Private residential tenancies

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FORTHCOMING CHANGE: The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. For guidance regarding the Act’s impact on residential tenancies in England, see Practice Note: Renters' Rights Act 2025—key provisions.

Assured and assured shorthold tenancies

For details of these types of tenancy, see: Assured and assured shorthold tenancies—overview.

Rent Act tenancies

Private tenancies granted before 15 January 1989 are likely to be governed by the Rent Act 1977 (RA 1977) (as will new tenancies granted after that date to an existing Rent Act tenant by the same landlord).

Rent Act tenants will be known as protected tenants if they are occupying within a fixed or periodic term, or statutory tenants if they are in occupation following termination of the fixed or periodic term.

Rent Act tenants benefit from:

  1. •

    rules for setting fair rents—there is a limit that can be

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Latest Property Disputes News

Property Disputes weekly highlights—11 December 2025

This week's edition of Property Disputes weekly highlights includes: an Upper Tribunal decision concerning the rejection of an adverse possession claim following clarification of lost conveyance terms, Court of Appeal decisions concerning leaseholder liability to contribute via service charges to remedying pre-existing structural defects in right to buy schemes, and the correct legal test for reasonableness of costs in long-term equipment hire and maintenance contracts under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, High Court decisions concerning equitable set-aside of a fraudulently obtained judgment, and the limitation of the breach of contract principle in deposit recovery. It also includes minutes of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee meeting held on 7 November 2025, a speech by the Master of the Rolls’ regarding housing sector innovations and new online procedure reforms, the Online Procedure Rule Committee’s consultation on the first Online Procedure Rules under the 2022 Act, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s and Ministry of Justice’s call for evidence on housing disrepair claims management, Senedd Research’s analyses of the Building Safety (Wales) Bill scope and regulatory concerns, and the House of Lords’ library briefing on the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.

Senedd progresses Building Safety (Wales) Bill to Stage 2 committee consideration

The Building Safety (Wales) Bill has advanced to Stage 2 committee consideration as of 10 December 2025, following the agreement on the Legislative Consent Motion and Financial Resolution. Introduced by Cabinet Secretary Jayne Bryant MS, the Bill seeks to establish a comprehensive building safety regime for multi-occupied residential buildings in Wales. It requires the registration of buildings that are at least 11 metres high or comprise five or more storeys, and it assigns new responsibilities to local authorities, designating them as building safety and fire and rescue authorities.

Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting—7 November 2025

Dispute Resolution analysis: The minutes of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) meeting of 7 November 2025 (conducted in a hybrid format at The Rolls Building (Royal Courts of Justice) and via video conference) cover issues including parole referrals to the High Court, domestic notification orders, the developing Online Procedure Rules framework, mediation and paper determination pilots, reforms to the Traffic Enforcement Centre fee regime and a lacuna relating to arbitration appeals.

Master of the Rolls sets out housing sector innovations and new online procedure reforms

The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (CATJ) has published a speech by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, delivered on 4 December 2025 at the Housing Law Practitioners’ Association Conference, highlighting how the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (RRA 2025) —including abolition of section 21 from May 2026, new rent increase rules via section 13 notices, expanded First-tier Tribunal (FTT) applications, and a compulsory Private Rented Sector database—will reshape housing justice. He stressed the role of the Online Procedure Rules Committee in creating simplified Online Procedure Rules and announced the development of a new online property and possession claims platform scheduled to released by late Spring 2026, alongside integrated digital processes and AI tools to assist litigants and support faster dispute resolution.

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