Renters Rights Bill – Latest News

The Renters Rights Bill has returned to the House of Lords on the 14 October 2025 for the final stage of parliamentary “ping-pong”. 

It is looking increasingly likely that it will be passed into law within the next few weeks, with a likely implementation date some time in Spring 2026.

Key points of the Bill:

• Section 21 Notices will be abolished, meaning all landlords will have to start the possession process by serving a Section 8 Notice specifying the ground(s) for possession on which they seek to rely;

• The grounds for possession available to landlords when serving a Section 8 Notice will be substantially amended. Some of the major ones will be:

  1. Ground 1 (mandatory - landlord or close family member wants to move in) – 4 months’ notice required

  2. Ground 1A (mandatory - landlord wishes to sell) – 4 months’ notice required

  3. Ground 8 (mandatory - serious rent arrears – tenant must be in at least 3 months’ arrears) – 4 weeks’ notice required

  4. Ground 10 (discretionary - some rent arrears owing) – 4 weeks’ notice required

  5. Ground 11 (discretionary - persistently delay with rent payments) – 4 weeks’ notice required

• All existing fixed term tenancies will convert to periodic tenancies on a fixed date
• Tenants may give 2 months’ notice at any time if they want to end the tenancy;
• Landlords may only increase the rent by serving a Section 13 Notice in the prescribed form giving the tenant at least 2 months’ notice of when the new rent is to take effect. Tenants will be able to refer such notices to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) if they do not agree with the landlord’s proposal and the FTT will determine a fair market rent;
• Landlords cannot unreasonably refuse to a tenant’s request to have a pet and may be able to request an additional “Pet Damage Deposit” from the tenant, in addition to the original deposit (but see below).

Lords’ Proposed Amendments:

The Commons has already rejected many amendments that were previously proposed by the Lords, but some members of the Lords will now renew their attempts to amend some parts of the Bill despite those previous setbacks. 

Pet damage deposits, exemptions for shared ownership leaseholders, the housing of agricultural land workers and repossession of properties will be the subjects under consideration once again.

The Commons has already rejected a Lords proposal for landlords to be able to request an additional “Pet Damage Deposit” as the Government does not feel this is necessary, so I expect them to take the same stance this time around. 

The proposal to introduce a new Ground 8A, which would be a “New ground for possession for property which is required for a carer for the landlord or the landlord’s family” is also likely to rejected, with the Commons’ note on the proposal stating that there is insufficient justification to enable possession to be sought to accommodate carers. 

The proposed amendments can be found via this link:

Renters’ Rights Bill

Given the Commons majority that the Government holds, it seems very unlikely that these proposed amendments will make it through to the final version of the Bill, and I expect them to be rejected once again. 

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