Renters Reform Act: What It Actually Means for Middlesbrough Landlords

The Renters Reform Act is now law. Section 21 no-fault evictions are gone. A national landlord register is coming. Rent increase rules have tightened. If you are wondering what the renters reform act actually means for your portfolio and your bottom line, the short answer is: the game has changed. Not overnight, but permanently.

The direction of travel has been obvious since 2019. What was not obvious were the details—and the details are what will affect your properties, your tenants, and your compliance obligations. This guide covers the key changes, why they matter, and what you need to do before the landscape shifts permanently beneath your feet.

Section 21 Evictions: No Longer an Option

In October 2024, Section 21 no-fault evictions ended. Permanently. You can no longer serve a notice to quit on a tenant without giving a reason.

This is not a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. It has been coming since the Renters' Rights Bill was first mooted in 2019. What might surprise you is how absolute the change is. There is no fallback. There is no "Section 21 but with notice." Section 21 is simply gone.

From now on, you can only end a tenancy using Section 8 grounds. And those grounds are specific. You cannot make them up. The eligible reasons are:

Rent arrears: two months in arrears at the start of possession proceedings, or three months in arrears in the previous 12 months.
Breach of tenancy: the tenant has broken a term of the agreement (and you have given notice to remedy and they have not).
Anti-social behaviour or criminal activity.
Damage to the property or fixtures.
Nuisance or annoyance to neighbours.
Landlord or family intention to occupy: you have a genuine intention to live in the property yourself, or your spouse, civil partner, or adult child has.
Sale with vacant possession required by the mortgage lender.
Tenant's death (only for certain assured tenancies).

The court decides whether your case meets the threshold. You cannot just assert that you have grounds and expect eviction. The court process is adversarial. The tenant will contest it. You will need evidence.

For landlords with good tenants, this changes nothing. If you are collecting rent on time, the tenancy is not being breached, there are no complaints, and the tenant is not damaging the property, Section 21 was always just a theoretical backstop. You would never need it.

The problem is the edge case. A tenancy that is not working out but the tenant has not yet crossed a clear Section 8 threshold. Perhaps the rent is paid but late. Perhaps there is a personality clash. Perhaps the tenant is difficult but not in breach. Under Section 21, you could serve notice and move on. Under Section 8, you cannot. You have to negotiate, mediate, accept the situation, or go to court.

Going to court is not quick. Possession cases currently take 12 to 24 weeks to process. Some take longer if the court is backlogged. That is 12 to 24 weeks of rent (usually paid, but uncertain), lost time, and legal fees. So the practical effect of Section 21 abolition is that landlords have fewer easy exits and more difficult decisions.

The National Landlord Register: Coming Soon

The Act requires landlords to register on a national database. You will not be able to legally let properties without being on it. This is not optional. It is not voluntary. It is mandatory.

Details on exactly how this will work, what it will cost, and what the timeline will be are still being finalised. But the requirement is settled. The government will hold a register. Every landlord in England must register. Middlesbrough landlords will be included.

For professional agents and landlords who already comply with their obligations—gas safety certificates, EPC ratings, deposit protection, prescribed information, Right to Rent checks—the register is a bureaucratic step. You will fill in a form, pay a fee (expected to be modest), and receive a registration number. That is all.

What the register does do is create a permanent record. If you have complaints lodged against you, if you receive an enforcement notice for non-compliance, if you breach the standards set out in the Act, that will be on the register. Prospective tenants will be able to check whether their landlord is registered. Other landlords will be able to see who is operating outside the system.

In short: if you have been sloppy about compliance, now is the time to tighten up. If you have been diligent, the register is just paperwork.

Rent Increases Now Have Rules

You can now increase rent once per year, no more frequently. You must give at least one month's notice to tenants in periodic tenancies, and two months' notice if there is a fixed term coming to an end.

Tenants have the right to challenge any increase they think is unreasonable (above the market rate for comparable properties in the area) by referring the case to a tribunal. The tribunal can set a lower increase or set a cap.

In practice, most responsible landlords already increase rents annually and at rates broadly in line with the market. If your portfolio is in Middlesbrough and you have been increasing by 5% or 6% a year, you will not see much change.

The real impact falls on landlords who have been:

Increasing more than once per year
Raising rents aggressively (15% to 20% jumps)
Pushing rents above what the local market will bear

For those landlords, the tribunal route is now a real risk. If a tenant challenges your increase, you will need to justify it with evidence of comparable rents in the area. You will need rental data showing that similar properties let for similar amounts.

If you cannot show comparables, the tribunal can override your increase and set a lower one. So start gathering that data now. Keep records of what similar properties let for in your area. Rightmove, Zoopla, and local rental agencies publish this information. Use it to benchmark your increases before you propose them.

Pets: Tenants' Rights Are Stronger

The Act gives tenants a stronger right to request permission to keep a pet. You cannot simply refuse with a blanket "no pets" policy. You need a reasonable justification specific to the tenant and the animal.

What counts as reasonable? Health and safety concerns. Risk of damage to the property based on the specific animal. For example: refusing a dog in a fourth-floor apartment where the tenant works full-time and cannot let the dog out regularly is potentially reasonable. Refusing a goldfish is not.

If you do agree to allow a pet, you can:

Require the tenant to take out pet damage insurance at their cost.
Require a higher deposit, provided you stay within the legal deposit cap (five weeks' rent for most properties).
Include additional terms in the tenancy about pet liability and damage.

