The Property Unleashed Podcast
The Property Unleashed podcast hosted by Mark Fitzgerald is for property investors looking to build property portfolios and Businesses using different creative investing strategies as well as HMOs, Serviced Accommodation, BRRR, Flips and BTLs, We are helping others live the life they desire through Property.
The Property Unleashed Podcast
The Renters Right Act, Explained
The Renters’ Rights Act is here, and the rulebook for landlords and tenants is changing fast. We brought in Alice and Anthony McMullen of Homemaker Properties to translate the legal shifts into practical steps you can take today—and a timeline you can actually plan around.
We start with what lands first: new council investigatory powers this December and the end of Section 21 by May 1, 2026. Possession doesn’t vanish, it moves to Section 8—with specific grounds for selling or moving back in, tougher notice periods, and a higher bar for evidence. We dig into how to document conversations, serve notices you can prove, and avoid courtroom surprises. Then we unpack the big structural shift: all tenancies become periodic in 2026. That means flexible exits for tenants, and more methodical processes for landlords who want stability. Student lets and HMOs are a special case; Article 4 areas, seasonal gaps, and planning constraints demand sharper strategy, from joint and several agreements to mixing professionals with students to reduce voids.
Money and mechanics get a reboot too. Annual rent increases must run through Section 13 with defined notice periods. Advance rent requirements are curbed, while guarantors and insurance‑backed options step in for international or credit‑thin applicants. Discrimination against families and benefits claimants is out; affordability criteria, fairly applied, keep you compliant. Pet requests shift to case‑by‑case judgment, with property suitability and impact on other occupants as key tests. On enforcement, fines rise and rent repayment orders stretch to 24 months. From late 2026, the landlord database arrives, with safety certificates, property details, and public access to enforcement history—nudging the market toward transparency and professional standards.
We also look ahead: a private‑sector Decent Homes Standard, updated HHSRS rules, damp and mold timeframes, and the likely EPC C requirement by 2030. The path is clear even if dates slide. Our take: tighten your systems, audit compliance, price fairly with evidence, and communicate clearly. If management admin is eating your week, consider professional help; your time has value. If your portfolio leans heavily on marginal HMOs, model family lets in strong locations where tenants stay longer and voids shrink. Want the immediate p
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It's finally here, the Renter's Right Act. Here's everything that you need to know about it. Hello and welcome to the Property Unleashed with me, your host, Mark Fitzgerald. So in today's session, we are going to be covering the Renters Right Act. As we know, this has now been passed. We now have deadlines for certain things that are coming in, changes to how we operate as landlords. Now, if you're not aware, I have a property investing community called ETA, where we have regular updates, well, monthly updates actually, with experts in different fields. And we have coaching sessions and a whole lot of training. So if you're not a part of Education to Action, I suggest that you come in. And right now, you can try us out for one pound. Have access for seven days, see what you think. And if you want to stay, it's just a monthly recurring fee. If you don't want to stay, then you don't have to stay. But this session here was taken from one of our live sessions that we have, one of our many live sessions that are always recorded. And I wanted to share it with my listeners as well because it's so, so important. So this is Anthony and Alice McMullen from Homemaker Properties. They specialize in letting agencies. And Allison and Anthony are both very, very knowledgeable when it comes to being landlords, being compliant, and making sure that we do things to the letter of the law. So this is a live session that we ran where they explain the Renters Right Act and everything that you need to know. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Let's get stuck into it now, shall we?
SPEAKER_04:We'll give them credit, won't we? Renters' rights bill. Act. It's an act now. They bought it in. They got their in order, which was It's only been about four or five years. Yeah, it's been a few years. That we know now what's going to happen and when, in the majority of cases.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. So government have published their timeline.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Now we'll see, like parents say, we'll see that if they keep to it. But we've got certain things, certain tools in our toolkits that are being taken off us, but we know when they're going to be taken off us. And certain criteria of well, if we can't, for example, section 21s, if we can't use them, fine. But if we've issued them, are they still applicable afterwards? But we have the the messiah here who is the knowledge of the knowledge as far as the renters' rights bill. So it's going to be an awful lot of Allison today. I'll pop up on occasions, but but it's going to be very much Alison. So Alison, it's over to you.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So yeah, the first thing that's been published that's going to happen is on the 27th of December this year, they are going to give the council new investigatory powers. So they'll have strong abilities to inspect properties, demand documents, and access third-party data. So what they mean by this is they're now going to be able to go into your home or your business or your letting agency and demand certain documents that will help with their investigations. And I had been talking at a local networking meeting recently, and I had a lady really panicked about this. I think they're just going to knock my door at any time. Simple no. Like there has to be a reason why they're they're kind of investigating you.
SPEAKER_04:So if they've kind of you've found to be not doing anything wrong, not going to have any problems, are you?
SPEAKER_01:I don't believe that you have anything to worry about if you're not doing it, doing anything, if you're doing anything, you only have to worry if you're doing something wrong. So, but that was the first one that comes in on the 27th of December. They've kind of glossed over that a little bit and haven't they've announced it but haven't really spoken about it. But the main kind of the main things that are coming with the Renters Right Act is coming in on the 1st of May 2026. So we have got time to prepare. It's first of the abolishment of Section 21 notice. So this they they label this and it annoys me. They label it as the no fault eviction, which makes it sound like you're not going to be able to evict a tenant's tenant if there's well, you've still got that power if they're doing something wrong, but you've equally still got the power to evict them if you want to sell your property or if you want to move back into it. There won't be any fault for the tenant, but you can still use those possession grounds to evict them. So when the government, even the government, keep labelling it as the no-fault eviction, I think that's a bit misleading and is causing a bit of panic amongst landscape.
