Our Renters’ Rights Act: Phase One Start Date Announced… but are we ready?

While the announcement brings clarity on when reforms begin, it still leaves many in the sector, as well as many landlords, questioning how the transition will work in practice.

What Phase One Actually Means

Ministers have said little beyond announcing the implementation date, but phase one is expected to include two of the headline changes that everyone has been preparing for: that is to say, the abolition of Section 21 “no-fault” evictions, alongside the wider move to periodic tenancies and updated tenancy frameworks.

For letting agents, property managers, and landlords, the countdown has officially started.

Letting Agents Welcome the Certainty

The Lettings Industry body, Propertymark, has taken a broadly positive stance, describing the announcement as a welcome opportunity for agents to “get ahead” of the transition.

A spokesperson noted that having a firm date allows landlords to focus, but also means that letting agencies and property management firms can finalise their internal preparations, review relevant systems and processes, and can now begin meaningful conversations with their clients – their landlords – as well as their tenants.

Propertymark has pressed government repeatedly for a long lead-time, arguing that agents needed breathing room to adjust to a new legal landscape.

To support the lettings industry, Propertymark has expanded its training roadshows, regional events, and guidance resources, emphasising that early preparation will be essential for a smooth switch to the new periodic-only model.

Landlords Call for More Detail

Not everyone shares this same optimism.

Pointedly, The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has voiced frustration over what it describes as an incomplete announcement. While the date is now set, the association argues that the government has provided none of the practical information required for landlords to begin preparing.

NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle stressed that six months’ notice after all regulations and guidance are published is the minimum.

According to the NRLA, the sector cannot prepare until the government issues the detailed documents required to:

• Update tenancy agreements
• Train landlords, agents, legal advisers, and local authorities
• Inform over 11 million tenants of the new rules
• Clarify the updated Housing Health and Safety Rating System
• Outline the possession grounds that will replace Section 21
• Provide full guidance on the new Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector

Without this, Beadle warns, the transition risks “creating confusion at the very moment clarity is most needed.”

Concerns About the Court System

A major sticking point remains the county court system, currently struggling with prolonged delays for possession cases as it is. The Justice Committee has previously described the courts as “dysfunctional,” and the NRLA has said that landlords have little confidence that they will be able to obtain possession efficiently under the new rules.

Government assurances about digital reforms have done little to settle nerves. Landlords and agents alike have asked for specifics about what will change, when, and how quickly.

The Scale of Preparation Required

The NRLA highlights the huge operational task ahead, including:

• Training solicitors on new possession processes
• Ensuring local authorities have staff and resources to enforce the new rules.
• Updating software, documentation, and compliance systems across the lettings industry
• Preparing the Property Tribunal for an expected surge in rent and possession appeals
• Allowing landlords time to understand hazards and self-regulate before the Decent Homes Standard becomes enforceable.

There are of course many moving parts, and industry voices are naturally urging ministers to release the full regulatory framework without delay.

What This Means for Landlords Today

We know that the clock is ticking, and we understand the frustration that landlords feel about the finer details still being missing.

But on the other hand, we can make some seriously educated guesses at this stage – and there is already much that we have put in place, and plenty that landlords can do also, to comply fully with new and changing regulations as we currently understand them.

We will certainly continue to monitor every announcement, so that we can push it out to our clients as clear, practical guidance, to navigate the transition whilst avoiding the compliance pitfalls that reforming legislation can so easily create.

More updates will follow as soon as the government publishes the further guidance – but in the meantime, we urge landlords to keep cool heads and plan based on what we do already know. Make sure to read our summary, which we posted as a blog article last week – see link here.

It condenses 11,000 words into some salient points that landlords can get thinking about already, well ahead of time.

For help navigating this change, please feel free to pick our brains – or, indeed, to throw keys at us and ask us to handle it all! If you let out property in Coventry and feel that now is the time to seek a safe pair of hands, here at The House Group we are absolutely at your service.