The Renters Rights Bill – what do we do about existing tenancies?

I have had quite a few anxious questions from Landlord Law members and others about what will need to be done about existing tenancies when the new bill comes into force.

The problem is – we don’t really know!

We have been told that when the new act comes into force all tenancies will immediately convert to periodic tenancies and that landlords will no longer be able to serve a valid section 21 notice (although those already served can still be used during their notice period).

We are also told that there will be new rules about tenancy agreements;

• Landlords can be fined if they don’t give a ‘statement of terms’ (ie tenancy agreement) to tenants, and
• There will be ‘prescribed clauses’ which will have to go in all tenancy agreements

The prescribed clauses will be set out in regulations, and we have not seen them yet.

There are a few things we know about tenancy agreements under the act:

• They must not give a fixed term – as all tenancies will be periodic.  So no end date – just the starting date of the tenancy and the period (which will normally be monthly)
• Any clauses purporting to increase the rent will be of no effect
• Also any clauses which purport to tell tenants what they must say or do as regards tenants ‘notice to quit’ will be of no effect
• They must provide information about the possession proceedings which will apply to the tenancy

However although I will be doing new tenancy agreements for Landlord Law members in due course, I can’t do this until I know more about the regulations that will apply.

Transition regulations

When new legislation comes into force, it is normal for there to be ‘transition’ regulations which set out what needs to be done about existing situations.

For example, when the new Welsh legislation came into force, all landlords had to serve on tenants a ‘conversion contract’, which was an amalgam of their existing tenancy and the new Welsh clauses.

Hopefully, the procedure in England won’t be as confusing as the Welsh transition turned out to be.

The Renters Rights Bill transition regulations have not been published yet but it looks as if they will include:

• A requirement that landlords serve a notice on all existing tenants (which notice may or may not be ‘prescribed’) within a one-month time limit, telling them about the new rules and
• Student landlords will be given a period of one month to serve notice on student tenants if you want to reserve the right to use the new ground 4A – the new eviction ground for landlords of student HMO properties.

I will be publishing information here and for members once more is known, along with the form of notice once this is known.

In the meantime, just carry on as usual.  But make sure you do as much training as possible!  

We will be providing more training for Landlord Law members once we are closer to the bill being made law.