SPEAKER_04:We we go to landlords because the key thing with section eight notices, um, which is tends to be when a tenant's in breach, they can be argued with in a lot of cases. Uh, and there's obviously your mandatory grounds and non-mandatory grounds, which is, for example, they're in a certain amount of arrears or they're not keeping to their tenancy, but they have to be two months in arrears with section eights to be able to obviously go to court and have a good chance of getting back possession. Whereas with the section 21 in the past, it's been great in the fact of that as long as all your paperwork's in line and it's not a retaliatory claim, you will get the possession back. So that there may be some more hoops, do you think, with regards to the section eight notices now? They bring in the new terms, aren't they?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so there's some new terms being brought into the section eight, which were things like if you're looking to sell your property or if you're looking to move back in. And there's obviously restrictions on that. So if you are selling your property, you then can't rent it for 12 months. So say like your sale falls through, but you wouldn't be able to rent it back out.
SPEAKER_04:So that first 12 months of the ability. Which I think is I suppose it's a commitment, isn't it? It's it's to show that you're committed to selling it. But that's a bit harsh if all of us you think, well, yeah, it's what about if I want to rent it because then you look at the avenue, well, what about if I'm going to rent it, sell it, rent it, sell it with tenants and tenants and then you wouldn't need to get used you wouldn't need to evict them.
SPEAKER_01:So I think that that's an option that I think afterwards potentially. I think that would be a that would be a something that comes more frequently in that people will start selling their property, selling their rental properties with tenants in situ.
SPEAKER_04:Isn't it you know, as far as investors are concerned, I mean, I we I saw some a number of properties off market deals and they're sold with tenants in situ. And as long as those tenants, and you can buy properties on the open market as well, as long as that tenancy has been done correctly, they've done the right checks, the right to rent checks, they've done the credit checks, you've got proof that have all been issued, as well as the safety certification, why not inherit a tenant? You've got rent up until the completion date as far as the vendor's concerned, and that may well give more flexibility. In addition to that, you've also got rent from day one as far as the buyer's concerned. So as long as the paperwork all is as it should be, then don't be fearing of, oh, I've got to buy an empty property. You know, and even if you want to plant, I mean I did one quite recently, which is a property that was a four-bedroom HLO, but had the ability to make a fifth room. And he says, Well, I've got tenants from day one, I'll save some money up and I'll get it done at the end of that tenancy. You don't have to do it there and then. So there's different avenues. So don't be all I'll say is as long as you do your due diligence on a tenant that's in the property when buying a tenanted property, fine, go for it. There's plenty of positives in doing that, and also selling as well that way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So basically, in terms of getting back possession, if you do need to evict a tenant, there will be ways to do it. You will just need to have that evidence. So when we lose in that um section 21 where you didn't have to give a reason. So you have to give a reason, you'll have to support it with evidence. So as long as we just need to get better at recording everything and documenting everything, keeping records so that if you do need to go down that route, you've got all of the evidence you need.
SPEAKER_04:It's like a like a preach to the team here at Homemaker, it's very much a case of right, guys, you've had the conversation with the landlord. However, if something goes wrong, coincidentally, they don't remember having that conversation. It happens quite often. So with that in mind, follow it up with an email that goes to the landlord or goes to whoever, whoever it may be if you're inviting to a tenant, you've agreed something with a tenant, write it up. And maybe even if you want to even go to the nth degree, deliver a handwritten, hand deliver a letter and get photos, date stamped photos outside the property, delivering that letter. This is the sorts of things, for example, if we're delivering notices to tenants, we will actually deliver that to the property, get date stamped photos of the delivery. In addition to that, we'll also email a notice to a tenant as well. So you've gone to the nth degree that you have proven that. And I know I went to court um to get back possession of a property two or three months ago now, it was. And the tenant said I didn't receive the notice. And it was like, right, okay. But we've then provided proof by email as well as the proof of the photo that it was delivered to the property itself, and the judge still found in our favour. So as long as you've got proof of what you've done and you've got no reason to lie about it, then you in the fact that it's not a case of it's a losing the fact that the tenant says one thing, you're still gonna get because then later on down the line they got notice of a court hearing. Well, you had plenty of time to sort the arrears out by that point, then didn't you? So you then judged in our favour. So that's one thing to remember.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So the next thing that's a big thing that's changing that will affect everybody is that we're moving to an assured periodic tenancy structure. So no more fixed terms. So the likelihood is at the moment you're issuing your tenants with an initial maybe six months or 12-month contract. I know a lot of tenants ask for two-year contracts just because they want that stability. But we're moving to a periodic system. So every single tenancy will automatically become periodic on the 1st of May 2026. So if you've got a fixed term at the moment of 12 months, it's taking your tenants up to October, November next year. From the 1st of May, that will be null and void. That would go to a periodic tenancy. So it's a two-month rolling contract. Your tenants will be able to give two months notice at any point and from the first of May. Um, you as a landlord, you will they will remain a tenant of yours until you serve them a section eight notice with a valid reason.
SPEAKER_04:And what the different terms, different lengths of notices, I believe, for different parts of the code.
SPEAKER_01:Lots of different, yeah, lots, there's loads and loads of calls. I think there's like 20 odd reasons. You have to fit with at least one of those, and you have to obviously provide the evidence. So the tenant is actually more secure in their tenancy because there's no way that you can get them out just for no reason. But I I think we've already starting to see it with tenants, they don't quite understand that. So when you're saying, oh, it's kind of a rolling contract, they they still think that all that they're like, oh, well, can't I just have a two-year contract? So it's got to be communicated.
