Students

Landlords or their agents must show they’re signed up to a recognised student accommodation code (like the ANUK/Unipol Code or UUK Code). Landlords should expect to provide evidence of registration and ongoing compliance.

Yes. PBSA and university or college-owned halls of residence will continue to operate largely outside the new tenancy framework imposed by the Act. These arrangements are excluded because they are very clearly tied to the student’s place of study and operate on a fixed academic cycle.

However, students renting in the private sector (for example, those sharing a house in their second or third years) will be caught by the new legislation. That means they will have periodic assured tenancies without fixed terms, and the same protections as other private renters.

The Act introduces a new possession ground, Ground 4A. This ground is designed specifically for landlords letting Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) or dwelling-houses in an HMO to full-time students on a yearly cycle.

To use Ground 4A, landlords must:

• let the property to full-time students, or reasonably believe they will become full-time students during the tenancy;
• provide advance written notice, either separately or within the tenancy agreement, stating that possession may be sought under this ground;
• ensure the tenancy is not granted more than six months before the student moves in;
• serve a S.8 Notice specifying a possession date between 1 June and 30 September;
• intend to re-let the property to another full-time student for the next academic year.

If these conditions are met, and the tenant doesn’t leave voluntarily, the landlord will be able to apply to the court for a possession order.

Ground 4A can also be used in relation to former ASTs that converted into assured periodic tenancies when the Act came into force.

For those converted tenancies, the advance notice requirements are modified to reflect the fact that the tenancy was granted before the new regime took effect.