Britain’s Housing Reform Won’t Tackle the Crisis for Renters
A new piece of legislation will give private tenants in Britain more protection from arbitrary eviction. But without a major expansion of public housing, tenants will continue paying exorbitant rents that swallow up a huge chunk of their incomes.
Britain’s housing system needs more than the modest changes Labour is promising. Deeper, structural reforms are needed to ensure that everyone can access a good, secure and truly affordable home, with a major boost to the construction of public housing. (Jason Alden / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On May 1, 2026, one of Margaret Thatcher’s key legacies will be rewritten. “Assured shorthold tenancies,” the default form of tenancy for renters in England, will be abolished as part of the Renters’ Rights Act.
This means that “no fault” evictions — where a landlord can end a tenancy for no reason other than the current tenancy period coming to an end — will also be abolished. Instead, all current and future tenancies will be open-ended, only terminating if the tenant hands in notice or the landlord has valid grounds to regain control of the property.
In addition, up-front payments of rent will be capped at one month, renters will have stronger rights to keep pets, and “rental bidding” will be banned. However, another critical legacy of Thatcherism, the end of rent controls, will remain in place.
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