Impact of RRA 2025 on student tenancies
- No fixed-term ASTs from 1 May 2026 — all new tenancies are periodic; students can give 2 months' notice to leave at any point
- Ground 4A (new): landlord can serve notice at tenancy start specifying possession no earlier than end of academic year — allows annual re-let cycle
- Ground 4A notice must be served no later than the tenancy start date — late service invalidates the ground for that year
- Existing fixed-terms (pre-May 2026): continue until expiry, then convert to periodic under RRA 2025 rules
- Student landlord associations (NRLA, Unipol) campaigned for a full student tenancy exemption — no exemption enacted as at June 2026
HMO licensing for student properties
- Mandatory HMO licence required for 5+ occupants from 2+ households — covers most 5/6-bed student houses
- Additional HMO licensing in many university towns (Oxford, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield): 3+ or 4+ occupant HMOs require licences — check local council
- HMO Management Regulations 2006 apply to all HMOs regardless of licence requirement
- Article 4 Directions in university areas: planning permission required before change from C3 to C4 (HMO) use
- Minimum room size: 6.51 sq m for single adult sleeping room — enforced via licence conditions
Guarantors
- Guarantor (typically parent) agrees to pay rent and damages if student defaults — carry out affordability checks (30-36x monthly rent as annual income benchmark)
- Joint and several guarantee: each student's guarantor liable for full rent, not just their share — maximises recovery options
- Deed of guarantee must include a periodic tenancy continuation clause — without it, guarantee may expire when original fixed term ends
- Under periodic tenancies, guarantor liability extends for full tenancy duration — reflect this in the guarantee document
Advance rent cap
1-month advance cap from 1 May 2026
Requiring more than 1 month's rent in advance is a civil offence carrying fines up to £40,000. This applies to all tenants regardless of nationality — international students cannot be required to pay 6 months in advance as a substitute for a UK guarantor.
- International students without UK guarantors: refer to specialist guarantor companies (Housing Hand, Canopy) — paid service, cost met by student
- One month advance + 5-week deposit: maximum permitted upfront payment from 1 May 2026
Deposit and end of tenancy
- 5-week deposit cap (Tenant Fees Act 2019) — protect within 30 days, serve prescribed information within 30 days
- Joint tenancy: one deposit registered, all tenants named — deductions on checkout are against the shared deposit
- Thorough check-in/out inventories with photographs essential — student lets have higher-than-average wear and tear
- Late protection: landlord cannot serve valid possession notice and faces penalty of up to 3x deposit amount