SPEAKER_04:I remember a couple of years ago they were talking about doing five-year contracts, which just completely flipped it on its head. Now, in cities, I know this is something that's been discussed, I'm not sure there's been anything that's happened from this. In cities where they've got Article 4 and student properties, and you've got a group of students that may move out in May, and then the new tenants aren't arriving till September as a HMO. Have they actually given any granted any sort of flexibility there as far as the change of use with this, or was it very much a case of tough you'll have to have an empty property unless you relet it out as a HMO again?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so no, like where we are in Covetory, we've got Article 4. So I think some landlords before Article 4 came in potentially still doing it now. But during that summer, if they've got a gap, they're kind of doing some Airbnb and service to accommodation. You've got to be very careful if you're in an article four area with that, because you're essentially changing the use, so you're changing the planning class. Um, so you do have to be very careful. Um, it is separate to all of these rules, um, it comes under planning. So, yeah, you have to be careful. I would recommend doing it in an article four area because you are risking your HMA status.
SPEAKER_04:One way to be as flexible with that is I know in certain areas it's just university students, you may all want to incentivize your tenants to keep the tenancy on and give them a rent-free period because it then they'll save you on council tax and also the continuity of their tenancy. Or is open your doors, yes, I know this may well impact upon your cash flow as far as paying the council tax. But if you do a HMO with professionals and students or just professionals, that means that you will have that continuity of tenancies. You won't be so impacted upon with the academic years. Although academic years, again, depending upon courses you do, and I've seen people who start courses in December. You we used to the September to June was the academic years we were used to doing when I was at university. But so yeah, things I only do students. Well, if you opened your doors to professionals, that will then perhaps minimise the chance of any potential avenue where you have a void property over those summer summer months.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so that's I think it'll be interesting to see how it pans out in the student sector because I think I think land, I think we will see landlords moving away from dealing just with students. So I think in Coventry we'll be okay because there's a lot of purpose-built accommodation. I think other cities where there's not so much and they're heavily reliant on the private rental sector, I think it could cause problems. And I don't think there'll be places for students to necessarily stay. So we'll see, we'll see. Time will tell whether that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_00:Can I ask a quick question on that one? Sorry. Can you hear me, okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, brilliant, brilliant. I'm still here, still listening in. So with students, sometimes you have like a lead tenant, don't you? And you might have five other tenants moving in. Will that will the contracts change for that? Will they need independent, so to speak, contracts for every student that's in there now?
SPEAKER_01:No, that it can still be on one contract, but it will be a periodic con it will be a periodic tenancy, so you won't be able to keep them to a fixed term.
SPEAKER_04:Right, okay, can do individual if it's a HMO, you can still, depending upon how you want to do it. I mean, for some landlords, they say, right, if it's for example a five-bedroom property, they say, right, well, you can all have individual tenancy agreements that can have separate dates on them, and then that reduces the risk. But in a lot of cases, if you've got a group of four, for example, you wouldn't put as a landlord, if you are letting out the individual rooms, you are liable for the utilities and the council tax. Whereas if you let it on a single tenancy agreement, in the majority of cases, they are then the tenants are then liable for the utilities and the council tax, but they're all on one single tenancy. What's the phrase where joint and Joint and several. Joint and several. So it basically the rules apply to every single one of them as a group rather than individuals. So you've got two avenues you can go down there. It's if you did individual rooms, it removes your potential risk of having a whole property empty over a long period of time, if it's all students, for example. Whereas if you did and you know, but if you did it with the tenants liable for the utilities, all of a sudden it may well be better cash flow-wise. So you you've got two angles that depends on the situation, or you could maybe go down one route, try and let it as a group, and if it doesn't let you could then go down the room street. That's what some landlords have done in the past. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think it it it's difficult to say what's right because what's different cities will it'll be different and different types of property. So yeah, it's probably worth finding an expert in your area that knows the market really well.
SPEAKER_05:Um sorry, could I ask a question there? Yeah, okay. So so will uh will there be anything as joint as several in the future, or is that gone?
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, you can still have them all on one tenancy, but it it is a periodic tenancy, so it will be two two months. So I would imagine.
SPEAKER_05:So they so sorry, so they could all go, they could all say, Well, we're all finished our exams in May, we'll give two months' notice and we're off.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And if what if one person of that joined us several, does that still stand? Could they give notice under that? So a group of five students, one of them says, I don't like university, I'm going home. Could they bring them out?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I as I understand.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that's stand it.
SPEAKER_01:It would still it would still be the same. So if one tenant wants to leave, obviously that tenant they all either all have to leave or that tenant is still liable. So all the rest of them are have got to pick up the.
SPEAKER_04:You've got to get an agreement from all of them, realistic in that sort of situation, if there are one tenancy agreement.
SPEAKER_01:But they couldn't.
SPEAKER_04:So just the question would be that so it's not really changed in that case.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so obviously if your son or daughter's in one of those types of contracts now and their friend decides to leave, I would I believe what will happen is that they they're still liable for paying the full amount that's due, but they have that flexibility that they could also end that tenancy. If that's going to cause them financial hardship, they can end that tenancy.
SPEAKER_05:That's the difference. That's the difference.
SPEAKER_01:So they're not tied in as well. So if they're having to pay kind of for that fourth person, like an extra few hundred pounds, and that that they can also end that contract.
SPEAKER_05:Or they can replace them.
SPEAKER_01:Or they can replace them. So it would be similar in that respect. So I would say that it's probably still worth if you're operating that system to keep all the tenants on that one contract.
SPEAKER_04:Um as a landlord, it removes your liabilities on the utilities, and also the fact that that going out at when it's 30 degrees, they leave the thermostat on at 30 degrees. You see an HMOs so often, which is timer stats. Have you never heard of them? Very much worthwhile in HMOs, basically means that you control what the heating is, but they still have some control to boost the heating rather than you walk into a property, they're all walking around in Bamoodi shorts, it's two degrees outside. You know the experience, and your utility bills are through the roof, uh, but they don't care. Whereas if they're paying for them, all of a sudden you'll see it's down at 15 degrees because they want it, because they don't want to pay the bills that height.
