signed up to the ANUK/Unipol National Code and are expected to comply with the rules and complaints procedures. Providers who are members of this code will be exempt from the changes but only if a tenancy is granted on or after 1 May 2026. Any tenancies entered into before 1 May (even if your tenancy period hadn't begun yet) will be affected by the changes.

Keele University Accommodation

On-campus accommodation. This will not be affected by the changes.

What's Changed?

Fixed Terms

Renting a house or flat with one or two bedrooms

Fixed terms are no longer allowed. If you want to move out, you can just give your landlord 2 months’ notice. However, you can’t give notice during the pre-tenancy period - so, if you sign up and then change your mind, you’ll have to wait for the tenancy to start before you can give notice.

Renting a house or flat with three or more bedrooms (HMOs) where all of the tenants are students

Although fixed terms have been abolished, there will be a special Eviction Ground (Ground 4A) for HMOs where all the tenants are students. Landlords can evict students over the summer (1 June - 30 September) using this special eviction ground. It’s designed around the academic calendar so landlords aren’t left with empty houses over summer. The landlord has to tell you they plan to use this rule when you sign your tenancy (or if you signed up before 1 May, their deadline to tell you their intention was 31 May 2026).

Landlords can’t use this ground if the tenancy agreement was signed more than 6 months before the tenancy starts - as a result, landlords might not let you sign up until December at the earliest.

Important information if you're in a joint tenancy: When one tenant serves 2 months' notice that they're leaving, the tenancy will end for everyone. This means the remaining tenants will need to find new accommodation or agree to a new tenancy with the landlord. See our Tenancy Agreement page if you're not sure whether you're in a joint or individual tenancy.

Renting a room in Purpose Built Student Accommodation

Fixed-term contracts are still allowed in PBSAs. This means once you sign up, you can’t leave until the end date unless your landlord agrees. The provider must be signed up to an accommodation code in order to remain exempt from the changes and keep fixed terms.

Any tenancies entered into before 1 May 2026 (even if your tenancy period hadn't begun yet) is not exempt, and you will not have a fixed term.

Evictions

You may be worried about how secure your tenancy is if you don't have a fixed term. Landlords can’t just kick you out without a reason. Your landlord will need valid grounds to evict you, and it will involve a lengthy court process.

There are some new circumstances where a landlord could evict you through proper legal processes:

Being accused of noise or antisocial behaviour (so be mindful of noise complaints from neighbours!).

If the landlord’s circumstances change, they have strengthened rights to reclaim properties when necessary. They can evict:

to sell the property,
to move back in themselves,
to house a family member.

However, you now get a 12-month protected period at the beginning of any tenancy during which landlords cannot evict you due to their changed circumstances. This covers most students since you’ll typically rent for an academic year. After that protected 12-month period, landlords must give four months’ notice when using these grounds, giving you more time to find a new home. The landlord is also banned from reletting the property for 12 months, which helps stop landlords falsely claiming they need to move in or sell the property.

Rent in Advance

Some landlords have been asking students to pay all their rent at the start of the tenancy if they don't have a guarantor, but they will now only be allowed to take up to one month's rent in advance. This could make it harder for students without a guarantor to find accommodation off campus.

There are services that can act as guarantor for a fee. Be aware that letting agents may be 'on commission' from particular guarantor services, which could influence their recommendations. While landlords can insist on you having a guarantor, they cannot insist you use a particular guarantor service. This means you need to shop around to find the best deal rather than simply accepting whatever service the letting agent suggests.

Many students pay their rent based on Student Finance payments, but the new legislation will mean your contract will specify you need to pay monthly. If you would find it difficult to budget, landlords and tenants can agree to pay larger instalments once the tenancy has started, but this is an informal agreement that the landlord can't enforce in court if you don't keep to it.

PBSAs, such as private halls run by Urban Student Life or Homes for Students, are exempt from this - they can still ask for large amounts of rent upfront as long as they are signed up to an accommodation code. This exemption will only apply to tenancies entered into on or after 1 May 2026.

Tenancies entered into before 1 May 2026 - if your contract has a payment schedule with larger instalments covering several months' rent, you must still pay on those on time. Only tenancies entered into on or after 1 May 2026 are limited to one month's rent.

New Ombudsman and Private Rented Sector Database

This part of the Act is not due to come into force until late 2026 or 2027.

All landlords must register their properties on a new Private Rented Sector Database. The database will increase transparency, helping you enforce your rights and seek action from councils or the ombudsman when necessary. The West Midlands is the first region to introduce this, on 15 December 2026. Landlords in this area will then have three months to register both themselves and the properties they rent out. Once the scheme is running, you will be able to check whether a landlord and property are registered before signing a tenancy agreement.

A Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman will be established to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants. All private landlords with assured or regulated tenancies must join by law. An ombudsman is a free, independent service that helps resolve complaints and disputes. Unlike going to court (which is expensive and slow), using the ombudsman is free and relatively quick. The ombudsman can make binding decisions, which means landlords legally have to do what they say.

If you're renting a room in Purpose-Built Student Accommodation, you won't have access to the new Ombudsman. However, you can still use either the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme, depending on which one your landlord's company is registered with. Your landlord should inform you about which organisation to contact if you're not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint.

Renting with a Pet

For those of you renting houses or flats who wish to keep a pet, the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse your request during a tenancy. Please note that landlords can still reject applications from people with pets and can still advertise properties as “no pets”.

Once you have asked for a pet, the landlord will have 28 days to respond in writing. The landlord can request more information, such as the type, breed or size of the pet.

Examples of when it may be reasonable for a landlord to refuse permission:

another tenant has an allergy
the property is too small for a large pet or a number of pets
the pet is illegal to own.

Examples of when it may be unreasonable for a landlord to refuse permission:

the landlord doesn't like pets
the landlord has had issues with tenants who had pets in the past, such as damage to property.
general concerns about potential damage in the future
thinking a pet might affect future rentals
knowing the tenant needs an assistance animal, such as a guide dog, but still refusing.

If your landlord agrees to let you have a pet, they will not be able to change their mind later.

More information about the new pet rules is available from the Government.

Rent Increases

Landlords can now only increase rent once per year and must follow a procedure, giving at least two months’ notice. Your landlord cannot increase rent during the first 12 months of your tenancy.

You can challenge any increase you think is too high at a Tribunal. A Tribunal is a bit like a court, but less formal, where an independent person makes decisions about disputes between you and your landlord. For rent disputes, you can take your case to a Tribunal if you think a rent increase is unfair, and they’ll decide whether it’s reasonable based on similar properties in your area.

Landlords can no longer use rent review clauses in contracts to push through increases during a tenancy. These were clauses that said rent would automatically go up by a certain amount.

Landlords can still increase rents between tenancies. So if you move out and new tenants move in, the landlord can charge them more than they charged you.

What impact could this have? //

Students will have different rights, depending on whether they live on campus; off campus in a house with 3 or more bedrooms; off campus in a house/flat with 1 or 2 bedrooms; or in a private accommodation block. This year, your rights will also vary depending on whether you signed your contract before or after 1 May.

Some students will be able to leave their tenancies with just two months' notice, instead of being tied to the contract for a year when they no longer want or need it. Other students will not be able to do this.

Students in a joint tenancy could find their tenancy is ended because one of the other tenants served notice. If one housemate drops out or changes plans, everyone could be forced to move out mid-year, cover the leaving student's rent, or find a replacement. Talk to your housemates about this before signing a joint tenancy and have a plan for what happens if someone wants to leave.

House hunting will change. Landlords who want to make sure they can evict students at the end of the academic year won't be able to sign students up until December-January, 6 months before the tenancy starts. Meanwhile, PBSAs can have fixed terms and won't be relying on those eviction grounds, so they can sign students up as early as they want and their rooms will be advertised earlier.

Landlords of 1-2 bedroom properties, or landlords with any part-time students or non-students in the house, won't be able to evict using student eviction grounds. You might sign up for a tenancy but when the time comes it may not available because the previous tenant refuses to end the tenancy and move out.

Postgraduate students and students with longer academic years, such as those on placement during the summer, might find it harder to keep their tenancy for the last weeks of the course. If the landlord is able to use student eviction grounds, they might evict you before you were hoping to leave.

Students without a guarantor may find it harder to rent off-street housing because landlords can't accept more rent upfront. They may need to pay a guarantor service, such as Housing Hand, to act as their guarantor.

Some landlords feel it is becoming too complex to rent to students, or to rent in general, and are leaving the student housing market. This gives the advantage to PBSAs, which are typically more expensive and could lead to students renting a room they can't afford.

The maximum security deposit an off-street landlord can demand is the equivalent of five weeks of rent. Most landlords don't ask for this much, but now that they will be restricted in how much rent they can get before the tenancy starts, they may start asking for the maximum deposit amount.

Now that off-street landlords can only demand rent one month in advance, you will need to carefully budget any Student Finance payments, to make sure you can pay your rent each month. You and the landlord could agree to another payment schedule once the tenancy has started, but this is not something the landlord can pressure you into doing and it wouldn't be enforceable in court.