The biggest overhaul of English tenancy law in three decades took effect on 1 May 2026, and student housing is where the unintended consequences are showing up first. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 abolished fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 “no-fault” evictions, banned rent in advance beyond one month, and replaced the twelve-month student contract with an open-ended periodic tenancy. For most renters that is a clear gain in security. For students — especially international students without a UK guarantor — it has scrambled a lettings cycle built around the academic year and left some tenants exposed to paying rent on two properties at once.

What changed on 1 May and what it replaced

Before May, the standard student let was a fixed-term AST running September to September, signed months in advance, often with several months’ rent up front. That model is gone. On 1 May every existing assured shorthold tenancy in England converted into an assured periodic tenancy. Section 21 was abolished, subject to a transitional rule under which earlier notices lapsed if court proceedings had not started by 31 July 2026.

Two further changes matter enormously to students. Tenants can now end a tenancy at any time with two months’ notice, expiring the day before a rent payment date. And landlords cannot require rent in advance beyond one month, on top of a deposit capped at five to six weeks.

Ground 4A: a fix that misses most student homes

The government’s answer was Ground 4A, letting a landlord recover a property to re-let it to the next cohort of full-time students. It works — but only for part of the market.

Ground 4A applies only to houses in multiple occupation. A one- or two-bedroom flat let to a pair of students does not qualify, leaving the landlord no student-specific route to recover it at the end of the academic year. The conditions are demanding: all tenants must be full-time students at the outset, the landlord must give written notice of intent before the tenancy begins, the tenancy cannot be entered into more than six months before it starts, and possession notice must run four months and expire between 1 June and 30 September.

The six-month rule is the pinch point. Student houses were routinely signed in November or December for the following September. That is now impossible if the landlord wants Ground 4A protection, so signing cannot start much before March. Agents market later, viewings are compressed, and the process takes longer.

Where the double-rent problem comes from

The overlap risk follows from the new notice rules. A student in a converted periodic tenancy cannot simply walk away when a new house becomes available; they must serve two months’ notice ending on a rent day, and once served it cannot be withdrawn without the landlord’s agreement. Students are advised not to give notice before a new tenancy has begun, because a commitment they cannot retract can leave them with nowhere to live.

Landlords, meanwhile, are shifting start dates to June or July to avoid unlettable summer voids now that they cannot rely on a fixed term. A student whose old tenancy still has notice to run when the new one starts pays both. It is a timing mismatch rather than a deliberate charge.

The guarantor squeeze on international students

The advance rent ban was designed to stop landlords demanding vast lump sums. It has had a second effect. Overseas students without a UK guarantor or Credit history previously offered a year’s rent up front instead — a student paying £1,200 a month handing over £14,400 at signing. Landlords can no longer require that, and many are refusing applicants who cannot produce a UK guarantor.

The gap has been filled by professional guarantor services charging a non-refundable fee typically quoted at between 4 and 20 per cent of annual rent. These are guarantee deeds rather than regulated insurance, and students are advised to compare providers rather than take an agent’s recommendation, since commissions can be involved. Some universities run their own schemes.

PBSA is exempt — and that is reshaping the market

Purpose-built student accommodation run by providers within a government-approved code sits outside the Act, keeping fixed terms and the academic-year contract. That hands institutional landlords an advantage just as the small HMO model has become hardest to run.

The listed sector is not obviously enjoying it. Unite Group (LSE: UTG), the UK’s largest PBSA owner, reported a pre-tax loss of £417m for the first half of 2026 on a 6.4 per cent fall in portfolio valuation. Rental income rose 11 per cent to £262m after its Acquisition of Empiric Student Property, but adjusted Earnings fell 2 per cent to £142m. Unite is accelerating disposals of 15,000 to 20,000 beds and guiding to rental growth of just 1 to 2 per cent in 2026/27. Chief executive Joe Lister has said costs, regulation and lower valuations are “making new developments unviable across much of the country”.

Watkin Jones (LSE: WJG) has pivoted towards refurbishment, winning around £60m of contracts across six schemes covering roughly 1,750 beds, mostly remediation work on existing buildings.

What students are actually paying, and where they live

Student rents are not spiralling, but affordability is stretched. Save the Student’s 2026 survey put average student rent at £575 a month, up 2.1 per cent on the year. Thirty-six per cent rent privately, 31 per cent live in university accommodation, 13 per cent in private halls — and 13 per cent live with parents.

Demand is softening too. International student numbers stood at 685,565 in 2024/25, around 10 per cent below the 2022/23 peak. The Graduate Route was cut from 24 to 18 months for most graduates, and a £925 annual levy per international student is due from 2028/29.

What happens next

Expect the market to reorganise rather than break. Start dates are moving to June and July. Some smaller landlords will leave student lets or sell up; Brokers report student lettings valuations have fallen. PBSA Supply will keep growing where viable, which increasingly means refurbishing existing stock rather than building new.

A reform working as designed, with a bill attached

The Act’s core aims — security of tenure, an end to no-fault eviction, an end to enormous up-front demands — are being met. The cost is a student market whose timing, financing and guarantor arrangements were built on the very features the legislation removed. Rebuilding them will take more than one lettings cycle, and the students caught mid-transition are paying for it twice over.