SPEAKER_05:So if you're but if you're doing a joint though, like on HMO, where they're they're I'm paying the bills as a landlord, um so sorry, what was the system say with being out of control?
SPEAKER_04:High of you to say that it's called um time ostat. Time stat. Timeostat. Basically, what happens is basically you set the temperature. For example, in our HMOs, I do 19 degrees throughout the day and the night, apart from the peak times, which is like from 7 o'clock till 9 o'clock, I'll put it at 21 degrees. And then from 5 o'clock till I think it's 9 o'clock, I put it at 21 degrees. The rest of the time it's at 19 degrees. So basically it maintains a temperature similar to hive. But the what the key thing with as a HMO is concerned, where the landlord's paying the bills, they don't want that abuse by the tenants, whether purposely or not or meaningfully or not, when you're paying the bills, you'll want to control it. But you have to give control to your tenants of the thermostat. So what the timer stat allows is that they can boost the heating for up to two hours and then it will come back down to the original settings. It's saved about 25% on gas usage in one swoop. Yes, it will cost you for the device and the install probably about three or four hundred quid, but you'll save that in a matter of two or three months on gas.
SPEAKER_01:You can set the boost for just like half an hour time period.
SPEAKER_04:It depends on how they want to boost it by and how much they want to increase it up to, but there is limits to what they can increase it by and how long as well.
SPEAKER_01:And they can boost it, they can once it that 30 minutes does up, they can go and boost it again, but they have to get out of getting it. Yeah, so it stops it, you know, when they they boost their turn up to 30 degrees and then they go off to uni or they go off to work and it's an empty house being heated to 30 degrees, it stops that because it will go back down.
SPEAKER_04:Maybe a fortune. So you go, there's my tip for saving you hundreds and hundreds of pounds a year. Get a time of stat. The actual Anthony who I think he runs the company doesn't have to Anthony Cherry, yeah. Anthony Cherry. And he's actually on Dragon's Dow. So apologies, we've we've stepped aside, but yes, it's a good one. Next thing phase one saved you a couple of hundred quid a year now, it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_05:So phase one I'll get my coat, thanks.
SPEAKER_01:So phase one from the first survey, the next thing is about the rent increases. So you'll only be able to increase rent once per year.
SPEAKER_04:Which is this is the statement.
SPEAKER_01:I'd say that you probably unless it's empty.
SPEAKER_04:If your property's empty, you can rent the yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so if it's a new tenancy, you can do it whatever you want.
SPEAKER_04:Current tenants once a year.
SPEAKER_01:Once a year, two market rent, and it has to be done via a section 13 notice, which I think they are going to revise.
SPEAKER_03:So that's really easy, don't you?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so you'll be able to get that form off the government website. Um, it has to be that form. So previously you might have had a clause in your contracts, or you might just have that discussion with your tenants to increase the rent and it was all agreed. Can't do that anymore. It has to be via this notice once per year, and you have to give two months notice. It's one month for the month at the moment. All of the all of the existing rules apply up until the 1st of May. So if you're at a point when you can review your rents now or between now and May, I would do it.
SPEAKER_02:Do it now, quick.
SPEAKER_01:And you can do it on the current rules. There is going to be, there's a first tribunal now. There's still going to be a first tribunal where tenants can dispute their rent increases, but there are some changes to that that make it a little bit more favourable for the tenant.
SPEAKER_04:As far as the section 13s, obviously, that's just your rent is increasing. That's not extending their tenancy. So you could do renewals if you wish to now up until the 1st of May, which means you've got January, February, March, December, January, February, March, April. So that is a five-month tenancy. If you want assurance of the fact that you've got people in there until at least that point, and that the rent is increasing as long as you haven't increased it in the last 12 months. So if it's been over 12 months, you can increase their rent and do a renewal until the end of April if you wish. Yes, or you can do it through section 13, which is just increasing their rent as of two months' time or one month's time at the moment. Actually, you can do it both.
SPEAKER_01:So, from from our point of view, we will continue operating how we have always operated up until the 1st of May. We'll start tweaking our processes and start bringing things in. But in terms of issuing contracts, right up until kind of the 30th of April, we will be issuing those fixed terms. Yes, 1st of May that will automatically convert.
SPEAKER_04:But landlords want continuity that at least they know then they've got people in that property until that particular point.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And I'd just advise everyone to carry on the same. Obviously, start reviewing how you're working and rents up now. So also rental bidding and rent in advance payments. So if you take quarterly payments or six months rent in advance or all up front, we we get some international tenants that sometimes do that. You won't be able to do that. It's you can only take a month in advance. So they the government have brought this in because they feel it will give open up the market to people that might not have been able to get into the rental.
SPEAKER_04:But I don't see that. The banks need securities. I think it's a bit of a a silly one, this one. For example, you've got an international student that wants to take a property, they've got no credit history, they're a student, they haven't got an income, but they've got bank and mum and dad's thousands of pounds in the bank, and they say, I'm happy to pay for the year up front. You can't do that anymore. So the the avenues you're gonna have to go down now, there are companies that offer guantor facilities, aren't there, for internet for a tenants, for example, in these circumstances, and they think they pay a premium for the insurance policy of some sort. I think there are different suppliers that offer that. If you can get an English guarantor, again, who's earning? I mean, our our like our criteria for guantors, this can be whatever an agency sets them at, but ours is that the guarantor needs to earn three times the annual rent minimum. And that the tenant has to earn two and a half times. So if they're a student, they're not going to have that. So a guarantor comes into play. But there are facilities, if they haven't got an English-based working guarantor and that has earnings of three times the annual rent, there are companies that offer those guarantor facilities. So that's not closing the door, it just it's another hurdle you may have to jump over with it.
