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Deepening Crisis in the Private Rental Sector: Landlords, Tenants and the Changing Landscape of Renting in England
The private rented sector in England is undergoing the most significant policy shift of the past three decades. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 and its first commencement phase came into force on 1 May 2026 — abolishing Section 21, ending fixed-term ASTs, expanding Section 8 grounds from 17 to 37, and raising the Ground 8 arrears threshold from two months to three. Alongside it sit Section 24, an SDLT surcharge of 5%, MTD thresholds tightening through 2028 and a confirmed EPC C standard from 1 October 2030. This article maps the new legal architecture, sets out the verified perspectives of landlords, tenants, ministers, judges and charities, and explains why the post-1 May landscape is best understood as a transition, not a collapse...


