One of the leading statutes governing property law in England, The Housing Act 1988 covers a wide range of areas and decrees most of the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords. 

It also contains many qualifications and exceptions to the rules, which can be confusing.

If you're unsure what precisely the Act means for you, this guide provides an explanation of the rights that it offers you and a breakdown of its main purposes.

We’ve also covered some potential changes on the horizon, which could have far-reaching consequences for landlords and how you go about your business if new laws are passed.

What is the Housing Act 1988 & what rights does it give me?

As a landlord, you are very likely to have come across the Housing Act 1988 at some point.

It's referenced numerous times in the tenancy agreements you'll have signed and is, in essence, the law that governs the Private Rental Sector (PRS) and those who operate within it.

The easiest way to think of it is a rulebook containing both landlords' and tenants' statutory rights and legal responsibilities.

It's not the same as a tenancy agreement, which is a common misconception among landlords and tenants who often confuse the two.

While a tenancy agreement is a legal contract between the two parties involved in a rental transaction, specifying the terms of the individual tenancy (such as its length and the amount of rent owed each month), the Housing Act is there to stipulate the conditions within the tenancy agreement.

Why did the Housing Act 1988 come into play?

Before 1988, the PRS looked very different, with most tenancies taking the form of 'protected and statutory' tenancies. This, in turn, created a legal system that came down heavily on the tenants' side.

As a result, a situation arose whereby tenants had the right to stay in a rented property indefinitely, passing the tenancy down to their relatives when they died.

In these scenarios, it became very tricky for landlords to get back possession of their properties.

As a consequence of this legal inequality, landlords became far less willing to let their properties over fears that they'd eventually lose control of them.

This, combined with the mass sell-off of council properties due to Margaret Thatcher's Right to Buy policy, led to a shortage of housing that the Housing Act 1988 sought to address.

How did the Act help to resolve the problem?

In a desperate attempt to revive the PRS and address the housing shortage, Government ministers spent more than 250 hours formulating laws that would redress the imbalance of power and encourage homeowners to rent out property again.

The proposed new laws were passed and came into being as the Housing Act 1988 on January 15 1989.

Several safeguards to ensure that landlords had the right to gain possession of their property should they need to were put in place, provided they followed the procedures set out in the statute.

The Housing Act 1988 dramatically changed three main areas of English property law in particular: Rent regulation, succession, and security of tenure.

Rent regulation

The Housing Act 1988 significantly reduced rent regulation, allowing landlords to charge whatever they liked for a property (something that is still the case today, despite growing calls from some for the return of rent controls of some description).

The change also meant that the only party with the right to challenge the prices set by landlords were their tenants.

There are only certain circumstances in which tenants may challenge the rent.

These are during the first six months of an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) or upon service of a notice to increase rent, which landlords can use annually to raise the rent after the fixed term has ended.

How does this affect me?

Tenants who believe their rent is higher than the current market value can refer their case to a Rent Assessment Panel for review in the first six months of an AST.

Most tenants, however, are unlikely to take this step in light of the powers you have, as a landlord, to end the tenancy in accordance with Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.

What's more, landlords can now increase rents without using the notice procedure, opting instead via a 'renewal' tenancy agreement.

The changes to rent regulation mean that tenants' rights to challenge landlords over rent – outlined above – have less sway over landlords and are, as a result, used less frequently. The amendments made as part of the Housing Act, and the rebalancing of power this caused, are one of the major reasons rental prices have grown so rapidly since the late 1980s.

Succession

As a result of the Housing Act 1988, the rules regarding succession became similar to those under the Rent Act, whereby only a spouse can inherit rental rights.

The changes to the succession laws directly impact very few landlords – mostly because assured tenancies, which state that only a spouse can inherit rental rights, are uncommon in the PRS.

Under ASTs, which also came into force in the late 1980s and now make up most tenancies in the PRS, there are no rights of succession. In other words, if the tenant dies, the spouse or other beneficiary has no right to remain in the property. With this type of tenancy, succession rights have become irrelevant precisely because the landlord now has the power to serve a Section 21 notice to evict the tenant through the courts.

Security of tenure

The Housing Act 1988 split the types of tenancy on offer into two: one offering long-term security and one without it. The former is known as an assured tenancy, which is very similar to the old 'protected' tenancy, albeit with the caveat that there's mandatory ground for possession in the case of serious rent arrears.

Assured tenancies are seldom used by private landlords but are much more likely to be utilised by social housing providers such as housing associations.

ASTs, by contrast, are much more prevalent among landlords – a type of assured tenancy which differs in two ways from the more traditional version. Firstly, it offers tenants the right to challenge the rent they are set in the first six months of a tenancy (explored above). Secondly, it provides an additional shorthold ground for possession, set out in Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.

How does this affect me?

According to Section 5 of the Housing Act 1988, an assured tenancy or AST continues as a statutory periodic tenancy after the end of the fixed contractual term.

While this offers tenants with an assured tenancy long-term security, a periodic AST means the let can be ended at any time on the proviso that a properly drafted Section 21 notice has been issued.