SPEAKER_01:And so, in terms of the tenant paying the rent, if they decide they want to pay more than a month, they can do so. You can accept it if they want to pay more than that one month, you can't demand it. And obviously, you can't put that in a contract, you can't, there's no kind of legal standing. So if they decide that they're gonna pay you three months up front with their student loan or whatever at the start of your tenancy, when it comes to the next payment, you you can't enforce that.
SPEAKER_04:And would we be as a as a company be purchasing that monthly? As far as we guess we get that three months, but we're processed that monthly. Is that gonna be the way that we make sure that's as yeah?
SPEAKER_01:So we tend to, if anyone pays, even now, if someone pays up front, we will still pay that it to the landlord monthly because at any time. So if you're self-managing, I'd say you can accept money in advance, but just make sure that that's sits in the bank. Because if you're you know, your tenant, something happens, they pass away, or and obviously if they're only on two months tenants, isn't it? Or they l yeah, give notice or leave. So if circumstances change, you'll you'll have to pay that money back. So be very careful about taking and I I'll keep that aside in a separate account or however you want to manage it. But yeah, you've just you've got to be prepared to pay that money back if they've paid six months up front and they only stay for two. Next thing is illegal, it'll be illegal to discriminate against renters who have children or that receive benefits. So hopefully nobody's doing this now anyway, but obviously they're bringing it in, so it must be happening somewhere. Sometimes people say, I don't want children because I can see after having some families leave recently, I can see why they say that. Having kids of our own, you're not allowed to do that, unless you're still allowed to say these things if the property is genuinely unsuitable. So if it's a one-bedroom flat and somebody wants to move two children in, then you can still say this my property is not suitable. So, but you can't discreet, you can't put on your advert no children.
SPEAKER_04:I think a key thing to highlight though, and the avenue that we take as far as we don't discriminate. So, for example, a tenant comes along and says, I'm on housing benefit and I wish to take this property, and you say, Right, okay, no problem. Affordability is the key factor which will distinguish whether we can let to you or not. What is the benefits that you receive? And if they haven't got sufficient benefits and they've got no angle of actually that the insufficient that they're getting, then you can say, I'm really sorry, the affordability doesn't meet the criteria that it needs to. So you're not discriminating, you're doing the due diligence on a particular because in the end, all you're doing is opening a can of worms. If they've not got enough money coming in, they'll move in, and then all of a sudden the arrears will start piling up and you'll be going down the section eight route, which you don't want to go down, which is not nice for you or for your tenants. So the key thing is there is affordability. If they can prove that they're getting benefits that will be paid direct to you if they can do that, that will come from universal credit, you'll get paid the rent every month and it covers that. Brilliant. That's that go for it. However, if you're not, then the avenue you go down is I'm really sorry, the affordability is the key factor on that. And that's not discriminatory. Or they need it for the guarantor. Or a guarantor.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, so you can set the whatever affordability criteria you want. I personally would have that written out as soon as you're as soon as you're agreeing the rent or as soon as you're advertised that property, have that affordability criteria set and make sure the person inquiring about your property is aware of that before they put the application in. Pet requests. So, as a landlord, you will need to consider tenants' requests for pets. It doesn't mean you have to accept them, but you do have to consider it on a case-by-case basis. And if you're refusing, you have to give kind of valid reasons. The government have said they're not going to publish a list of valid reasons. So if your reason is that you don't like pets, it's going to be valid. If your reason is that you've had a bad experience in the past and don't want to go down that road again, that's not a valid reason.
SPEAKER_04:It's for government, there's the dog being, for example, a dog being left in a one-bedroom flat all day whilst the you know the homeowner may all go out to work at six in the morning and not get home until you know ten at night. You say, Well, I'm sorry, that's not suitable for a pet that's going to be just trapped in a property without having to be able to get out and look after the dog and also look after the property. That could be an avenue that's explored further. But is the is the the also the surrounding other people that are in the building in consideration of other people? So for example, a HMO, I want to have a dog, you're like, no, allergies in addition to that, uh as far as you know, disruption for other tenants in the property itself. A fish, yeah, you can have a goldfish. I don't think worries I'm a goldfish in a HMO. I don't think they're gonna have any allergies side of things, but you can understand the reasonable reasons why you could give back on no on certain things.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I think you just there's no reason why you can't ask the questions in the same way that when a tenant applies, when a human applies to your property, you ask them their questions, you try and get a bit of background information about them. There's no reason why you can't ask those questions about the pet as well. You know, how long have they had it? Is it a new pet? Is it a puppy? Right, how long is it going to be left on its own? What's who is this someone else that could be called upon if the there's a problem and the owners aren't contactable? You can still ask those questions and formulate your decision based on those.
SPEAKER_03:Next on the list.
SPEAKER_01:And yeah, the count local councils will have more powers in terms of enforcement. I think it was a£7,000 fine if you are breaching any of these conditions under the Renters Rights Act. And if you're a repeat offender or it's a severe offence, then it's£40,000. So I think those fines are increasing rent repayment orders, which is where tenants can claim back the rent that they have paid. At the moment, the maximum is 12 months they can claim back. That's going to increase to 24 months. So you don't want one of those.
SPEAKER_04:No.
SPEAKER_01:So that's that's the stuff that's coming in on the 1st of May. So that I'd say quite a lot of the main stuff.
