Over late summer and September, as Parliament was gearing up for the final debates of the Renters Rights Bill, we ran our semi-regular survey. A total of 711 private renters responded, giving us an idea of how they were feeling ahead of the huge changes the law will bring about.
Our surveys provide a sense of the trends in the pressures facing renters. The picture is still dire, but in some respects things are easing, with fewer renters being asked to move out, and the size, if not the prevalence, of rent increases, reducing.
Although some data sources suggest that competition for rental homes is not as fierce as it was post-pandemic, our respondents have still been experiencing barriers to finding a new home.
And we’ve taken the temperature of renters’ attitudes to their homes which we will use to track the impact of the Renters’ Rights Act as the new measures come in from 1 May 2026.
Evictions
The proportion of people having to move has fallen since 2024 – particularly as a result of a decline in Section 21 notices. This may partly be due to the receding of a spike in evictions following the cut to capital gains tax for landlords in 2024, meaning fewer have been selling up this year. It may also be due to fewer landlords evicting to raise the rent, because rents on new tenancies haven’t been rising as quickly this year.
However, a concern is that the proportion of renters being served a Section 8 eviction notice (where the landlord has to provide a reason) appears to be increasing, suggesting rising rent arrears. Local Housing Allowance was frozen this year, so hasn’t been keeping up with actual rents.
We should see a further fall in these numbers after May 2026, and Section 8 should become the only game in town for landlords who want to evict tenants. Along with Section 21 going, there will be no fixed terms, so no moment of anxiety that might prompt renters to move out if they can’t commit for another year, and landlords will not be able to ask a tenant to leave without a formal Section 8 notice, so these reports should decline as well.
Rent increases
The proportion of renters who had not moved in the past year and were asked to pay higher rent has not increased, yet numbers remain worryingly high. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of renters reported being asked for a rent increase. The size of rent increases does appear appears to be falling, with 15% of respondents saying they were charged at least £100 more per month in the 12 months up to September 2025, compared to 22% in October 2024. This is still more than 1 in 10 renters who are being asked to pay extremely high costs adding to their monthly outgoings at any time, alongside stagnant wage growth and persistent cost-of-living crises. But smaller rises in new tenancy rents appear to be making it difficult for landlords to raise the rent on existing tenants by as much as last year.
Just over half of respondents reported being asked to pay a higher rent and agreed to the increase, a little higher than last year – and fewer renters attempted to negotiate or moved out, possibly due to smaller proposed increases being easier to afford.
Only 0.5% of tenants challenged their rent increases at tribunal. This is unsurprising as the tribunal is not well known, does not currently offer useful protections, especially if new tenancy rents have been rising quickly, and landlords still have the trump card of a Section 21 if the tenant goes down this route.
We might expect the proportion of renters using the tribunal to increase next year. From 1 May, landlords will have to issue a Section 13 notice to raise rent within a tenancy, and there are better reasons for tenants to challenge it. Renters will no longer be required to backpay their rent to the date set by the Section 13 and the First Tier-Tribunal will no longer be able to set rent higher than what the landlord proposed if local rents on new tenancies are higher. The abolition of Section 21 reduces the risk of retaliatory evictions for renters who choose to challenge unfair rent increases.
Rent increase reasons
The most common reason given by landlords for rent increases was, once again, rising market rents. A further 4% attributed rent hikes to advice from letting agents (likely to have been swayed by increases in commissions when rents go up). Mortgage payments have never been the main reason for rent increases (just 42% of landlords declare mortgage costs on their tax returns) and these have declined as a reason since 2023-24.
Barriers to moving
Over the last five years, tenants have faced increasing barriers when seeking new tenancies. Requests for guarantors have risen year on year, with 42% of renters who moved in the past 12 months being asked to provide one.
Almost a quarter (23%) of renters who had moved within the past year were asked for multiple months of rent upfront – though this was also relatively common before the pandemic. The new Act brings significant reform to this area by limiting advance rent payments to one month, drastically reducing the upfront cost of renting a new home.