The right for the landlord to recover possession of the property after the end of the fixed term, under Section 21 of the Act, has helped alter the PRS radically.

As a result of Section 21, many people are willing to rent their property out, knowing that they can evict tenants and take possession of the property within six months of the contractually fixed term ending if required.

This is starkly different to the previous state of play, where a landlord could have found themselves obliged to rent the property to two generations of a family.

Previous changes to Section 21

The Deregulation Act 2015 introduced changes to prevent 'retaliatory evictions', with all new tenancies starting on or after October 1 2015, needing to adhere to new guidelines as to when and how a landlord can serve a Section 21 notice.

From October 1 2018, this now applies to all ASTs, regardless of their start date.

Under these rules, landlords (or letting agents working on their behalf) wishing to serve their tenants with a Section 21 or no-fault eviction need to do several things. This includes:

  • Providing a copy of the licence to all of the property's tenants (if a property is subject to licensing).
  • Providing tenants with the Prescribed Information relating to the protection of their deposit.
  • Issuing the property's Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
  • Providing tenants with an up-to-date Gas Safety Certificate. 
  • Ensuring that a "How to Rent" guide – either digitally or in hard copy – has been issued to tenants.

 

All the above documents must be up-to-date for the Section 21 notice to be valid. An EPC isn't required if you let a single room on an AST in a house of multiple occupations.

Landlords wishing to use the Section 21 notice must use Form 6a, which amalgamates the two former types of notices into a single notice for both periodic and fixed-term tenancies. Since October 1 2018, the old forms have no longer been valid.

How important is the Housing Act 1988?

As the Act specifies the legal rights of both property owners and their tenants, it's hugely important for landlords.

It's crucial to remember that the goal of the Housing Act 1988 isn't to shift all of the power in the direction of landlords – instead, it's there to make sure that both parties are treated fairly.

It's key to have a broad understanding of the areas the Act governs to allow you to refer to it if issues arise, but being familiar with the law in its entirety won't be necessary.

As a landlord, you must know your rights and responsibilities – and getting a good hold on the Housing Act 1988 will help you achieve that.

It's also essential that, as a landlord, you make sure that none of the clauses in your tenancy agreement(s) conflict with the statutory rights outlined within the Housing Act 1988.

By not complying with this law, your tenancy agreement would become invalid, with the Housing Act having the status as a ruling law which can't be overwritten.

In particular, the Act is very strict regarding AST agreements, which came into force at the same time as the Act itself.

Proposed scrapping of Section 21 “no fault” evictions

In 2019, then Prime Minister Theresa May promised to abolish Section 21 notices. This edict was enshrined in the Conservatives’ manifesto later that year by subsequent premier, Boris Johnson.

Five years later, and two PMs later, the Renters (Reform) Bill, which would make this law, is slowly making its way through the House of Commons.

At the time of writing, the Bill was due a third reading in parliament. However, it has stalled at this stage (even before passing through the House of Lords, which is the next requirement to achieve Royal Assent) after the government announced an indefinite delay, pending court reforms to cope with the proposed changes.

So what are those changes? 

If the Bill were to be passed, AST agreements and Section 21 notices would both be abolished.

Rolling monthly tenancy agreements would become the standard, with tenants able to give two months’ notice while landlords would need reasonable grounds for eviction under a strengthened Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. 

However, landlords would be given greater powers to evict tenants more quickly in case of persistent rent arrears or anti-social behaviour.

Timeline

January 1989 – The original laws, proposed in 1988, come into effect.

1996 – Review of the Act to identify potential shortcomings.

1997 – In an effort to update the Act and amend the deficiencies found in the review, revisions were made regarding grounds of possession, rent arrears and various other areas.

October 2015 – Changes are made to Section 21 notices for all new AST in England starting on or after October 1 2015.

October 2018 – All remaining ASTs are subject to the new rules.

2019 – The Conservative Manifesto 2019 promises to abolish Section 21 “no fault” evictions.

June 2022 – The Government publishes a white paper entitled “A fairer private rented sector”, which outlines proposals to abolish section 21 evictions and introduce a more secure tenancy structure.

May 2023 – The Renters (Reform) Bill is presented to parliament for its first reading.

October 2023 – The Bill gets its second reading, giving MPs the chance to debate it in parliament. It is announced that the courts will need to be reformed before Section 21 can be abolished.

2024 – The third reading of the Bill has yet to be announced. If passed in the House of Commons, the Bill would then need to pass through the House of Lords before receiving Royal Assent.

Further reading

The Housing Act 1988 is too detailed and complex to cover comprehensively in one article alone. To read the Act in full, visit the government's page here.

As long as you understand that it governs nearly all of your rights concerning rental property, you'll know where to turn should you require an explanation of your or your tenant's rights in scenarios where they conflict.

For more information about the Renters (Reform) Bill and the potential abolition of Section 21 Notices, check out these articles we’ve written on and around those subjects:

Rent Guarantee Insurance from HomeLet

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