SPEAKER_04:I think one thing we'll highlight from this, admittedly, we've potentially got let-in agent goggles on. However, if you do your calculations and say to yourself, look, I'm spending 10 hours a week managing my portfolio of two or three properties. And let's say I'm going to pay myself£20 an hour, that's£800,£900 a month that you are to a degree working to manage your portfolio. What could you do if you were spending that 10 hours on something else that could make you more money? A letting agent is likely to spend or charge you a fraction of what that cost is in comparison. And if you can spend your time doing other things that could potentially make you more money, seriously consider it because in the end you've got then agents that are doing this. I can't vouch for every agent, but for ourselves, that you can rely and you can trust in the fact that they know what they're doing, they're experts, and this is what they do day in, day out. They don't have to go searching for contractors, they've got a long list of qualified insurance contractors with the relevant insurance in place that can get problems done and done quickly rather than you having to go out and change a lock and go and get a barrel or re-repaint this or fix the hinge or do you just think to yourself how much is your time worth if you're considering you're a self-managing agent going with another agent? Because they could well mean that over weekend on a Saturday night when you get those phone calls saying I've locked myself out, it's the agent that'll be doing and resolving it, not you. Have they got out of hours calling? Like, for example, we do. If it's an emergency, I'll then get the phone calls. But that's me as the boss man. That's what my responsibility is. It's not for you. So how much is your time worth and how much time you're spending managing your portfolio is really, really something to consider. And also with all the new legislation that's coming, it's bankrupting if you do things wrong, even if it's not malicious. That's the key thing. You're not meaning to do, and unfortunately, oh, I didn't know that. But unfortunately, that's not an excuse. And the council will love to charge you£7,000 or£40,000. Heaven forbid, even if you've not meant to do it wrong, that's the potential of what they're trying to do here, and people are being malicious. So you don't know what you don't know is a key, I think, a key phrase with regards to self-managing landlords and potentially using a lesson agent.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so the next next phase. So that was phase one. Phase two is from late 2026.
SPEAKER_03:I love that. I'm gonna give you a date. We'll see. Be late in 2026.
SPEAKER_01:So we know what the government's kind of the Renters Rights Act was coming in the summer and we got it in October. So we know what late 2026 may mean, but that's when they're gonna bring in the landlord database. So it will be an initial rollout in regional areas, and it is mandatory, it will become mandatory for landlords to sign up. There will be an annual fee payable that will be announced closer to the launch. So probably late 2026. And you'll need to give your contact details, you'll need to give your property details, so how many bedrooms, whether it's furnished, unfurnished, if it's currently let or if it's vacant. Um, and you'll need to upload all of your safety certificates. So I think we just have to look at the positives of this. Well, it's gonna be another bit of admin that you're gonna have to do, at least it kind of, if those of you that aren't so good at keeping your records straight, you're gonna have one place where you upload everything and can refer back. I get we get landlords that literally ask us for the certificates that they've provided us, they'll ask us multiple times, oh, can you just send me the certificate? Three or four times a year.
SPEAKER_04:So on the flip side of this, I would say as landlords, as new laws and legislation that have come in over the last 20 years, where it's the minority that have been breaching the situation, not doing things right, and the majority of people, which is all the majority, you know, 98% of landlords do it and do everything right, meaningfully look after their properties. They want their tenants to be looked after. It's that 2% that have penalised the majority. So I think bringing in these new things, and I know with Commentary Council have very much been on the prowl to make sure that their portfolio buy-to-lect properties in the city are legitimate, because they're they're finding galore with landlords that aren't, and people that are maliciously not. So, in some ways, it's ironing out the cracks or whatever the phrase, ironing out the creases, and I think it's a good thing. And in the fact that if you're just doing things and doing things right, no worries, it's just another task, unfortunately, you'll have to keep on doing. But I'm pretty sure that once it's done once, you get used to it, it'll be won't be a problem.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think um so that would be so initially, I think it's just gonna be a case of it'll be open for landlords to what like start signing up to the database and getting their information on, but they're gonna roll it out regionally. Then stage two of phase two, it gets a bit confusing, it will be like the further rollouts. They'll start introducing the Ombudsman, which I'll come on to, but that's when they'll start allowing public access to the database. So tenants will be able to look up, and you know, if there's been enforcement action against a landlord, they will be able to see that. So they can make that informed decision whether this is someone I want to start renting with.
SPEAKER_04:So if you're doing things, it's a reward.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, if you're doing things rightly, then I don't think you have anything to worry about here. In terms of the ombudsman, they will then be rolling out, starting to roll out that. Is it twenty twelve to eighteen months before they bring this in place? They will, and the Secretary of State will choose a scheme administrator who will then need to scale up the operation. They're looking that late 2028. So we're talking two, three years' time. When's the new election? Three. I don't know where the next next election is, but three years' time, they will want it will be mandatory for landlords to have registered with the ombudsman.
SPEAKER_04:That's nothing to be scared of. Gosh, the amount of times we've had bearing in mind we've been in business now for gosh, 15 years. I think we've had ombudsman calls three times, I think. And very quickly resolved.
SPEAKER_01:And there will be a charge for that as well.
SPEAKER_03:Of course there will be. Government wants some more money.
SPEAKER_01:So, yeah, as a Latin agent, we have to be part of an ombudsman. There is a charge. I couldn't tell you what it is, because I think it's with another membership. It's part of it. Um so I guess there would be start to be, as it develops, start to be things like that for landlords where perhaps the NRLA might include it in their membership. I don't know. I'm not saying that will happen. I'm just saying it might happen like that. That's kind of how it works with Latin agencies. But yeah, time will tell. But 2028, so it's not something you have to be aware of it, but it's not something you have to immediately worry about worry about. So that's phase two, late 2026. So I imagine that that will kind of feed into 2027. And then phase three. No, I had to, I actually had to read this and double check this. I didn't know if there was a type home of the years. It's his decent home standards. So your homes will need to meet a minimum standard. So they've spoken about homes or your actual house. Sorry, vital. So they have talked about your kitchen being of a certain age, having to replace it after so many years, bathrooms obviously the same. They haven't published anything yet on terms of this. I imagine, well, it's going to be ages. I'll tell you the dates in a minute and you'll laugh. But yeah, there'll be minimum requirements that your property will need to meet. We do know that they are still looking to bring in the minimum energy efficiency standards and they've published the 2030 date. Again, I see, wasn't it? It has to be a C.
