Renters' Rights Act introduced nationally, bringing new renting rules for private tenants and landlords in Barnsley

The Renters’ Rights Act comes into force nationally today (Friday 1 May), and our teams have been working hard to prepare for these changes and our new enforcement duties.

Designed to create a fairer, more stable system for both tenants and landlords, including stronger rights to protect and support renters, key changes under this new legislation include:

• An end to Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions.

• All tenancies becoming rolling tenancies, including existing arrangements.

• Fairer rules on rent increases.

• Stronger rules to stop bidding wars and excessive upfront payments.

• New anti-discrimination protections.

• Stronger rights for tenants looking to keep pets.

In the future, new national schemes like a private rented sector database and mandatory ombudsman for all landlords will continue to strengthen tenant protections.

The Renters’ Rights Act also introduces new enforcement duties for councils across the country, helping us act sooner where landlords breach housing legislation designed to protect tenants.

To help us make sure our approach to these new duties is fair and robust, we’ve listened to feedback from landlords, partners and tenants when refreshing our enforcement policies.

Setting out a clearer, more consistent approach to tackling poor housing conditions, protecting tenants and supporting responsible landlords, we’ve now introduced:

• Our updated Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy, providing a stronger framework in this area that allows us to take formal action sooner on serious or repeated breaches of housing legislation and required standards.

• Our updated Civil Penalties Policy, adopting a nationally aligned model to these penalties. Based on feedback, we’ve made sure our policy includes relevant adjustments to reflect what we know about Barnsley’s rental market when compared to other parts of England.

Anna Hartley, Executive Director for Public Health and Communities, said:

“We know that being able to live in affordable, stable, good quality housing is a key building block to living life in good health. As we work to continue improving healthy life expectancy in Barnsley, the Renters’ Rights Act will help make this possible for more people across our borough.

“Representing the biggest changes to renting laws in England in decades, we know this new legislation will affect many renters and landlords across Barnsley. Our teams are ready for our new enforcement duties and are here to support renters and landlords across our borough.

“Knowing what these changes mean for you as we enter this new chapter in private renting couldn’t be simpler with our dedicated private tenant and landlord advice webpages.”

Applying to all existing and new private tenancies, we want to make it easy for our communities to find everything they need to know about these new renting rules.

Knowing your new rights is one of the best ways renters can prepare for these changes, which you can read more about on our advice for private tenants webpage.

We also want to make sure landlords and letting agents understand what the Renters’ Rights Act means for their properties and policies.

You can learn more about what’s changed and how you should apply this legislation to your tenancies by visiting our landlord responsibilities webpage.