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 The Renters' Rights Act 2025 will reshape student lettings, with key uncertainties still to be resolved. Landlords should prepare for challenges around tenancy length, turnover, and possession, while exploring strategies such as clearer tenancy agreements, diversified tenant bases, and early engagement with universities. Government guidance is expected in early 2026, ahead of the May implementation date.

This article was prompted by concerns raised by member John Hodgart at our meeting with Amanda Martin MP recently.

 The Renters' Rights Act has introduced significant changes to how private landlords should treat requests from tenants to keep companion animals. Legal expert David Smith and charity voices from the Society for Companion Animal Studies (SCAS) agree the law marks a shift — but emphasise different priorities. Landlords now need a clear, consistent, and evidence‑based approach that balances property protection with tenants' wellbeing.

What is clear from David Smith's analysis is that it is not about you and your views on pets do not matter - it is a question of the properties suitability for the particular pet.

 Should one of our member landlords be unfortunate enough to have overlooked or not been informed about a regulation, such as the need to have a licence to let their property, and they receive notification that they will be fined by the local authority as a result, we recommend they use the Reeves Defence.

After years of waiting, the Renters' Rights Bill has finally achieved Royal Assent. Our mortgage broker partner MFB have put together an outline of the key changes and how they'll impact day-to-day landlord responsibilities

An 'Opinion piece'  written by Rachel Edmonds and Sara Owens published initially on the FutureBuild website

Media interest in Prince Andrew has soared to meteoric levels this month—though I suspect most people are indifferent, the press seems determined to make us care. Regardless of where you stand on the prince himself, I was once again dismayed to see the ambiguities of English law being exploited to push a narrative that is, quite simply, factually incorrect.

Take The Times, for example. Its front-page headline declared: "Andrew has not paid rent since 2003." Let's be clear—Prince Andrew is a leaseholder. He purchased the lease, and as such, is not required to pay rent. This is yet another instance of legal terminology being misunderstood or misrepresented—a recurring trap for politicians, journalists, and the public alike.

Our October member meeting was a working session on 'Making Tax Digital'(MTD) and whether you participated or missed it, this article contains essential follow up detail, answers to questions and further suggestions on how to proceed.

If the council are adamant they sent you a section 235 demand for documents, a section 239 powers of entry notice, an improvement notice, or some other notice – but you did not receive the notice, where do you stand?

Has the notice been properly served if you did not receive it?

Do you have a "reasonable excuse" defence for not actioning a notice you didn't get?

This may be a worry particularly for those members who spend significant amounts of time abroad.

We know a national register is coming – but will it be any better than the local licensing schemes we live with today, will it replace them? What ministers say so far about the proposed English national landlord register, what remains delightfully ambiguous, and what other parts of the UK (Scotland and Wales) actually do — including practical lessons from their rollouts and the notorious experience some landlords report with the Verso platform.

We have long bemoaned the 'HMO Bad, Family House Good' Animal Farm style mantra that permeates meetings of the planning committee. The good news is that the tide might be turning but the past year has been bad for Portsmouth at the taxpayers expense. 

 With just six months to go before many landlords must adopt Making Tax Digital (MTD), confusion still reigns. Few landlords are ready, and HMRC hasn't yet clarified all the details. So what does this mean for you—and what should you do now?

It used to be that the law defined the way we operated. Landlords built a business knowing what the rules were and PCC enforced based on those rules and where there was a dispute about interpretation of those rules, either side would go to the First Tier Tribunal, plead their case and then whatever the Tribunal decided became the new, clearer definition of the rules and both sides would change their operation accordingly. 

Sadly, those days have passed and PCC appear emboldened enough to tell the experienced surveyors on the Tribunal when they think they are wrong and to enlist expensive Gray's Inn barristers to plead their case on appeal at higher courts, sadly this behaviour has forced local landlords to do the same (without the high cost of London barristers) in order not to be beaten into submission.

OK - that is MFB's heading, not ours but they have been good to us over the past few years - providing updates and advice over Zoom during the Covid period and regular news updates since.  Their full press release follows. 

As mentioned last month, AdvoCATS representing a host of organisations including the PDPLA sent a letter to the Secretary of State, Angela Rayner, asking her to re-instate a landlords requirement for pet damage insurance in the Renters Rights Bill (the government having removed it in the last draft). See the full letter below along with the accompanying briefing paper here and the parallel press release here.

We will publish a guide explaining what you need to do to prepare for Making Tax Digital (MTD) in the next few days, but first you need to know when you need to switch. The easiest way to find out is to attend the HMRC Webinar this month. Details here...