SPEAKER_02:C rated by 2030.
SPEAKER_01:But as part of this, they will be reviewing the HH, I get this wrong. HHSRS. So the the hazard, I can't even remember what it is now, health hazards, safety rating system. And they'll also be extending AWABS law, which is applicable in the social sector. Very, very, very about landlords having to deal that there'll be time times set for how you need to deal with um damp in your rental properties. But the proposal that they are putting in at the moment is that this will be brought in in 2035.
SPEAKER_03:Who knows the same government's even going to be in place by then?
SPEAKER_04:And who what government will be in place? We might have what's the call reform. Nigel Farage is a prime minister by that point.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, so it's it's really weird the wording. So I'm not I assume it's not a typo because I'm assuming they checked. So it says 2035 or 2037. I don't know what happens in 2036. Maybe we're having a year off. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:It's even it's all going on holiday, that's new government rules. We can all go on holiday.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, I think as landlords and investors, you should always be looking to bring your homes up to a really good stand and it's gonna help you in the long run because you're gonna have less kind of ongoing maintenance, you're gonna get better tenants. So it's in your interest to kind of have a have your own kind of decent standard set anyway. But in reality, I would really start panicking about this when they're looking at 2035 and as a date when it's going, they're gonna be bringing it in.
SPEAKER_04:The key thing hot on the top of your to-do list is rent reviews now. And if you want to do them on a new tenancy that's up until the end of April, do it, get them fixed onto that rent. But you won't be able to review that rent for another 12 months, or do a section 13, which means that it's not committing them to another fixed term, it just means that their rent is going up. And you can give over a month's note, just over I give like a month and three days notice tends to be with section 13 notices at the moment. But the new laws come the first of May is two months. So get the rents up, get them up to a reasonable rate. And you know, what you may want to do to look after your tenants to make them perceive that you're looking after them is you may well say, look, here's what other give them examples of other rents that other properties have a similar profile. This is the rents they're achieving at the moment. I'm gonna charge you 15, 20 quid less a month, which yes is 240 quid a year, but they will appreciate that. They will you'd hope repay you in looking after your property and also staying longer as well.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:But if they think to themselves, if I move house, it's gonna cost me 30 pounds more a month. But I want to stay here then. I'll just stay here then. It's a nice enough house. And there may well be they ask for a little tweak of something here or there that may well cost you a little bit of money to do it. But you know, and I know voids cost more than achieving premium rents. Voids costs an awful lot more. And one thing I will highlight to you in the city of Coventry this last 12 months, for us as a company and a lot of other agents, the amount of people moving in comparison to the last three years is down by 25%. Voids are lower than they've ever been, rents are higher than they've ever been. Landlords are delighted. But the amount of people moving, they're sitting tight because of the amount of rents that have gone up. They see it as staying where they are and getting that slightly less rent as a more attractive option than moving to somewhere else. But 25% is what the amount of lets and moves that we've seen reduced by across the city over the last 12 months. So there's some facts. I think we're all done.
SPEAKER_01:So that's yeah, that's the Renters' Rights Act in a nutshell.
SPEAKER_04:I'm sure you're looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:But get them rents up. We all love those rents going up. Give send a happy Christmas card with to all your tenants at the same time. Say happy Christmas. First of January, your rents are going up. By the way, yes, bearing in mind it is the 26th. Get your rent, your rent increases out now. So you can then say it's by the 1st of January. Or make sure that if, for example, it's a fifth of the month that you've issued it by the third, maybe, so that you've given them a month and two days prior to when their next rent's due.
SPEAKER_00:Amazing. Amazing. Well, no, that's great. Thank you for the update and everything. It's always good to have uh the facts, which you know, it's been changing left, right, and centre. Did they was it I I thought that tenants could give one month's notice. They've moved it to two months' notice now, have they? Or was it always that way?
SPEAKER_01:No, at the moment, tenants can give one month's notice. If you've got in your contracts, if yeah, if if they're out of their fixed terms, I see it sometimes where landlords try and get their tenants to give two months' notice and they put it in the contract. It's not, it wouldn't stand up.
SPEAKER_04:At the moment, section eights, obviously, you can if they're in brain breach, you can give I think is it two weeks, I think it is, to get the arrears out.
SPEAKER_01:But all of the notice periods, if you want to get back possession, are increasing. I think apart from the antisocial behaviour, you can go straight away. Go straight away in a part. But all of them are increasing.
SPEAKER_04:So I believe there's a government web, I'm seeing on Facebook they've been putting posts out about a lot of the new renters' rights bill changes. So you'll be able to see that more to firm up certain things we've told you about today. But yeah, is being proactive, being prepared for it, being knowledge and what's coming, not just putting your head in the sand. I think that's really important with this. And if you can then, if you're thinking to yourself, let's give it an agent, do some proofing on agents, making client money protection, ombudsman's in place, they know what they're doing with HMOs, because a lot of, oh yeah, new property, great, great, great. HMO management in comparison to single lab management is very, very different. Smoke tests every month, periodic visits that are done carried out regularly, the amount of safety certification that's done each and every year, as well as every five years, as well as every ten years, all these different things, as well as making sure you meet with the HMO officer when they want to come and visit the property. Are you meeting certain standards? The locks, the smoke alarms, the fire detection system, the oh gosh, the interpressant strips that are indoors, the auto closers, the size of rooms, the size of ensuites, the windows, window restrictors, all the stuff that goes with it. Make sure they know what they're doing.
