When the Renters’ Rights Act came into force, there was no shortage of predictions about what would happen next.
Landlords feared a flood of tenant notices, agents braced themselves for disputes over rent increases and pets, and many questioned how the practicalities of the legislation would work in the real world.
Now, just over one month in, what have we actually learned?
Here, Emma Foreman, Operations & Lettings Director at Complete, looks at how the biggest lesson perhaps is that the reality has been far less dramatic than many anticipated.
The Two-Month Notice Challenge
In a previous blog, I discussed the unintended consequences of the new two-month tenant notice requirement. On paper, it seemed like a sensible compromise. Tenants could give notice from day one, but landlords would still have two months to prepare for a tenancy ending.
In reality, however, it is tenants who appear most at risk of being caught out.
We have not seen a significant increase in tenant notices since the legislation came into force. What we have noticed is that where notices have been served, there has been an almost even split between tenants providing the correct two months’ notice and those assuming that 30 days is sufficient.
This highlights a simple issue: many tenants do not fully understand the new rules.
Fortunately, we had already been discussing this change with our landlords and encouraging flexibility where appropriate. As a result, we have not encountered too many problems so far. However, as landlords become more familiar with the legislation and potentially less flexible in their approach, there is a real risk that tenants could find themselves liable for additional rent, bills and other costs they simply had not budgeted for.
Rent Increases – So Far, So Good
One of the more controversial elements of the Act has been the new process surrounding rent increases and how tenants are able to challenge these increases. To date, we have only had one tenant query a proposed increase.
After being provided with comparable evidence demonstrating that the proposed rent reflected current market conditions, the tenant’s response was refreshingly honest: “It was worth a try.”
Whilst it is still very early days, we have not yet seen the disputes and challenges that some predicted.
Pets Requests Begin to Arrive
Another area many landlords were concerned about was the anticipated increase in pet requests. We have received a handful of requests during the first month, although most arrived towards the latter part of the period rather than immediately after the legislation came into force. Again, there have been no major surprises.
Most of the requests received have actually come from tenants who had previously asked to keep a pet and had been declined under the old rules. In many cases, landlords were already aware that these requests were likely to return at some point. Importantly, landlords had been prepared in advance and understood that these requests would need to be considered properly rather than dismissed automatically.
As a result, there have been no knee-jerk reactions and very little friction.
Possession Claims
We are still progressing a number of historic Section 21 cases through the court system.
At the time of writing, we have not yet served any new Section 8 notices under the new regime, although we are about to commence our first case. This is likely to provide valuable insight into how the possession process operates in practice, and we will share our experiences in a future edition.
The Verdict Now
The biggest takeaway so far is that some of the practical aspects of the legislation are experiencing the expected teething issues. Not necessarily because the legislation is fundamentally flawed, but because legislation and real life rarely align perfectly from day one.
The landlords who are adapting, communicating and remaining flexible are generally navigating the new landscape without significant difficulty. Those who continue to fight the changes rather than understand them may find the transition considerably more challenging.
We are still in the very early stages of this journey, and many of the true impacts of the Renters’ Rights Act will only become apparent over the coming months. For now, however, the sky has not fallen in. The industry is adapting, landlords are adjusting, and tenants are learning the new rules.
We’ll continue to report on what we’re seeing from the front line in future editions of RRA in Action.
If you would like some more advice about the Renters’ Rights Act and how it affects you as a landlord, get in touch with the Complete team today.