Renters Rights, Energy Fixing and the £5k Typo

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 825 Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In just a few days time the biggest shake up to renters rights in a generation will come into force in England. It will mean no more than one rent increase a year, an end to bidding wars an end to no fault evictions. The Renters' Rights Act will significantly change the current system not just for 11 million private renters in England but also their 2.3 million landlords. How will it work in practice?

There's a call for urgent reform of recently introduced fraud regulations to better protect victims of push payment scams - when people are tricked, groomed or manipulated into transferring money to criminals. National Trading Standards says a 13 month time limit on how long people have to tell their banks they've been scammed means some victims aren't being refunded because it often takes much longer than that before they even realise their money's been stolen. The Payment Systems Regulator, which introduced the rules, says they provide a minimum standard for banks to meet. UK Finance says only a small number of cases ever fall outside the 13 month deadline and victims can always complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

We'll ask if you should fix your energy bill now.

And, how a disabled man lost £5,000 he'd raised for a new wheelchair after paying it into the wrong bank account.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Niamh McDermott Researcher: Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 12pm on Saturday 25th April 2026)

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:07.3	On BBC Sounds, there are podcasts to help you look after your body and your mind.
0:12.7	From increasing your immunity to feeling more confident.
0:16.6	Or tips on how to focus.
0:18.5	Sorry, what will you say?
0:19.7	If it matters to you, it matters to us.
0:22.6	Feel good inside of them. With what's up docs. And complex with Kimberly Wilson. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.5	Hello, today in the Moneybox podcast, why rules designed to protect victims from fraud are actually
0:36.5	stopping some getting their money back.
0:38.8	Should you fix your energy bills now? And how a disabled man lost £5,000 he'd raised for a new wheelchair
0:45.1	after paying it into the wrong account. But first, in just a few days' time, the biggest shake-up
0:51.2	to renters-right rights in a generation comes into force in England. It will mean
0:56.3	no more than one rent increase a year, an end to bidding wars, and the scrapping of no-fault evictions.
1:02.8	The Renters' Rights Act starts on Friday and will significantly change the current system,
1:08.1	not just for 11 million private renters in England, but also their 2.3 million landlords.
1:13.6	Many argue it's not easy being a tenant or a landlord just now. There are reports of landlords selling up ahead of these new rules.
1:20.6	An average rents in England rose by 3.4% in just the last year. That's an average rise of £48 a month. But for many people, just finding a home to rent is tricky, as Joe Krasna heard when she spoke to these young renters in Liverpool. Currently pay about £500 just for rent. Like there's easily whenever you go to do viewings. Like today I'm going to do a viewing. I'm probably going to be going there with like an or eight different people looking to view the same house it's very competitive I would say it sort of puts you under pressure I suppose you're you're kind of forced into maybe taking a property that you wouldn't really want due to the fact that there's so many people looking at it and you maybe have like a limited like time frame of safe even like five days to sort of act on it before
2:01.8	somebody else takes it the first house that i was eyeing for and i was just really looking forward
2:07.8	to have that house but i didn't get it because it's like about 10 people was in the same property
2:13.9	for have a view on it been renting a place for just over a year now and we think that they want to sell it soon
2:21.6	so they're having their evaluation done in the next few weeks.
2:25.0	In the place I'm at currently, multiple people applied so it was kind of just whether the landlord
	...

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