SPEAKER_00:Well, definitely, definitely. I think you're like you like you're saying then, it's about tightening things up, isn't it? It's about making sure that you've got the systems in place or the team in place or the agent in place to sort those out for you. Is there anything particularly that you found in your agency at the moment where people have, you know, the rent is right act here, oh my god, the world is falling in, or are people quite happy taking it in their strides? I mean, for me, I think from looking at what's coming in, I you know, some of it all right. We we it used to be nice to put people into longer contracts because everybody has that that mindset then that, oh, I'm here for 12 months or six months or whatever. But I still think as long as your properties are up to scratch, do what they say, and people who are living in there respect the properties and look after them as much as they can or report things when they should do, that's what we should all be doing anyway, isn't it?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I think that the the the impact on lengths of tenancies, I think it'll be in the minority of people that will want to come along and do two or three months tenancies. I think I think people will still, and on the basis of the fact I've just told you about with regards to Coventry, and I'm sure it's very much the same across the the country, people aren't moving as much. They're just sitting tight because they know if they move they're likely to be paying more rent than they will be paying if they're just familiar with their current tenancy.
SPEAKER_01:I think if you've got if you've got singlets where you're renting to families, I think that kids with schools, the likelihood of them wanting to move out after two months is very, very slim. And like when we moved, Anthony did it, and I was still very stressed, and I wouldn't want to be done. And that was before we'd had our second, so it was kind of like I'm not doing not doing that again. So I think most families are going to be. I think most families, you're not going to have that problem.
SPEAKER_04:And schools, continuity with schools. So letting to families. And one thing I will say, as far as coventry is concerned, I mean, some people are saying to I had an email off a gentleman the other day um saying, right, I've got a C3 residential house, and I want to convert it to a C4 HMO. It's a three-bed semi-detached in coventry, but it's in an article four area. I was like, I want to have some help with planning permission and the HMO license. I was like, in an ideal world, yes, that would just magically happen. You get the planning, no worries at all. But the reason why the council bought Article 4 is they don't like all the perception is that HMOs bring all of these bad people that are going to make lots of noise and mess to areas. You will have to have an incredibly strong case to get the planning permission. So I've basically just gone back to myself. I don't want to put a negative on this, but realistically, I would say to you that you may well spend a lot of money and time and not be successful in getting planning. But as a three-bed property in Coventry at the moment, and I know there was an article in the Daily Mail or three months ago now, it was, that Coventry is behind two cities in Scotland. I mean, Edinburgh and Glasgow are hotspot cities in the country for buy-to-let properties. But the rents being achieved from a three-bed family let within a mile of the city centre with a driveway and a garage, you're getting 1250, 1300, 1350 for a three-bed family let house. If it's in good condition and in the good location, near to school, supermarket, city centre is these particular, or the train station, that's what you can get. And if you look after the tenants, you then say, Well, right, okay, well, if I've got three tenants in there paying 500 quid, I'm getting 1500 quid. But I've still got to pay the council tax and the bills. All of a sudden, the three-bed HMO package doesn't work. The four-bed squeezes over the line, the five-bed, but then if you're doing one single tenancy, you're not tending to get five people. Typically, we don't find that will go on a single tenancy. Four beds, yeah, you but not so many, but you can still get four mates potentially. But that's the thing. If all of a sudden you then change your strategy where it's like, well, if I do family legs, we've only got to do the gas and the electric cert every gas year, every one year, electric cert every five years, and I love less maintenance. So don't HMOs with five and six beds, yes, fantastic, wonderful. Let out individual rooms as well, limit your potential void risks and all those sorts of things, and let out professionals as well, which means you can let to anybody and everybody. But do consider with the smaller properties, professional lets, if they're in the prime locations, you'll get premium rent. If you make it look nice, and also another angle which we look at is do them unfurnished. Because in the end, if you're gonna get a family in there, they're gonna bring their own furniture, less upkeep for you, but if they've bought all their own furniture, they'll likely want to stay there because moving house is a bugger, and we don't so what I'll say to you is property is great, property is wonderful, the property will appreciate and value. But if you've got a family let that maybe will make you£100 less a month, 1200 quid less a year, but just think to yourself, okay, well, I'll have less voids, which will cancel, I'll have less maintenance, and over a two or three year period, you could have people stay there for years. So don't just cancel off and just say I only do HMOs, because single lets in certain areas, certain locations, do that research on what rent's achievable, could well be the right strategy to move to. But if you do do that, you are changing from maybe C4 or CR Generous to a C3 residential house. So do bear in mind, you are then all of a sudden, if you're doing changing using an article four area, that you then will have to apply for planning permission to go back to see the strategy. Do remember that as well.
SPEAKER_00:Well, there you have it. Some very, very interesting changes coming our way. We need to all make sure that on May the 1st we are aware of everything. So I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I hope you've taken plenty of notes on this as well. We need to make sure that we're compliant, but that's what we are all about here is becoming the property professionals in our areas. Anthony and Alison have done an amazing job there helping our community, and they always do help our community asking answering questions and things all the time. So, as I said to you before, if you want to stay in a note and you want to stay up to date, check out education to action. Also check out any tools and resources that we have available to you. And we're always putting out free tools and resources on our websites, education toaction.com, thepropertyunleash.com, and check out markfitzgerald.com as well. I love my.coms, as you can tell there. So keep an eye out for me because I will be traveling around a lot more, talking at a lot more networking events and at events. And if you see me or you want to come over and say hello, please do come and introduce yourself. I'm more than happy to have a chat with you. And if you would like to have a virtual coffee as well, or maybe we can help point you in the right direction with your property investing. Again, reach out to me either on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, send us an email if you want. I'm more than happy, always looking to connect with people. And of course, we do have the social housing and care providers that we can help people with as well. So there's a lot here. We're ever growing, we're building up our property businesses, and we're helping others do exactly the same as compliantly as we all should be. So look forward to you coming and joining me on the next episode very soon. You do take care, look after yourself and your families, and bye for now.