Perhaps the most striking is the rise in rental bidding wars. The proportion of landlords asking tenants to bid or offer the maximum rent they could afford was barely heard of during the pandemic, when competition for homes evaporated, but around one in six renters encountered this in the past year. Thankfully, the new Act will completely ban this practice, marking a major victory for private renters. Once implemented, landlords and letting agents will be required to publish an asking rent, and it will be illegal to accept offers above that amount. Although this might lead to higher initial rents being advertised, it will stop renters wasting their time on homes that they were never going to be able to afford.
Finally, around a quarter of renters reporting attending viewings alongside other prospective tenants, a figure that has remained relatively stable over the last three to five years. Meanwhile, requests for additional materials such as photos, CVs or personal statements have declined slightly, now affecting around 12% of renters.
Measuring the impact of the reforms on attitudes
A big test of the Renters Rights Act will be how it makes renters feel about our homes and landlords. We asked several questions to help us set a “baseline” to measure improvement against over the next few years.
1. Confidence you can stay in your home for the next 12 months
Currently, 28% of private renters do not feel confident that they will be able to remain in their home for the next 12 months.
Over the coming years, we expect this figure to fall drastically, not only due to the end of fixed-term tenancies that often pressure tenants to move out when they end, but also due to the end of arbitrary Section 21 evictions which will be implemented come the 1st of May 2026. Under the new laws, eviction will not be possible during the first year of a new tenancy, and the notice period a landlord must give tenants will double from two to four months. Together, these reforms should provide renters with a greater sense of security and stability in our homes.
2. Confidence in making requests, and condition of home
At present, 27% of private renters did not feel confident asking their landlord to fix something that is the landlord’s responsibility. Additionally, 24% of private renters feel their home is unsafe or in poor condition.
By ending Section 21, the RRA will make it harder for landlords to resist tenants’ complaints about poor quality in our homes, so we would expect more complaints from tenants, and better quality. The new RRA will also expand the Decent Homes Standard into the private rented sector, with on-the-spot fines for dangerous conditions. It will also expand Awaab’s Law, which introduces strict timelines for repairing dangerous hazards like damp and mould. While the exact implementation dates for these laws are yet to be confirmed, we expect them to lead to greater confidence among renters in requesting repairs and to improve overall living standards across the private rentals sector.
3. Landlord communication and responsiveness
More than one in three private renters (34%) currently rate their landlord’s communication and responsiveness as poor.
The end of Section 21 means that tenants no longer have the threat of an unreasonable eviction hanging over us. Being more secure in our homes means it should become easier to talk to our landlords – about our plans for the future, the condition of the property, or whether we can get a pet – without that niggling worry that a Section 21 will drop through the letterbox as a result. Trust between tenants and landlords is at rock bottom, but the reforms should start building this and improving communication.
4. Feeling intimidated, harassed or unfairly treated by your landlord or letting agent
Currently, 29% of private renters report having felt intimidated, harassed, or unfairly treated at least once by their current landlord or letting agent.
The introduction of a mandatory Private Rented Sector Ombudsman will give renters access to free, impartial advice and a binding way of resolving disputes with landlords without having to go to court. While implementation for this is not expected until in 2028, this system should significantly reduce the power imbalance between landlords and tenants. Renters will be better equipped to challenge poor behaviour without the fear of high legal costs.
Additionally, a landlord database is expected to be introduced from late 2026 onwards, as a way for tenants to access more information about our home and who we are renting from. Together, these measures should help reduce instances of intimidation and unfair treatment across the sector.
5. Confidence in challenging a landlord’s unfair actions
Currently, 31% of private renters did not feel confident challenging a landlord’s unfair actions, while a further 29% felt unsure.
Unfair actions often include excessive rent hikes imposed at the landlord’s discretion, regardless of the tenant’s ability to afford them. Under the new Act, renters’ abilities to challenge rent hikes at the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) will be strengthened. As discussed above, the FTT will no longer be able to set rents higher than those proposed in the landlord’s notice, even if the proposed rent is below market levels at the time of the decision. Additionally, any rent increase will only take effect from the date of the tribunal’s ruling and will no longer be backdated to the date of the landlord’s notice.
Further protections will be provided through strengthened Rent Repayment Orders, which require landlords and letting agents who commit certain housing-related offence to repay rent. Local authorities will in many cases be able to help renters apply for these orders, creating an additional deterrent against unfair and unlawful practices.
