In September Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner introduced the Renters’ Rights Bill to parliament and the Bill could become law by the summer of 2025.
The House of Commons Public Bill Committee, a scrutiny committee made up of elected MPs, are now considering the Bill. Last month, they issued a call for evidence to help understand the impacts of the Bill and any amendments that may be needed.
Students' Union UCL have responded to the call for evidence. We are asking the Government to strengthen the Bill to better protect students.
The Bill will improve the rights of renters, but under the current proposals, some of the new protections will not apply to student renters. We want to change this.
We have called on the UK Government to make 3 amendments to better support students:
- Include students in protections to ban no fault evictions
- Ban guarantor or upfront rent requirements
- Introduce measures which prevent landlords and agents from taking advantage of a loophole in restrictions on rental bidding by readvertising a property in a short timeframe
Our mission to make renting fairer for students:
Abolish No Fault Evictions
Under UK law there are two means by which Landlords can evict tenants on assured shorthold tenancies, the most common form of tenancy. These are Section 8 and Section 21 notices.
- Section 8 notices are when tenants have broken the terms of the tenancy, for example not paying their rent on time or ‘anti-social behaviour’.
- Section 21 notices are ‘no fault evictions’, where at the end of a shorthold tenancy a landlord can evict their tenants without having to give a reason.
The Renters’ Rights Bill aims to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions for most tenants. However, students will be excluded from this protection.
Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), housing that is designed and managed specifically for occupation by students, has been removed entirely from the scope of the bill. The Bill also includes a concession to landlords whereby landlords renting houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) to students will be able to ‘gain possession’ of their properties between June and September each year in order to be able to rent the properties again to the following year’s students, often at increased rates.
The student exemption relies on the view that students view their term-time accommodation as transitory, often returning to their parental/guardian homes, and are happy moving to a new property at the start of each academic year. However, research by NUS and SOS-UK shows that students’ living conditions are far more diverse, with many students viewing their private rented accommodation as their primary, multiyear residence.
NUS and SOS-UK’s Homes Fit For Study 2023 survey found that 27% of students lived in mixed student/non-student households, 23% lived only with their partner, 11% lived alone, and 8% lived with dependent children under the age of 18.
Our Advice Service has received multiple cases of students experiencing Section 21 evictions that negatively impacted students’ welfare and academic experiences.
Advice Service Case Study: The Impact of Section 21
A student received a Section 21 notice, giving them the minimum two months required notice to vacate the property.
The student believed that the landlord’s motivation for evicting their tenants was so they could convert the property to include an additional bedroom, and therefore receive increased rental income. They decided to issue a Section 21 notice rather than complete the works with tenants in situ.
The student was advised they had no grounds to challenge the notice and therefore was left with the choice of leaving on the required date or waiting for the landlord to complete court action.
Abolishing Guarantors and Rent Up Front
Landlords and estate agents often ask prospective tenants for a UK based guarantor before they offer them a tenancy. It is common for landlords to have stringent criteria as to who can be a guarantor, including their level of income and passing credit checks. If tenants cannot provide a guarantor, it is common for landlords to require significant amounts of rent to be paid in advance.
Students from low-income backgrounds, care leavers, those estranged from their families and international students are all far less likely to be able to provide a UK based guarantor. One UCL student told us about the financial toll this took on them and their flatmates: “My agent rejected several of my friend's proposed UK-based guarantors on the basis of annual income and whether they owned a home in the UK. Because of this, we were forced to end the tenancy application process from our side, but were faced with exorbitant agency charges for processing, document handling, and management. These fees amounted to (~£1200). In addition, we had already paid 1 months' rent upfront (£3495) and had already lost the 1 week's holding deposit (£806). It has been months since we ended our application, yet we still have not got our money back and the agency still demand we pay the £1200 agent fees.”
UCL can step in and act as Guarantor through the Accommodation Office. Last year they received 267 applications, of which 209 have been granted. However, over 50% of students attempting to utilise the scheme have had UCL rejected by landlords or estate agents as a guarantor and only 98 guarantees have been issued. Four estate agents responded to UCL’s Accommodation Office stating that they cannot accept UCL as a guarantor and it is likely the number rejecting the scheme is much higher. The system isn’t working.
Research by NUS in 2019 found that 61% of students were asked to provide a UK-based guarantor. At UCL, our Advice Service have managed multiple cases where students were unable to provide a UK based guarantor. In the case study below, this led to homelessness.
Advice Service Case Study: The Impact of Not having a UK Based Guarantor
“A part time Masters student had recently been granted refugee status, leading to the withdrawal of Asylum Support (hotel accommodation and payments). This meant they required stable alternative accommodation to continue their studies.
Receiving income from a combination of student loan and Universal Credit, they were also entitled to local authority assistance in the form of help with advance rent payments. They had no saved funds due to their background and only had only just been granted the right to work. Prospective landlords were insisting on a UK based guarantor due to their status as a student and benefit claimant, which as a recent migrant to the UK they were not able to provide.
The student faced homelessness twice due to this requirement for guarantors, once soon after their refugee status was granted, and another after a contract ended. At one point they were staying in hostels whilst trying to find accommodation. Both times the university had to adapt its usual policy of only accommodating full time students, to provide them accommodation.”
NUS is coordinating with MPs to introduce an amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill that would ban landlords from requiring tenants to provide a guarantor or rent up front. This would help tackle student homelessness, and the exploitation of students, particularly international students and those from marginalised backgrounds in the UK, who are otherwise pushed towards loan companies or more precarious housing.
Ban rent bidding
The Renters' Rights Bill aims to prohibit 'rental bidding'. However, a loophole within the bill remains whereby landlords and estate agents can remove and advertise their property at a higher rent within a short-time frame as a strategy to mitigate against this ban.
The practice of inviting, encouraging, or accepting offers over the advertised asking price artificially inflates the cost of renting with polling by the New Economics Foundation found that 39% of private renters paid on average £1,200 a year above their property’s advertised rent.3 When coupled with the practice of landlords reclaiming their properties in the summer months, only to readvertise them at a higher rate to a new group of students, this contributes to an increasingly inflated student rental market.
Those with limited incomes, including students, are at a significant disadvantage when trying to secure accommodation. In fact, research conducted by Cornerstone Tax found that in the last two years 1 in 5 private renters had lost out on a property due to other prospective tenants offering to pay rent above the advertised rate.
This is especially the case in larger cities with substantial student populations such as Southampton, Brighton, London, and Manchester. Prohibiting rental bidding and ensuring that any potential loopholes to this ban are closed, is essential to ensuring a stable and fair market for both students and the wider populace.
We are calling on the UK Government to close this loophole by introducing measures which prevent landlords and agents from mitigating restrictions of rental bidding by readvertising a property within a short timeframe.
Help us make this change.
Alongside responding to the Government's call for evidence, we have written to 44 Members of Parliament who represent London constituencies where students live calling on them to strengthen the Bill and protect student tenants.
We will continue to advocate for students. In order to do so, we need to know how students are being impacted by the current rental market. We want to hear your stories!