Will the Renters' Rights Act work or backfire?

This is Money Podcast

This is Money

Business, Investing, News, Business News

4.4 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's been a long time in the making and the idea has run through successive governments, but a new law to improve the life of those who rent their home has finally kicked in.

Whether it's much-needed or much-feared depends what side of the landlord fence you are on, but what's not in doubt is that the Renters' Rights Act is a massive shake-up.

The assured shorthold tenancy system that has been the backbone of renting a home for almost 40 years has been torn up and replaced with rolling contracts that tenants can get out of with two months' notice.

Landlords, however, will find it much harder to get their property back, put the rent up, or even turn down pets.

So, is this what the rental market needs, or is it likely to backfire as some property experts warn?

With decades of experience of renting, covering the property market - and even helping with a family business that's involved in it - Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert dig into the Renters' Rights Act.

Plus, on this episode, the Bank of England held rates but could it really need to raise them three times this year and what's behind the rocketing number of 45p taxpayers and why isn't it Rachel Reeves' fault?

And finally, travel experts this week revealed where is still cheap to fly to for summer, so do you fancy a holiday in Cork, Dortmund or that old Wags' favourite Baden-Baden?

Email us hello@dmgmedia.co.uk

Text us 020 7938 6000.

Hosts: Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce, Helen Crane

Producer: Georgie Frost

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to This Is Money podcast sponsored by Trading 212. Download the Trading 212 app and open a cash isa with promo code TIM to get the 12 month bonus promo rate 4.51% terms apply.
0:16.1	I'm Georgie Frost and joining me and Simon Lauer today is Helen Crane. And coming up, the biggest shake-up to renting in decades.
0:24.2	The Renters Rights Act comes into force this week, much-needed security for tenants, but is it the final nail in the coffin for landlords?
0:32.6	Also today, interest rates have been held for now, but brace yourself for Trumpflation warns the Bank of England.
0:38.9	So what should we be doing to prepare? Plus, we explore the huge rise in additional rate taxpayers,
0:44.5	and you can't even blame Rachel Reeves for that one. And forget the Costa del Sol. Have you
0:50.2	considered Northman for your summer holiday? No, nor I.
0:55.4	Forget you stay up to date with all the latest breaking money news just to go to this ismoney.com.
0:58.9	UK or download the app.
1:01.0	The first, after six years and four prime ministers,
1:04.0	the Renters Rights Act has finally come into force,
1:07.1	bringing with it some of the biggest changes to renting in decades.
1:11.0	Originally introduced by the Conservatives, the new laws aimed to give greater security and protections to tenants from evictions and unfair rent increases, among other things.
1:21.3	But some say it is the final nail in the coffin for the beleaguered sector with landlords selling up in droves. So will this
1:29.4	all backfire? Welcome, Helen, welcome Simon. Simon, firstly, a bit of history on this one.
1:37.3	What's the renter's rights act? Where has it come from? I feel like we've been talking about it
1:41.5	for a long time. In fact, I've been talking about it for a very long time because I think I've bought a house and rented two other homes since this has been
1:52.9	discussed with me by estate agents. It's been a long time coming and it's been in various forms
2:00.2	over successive governments. The idea that tenants need more
2:05.6	rights to help shift the balance of power more into their favour and away from landlords renting can be
2:15.1	a great experience for people.
2:19.3	You get wonderful landlords.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from This is Money, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of This is Money and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.