Some landlords have already moved to pet-friendly policies. Others are firmly against pets and will need to rethink. In a competitive market like parts of Middlesbrough, allowing pets may help you attract tenants. In a tight market where demand outpaces supply, you can be stricter.

Either way, the choice is no longer entirely yours.

Other Changes Worth Knowing

The Act also tightens up several other areas:

Prescribed Information. Tenancy agreements now have specific legal requirements and formats. You cannot just use any template. If you are using an old agreement, get it checked against the legal standard. Prescribed information must be provided in the prescribed format.

Deposit Returns. The timeline for returning deposits at the end of a tenancy is still 30 days. But the rules on deductions are clearer, and disputes go through a tribunal process. If you were already returning deposits promptly and documenting deductions clearly, you are fine. If you have been slow or vague, tighten up now.

Retaliatory Eviction. You cannot serve Section 8 notice within six months of a tenant reporting a repair problem, making a complaint, or exercising a statutory right. This is designed to protect tenants from landlord revenge. It also means you need to be careful about the timing of any possession action. If a tenant complains about a broken boiler and you then serve Section 8 notice two weeks later, the tenant can defend the eviction by claiming retaliation.

Complaints and Standards. The Act creates a new complaints process and gives local authorities new powers to enforce standards. You may see more inspections and follow-ups from environmental health and trading standards. Stay compliant and you will not see them. Cut corners and you will.

What You Should Do Now

Update your paperwork. Get your tenancy agreements and prescribed information checked against the new legal standard. Templates are available from the government. If you are staying compliant with 2026 regulations, your legal paperwork is the foundation. Do not skip this.

Strengthen your tenant referencing. With Section 21 gone, the tenant you choose at the start of the tenancy matters more than ever. A thorough vetting process—credit check, previous landlord references, Right to Rent checks, employment verification, affordability assessment—is your insurance policy. We assess every applicant carefully before they even see the property. That filtering is why we have such a low problem-tenant rate.

Get your compliance in order. Gas safety, electrical safety, EPC rating, deposit protection in an authorised scheme, prescribed information issued in the right format—all of it needs to be in order now. Non-compliance used to be something you could fix later. Now it is a vulnerability you cannot afford.

Think about professional management. The regulatory burden on landlords increases with every new piece of legislation that passes. If you are managing one, two, or three properties yourself while holding down a day job, the time cost of staying compliant just went up. Professional agents handle the register, the tribunal challenges, the compliance audits, and the legal notices. For many landlords, outsourcing makes more sense than trying to do it all in the evenings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What happens if I serve a Section 21 notice now?

A: It will likely be ruled invalid. If a tenancy began after 1 October 2024, Section 21 cannot be used. If it began before that date, you may have a grace period depending on the specific circumstances, but always get legal advice before serving notice. The courts are taking a strict line on this.

Q: Can a tenant refuse a reasonable rent increase?

A: Tenants cannot unilaterally refuse, but they can challenge it at tribunal if they believe it is above market rate. If the tribunal agrees, it can reduce or cap the increase. You are better off making sure your increase is defensible before serving notice.

Q: What does the national landlord register cost?

A: The government has not yet published the fee. Expect it to be modest—estimates range from £30 to £100 per year, but this is not official. When the scheme launches, the fee will be on gov.uk.

Q: If my mortgage lender requires vacant possession to sell, can I use that as a Section 8 ground?

A: Yes, that is one of the valid Section 8 grounds. But you must have a genuine intention to sell, and the lender's requirement must be real and documented. You cannot claim this if you have no intention of actually selling.

Q: What if my tenant is paying rent late but technically within the notice period?

A: Late payment, by itself, is not necessarily grounds for eviction unless the tenancy agreement specifies consequences and you have followed the formal process. Two months in arrears is the threshold for rent arrears as a Section 8 ground. One week late is not enough.

Q: Can I refuse a pet because of building insurance?

A: You can require pet insurance as a condition of allowing the pet, but refusing based solely on building insurance is harder to justify now. Many buildings allow pets with appropriate insurance. Check your policy first, and if it excludes certain animals, use that as a specific reason for refusal.

Q: How do I challenge an unreasonable pet request?

A: You do not need to accept every pet. You need to have a reasonable justification. If a tenant requests a pet that poses a genuine health or safety risk, or damage risk, you can refuse. But "I do not like pets" is not a reason. Be prepared to explain specifically why that animal, in that property, with that tenant, would be a problem.

Q: Will compliance inspections increase?

A: Possibly. Local authorities will have new powers under the Act, and they may do more spot checks. If your gas safety certificates are current, your EPC is valid, your deposit is protected, and your prescribed information is in order, inspections are nothing to worry about. They only become a problem if you are cutting corners.

Moving Forward

The Renters Reform Act is not going away. Section 21 is not coming back. The regulatory environment is now more demanding, but it is also more structured. Landlords who get ahead of the curve—tightening tenant selection, updating paperwork, staying compliant, and accepting that professional management makes sense—will navigate it smoothly. Those who wait will find themselves scrambling.

If you are in Middlesbrough and managing your properties yourself, now is the moment to assess whether that still makes sense. If you are already working with an agent, make sure they are actively preparing for the changes ahead and not just talking about them.

The details matter. The next 12 months are when those details get locked in.