This post is one of a series of posts on the Renters (Reform) Bill and some of the changes that are being made to it as a result of amendments being put forward by the government during the Bills Committee sessions.

One of the contentious areas for student landlords has been the differential in treatment being offered to PRS student landlords and those in the Purpose Built sector (PBSA). PBSA landlords will be able to sit outside the RRB and the Housing Act 1988 thanks to plans to re-draft exemption regulations in their favour. That would mean that PBSA landlords would still be able to offer fixed term tenancies, something prohibited by the RRB. The government had said it was going to do something for PRS landlords but had made it clear that would not be the same deal as was being offered to the PBSA sector.

That offer became clear on Wednesday when the government unveiled a range of amendments to the RRB. For student landlords the key amendment was Gov 9 which inserts a new ground for possession into Schedule II of the Housing Act 1988 (which the RRB extensively amends). This new ground 4A only applies to HMOs, which will be most student accommodation but will notably exempt accommodation rented to families which have a student within them. This is undoubtedly intended to protect mature students who might be in full time education while living with their children in rented accommodation. All of the tenants of the HMO must either be full-time students or the landlord must have believed that they would become so. Therefore part-time students will not fall within this ground and every person in the HMO must be student or must have at least intended to be one. The landlord will then need to give a section 8 notice citing this ground and that notice will have to expire between 1 June and 30 September in any year. This will limit landlords to giving notice that will expire within the normal summer vacation range for most institutions. The landlord must also intend to let the property to students again once the current tenants have left.

This is something of an improvement. But it is no perfect scenario. Landlords will have to give notice and that notice will need to expire in a specific date range which will not work for all institutions. If the students do not leave then the landlord will still have to go to court which, on current timelines, will mean they will not be able to rent to students in the coming year at all. 

There are in fact alternatives and it seems likely that many student landlords will either stop renting in the student sector altogether or use an alternative mechanism that takes their tenancies outside the remit of the RRB altogether. In practice this is likely to leave students worse off rather than better.