Student Letting Guide — England 2026

What the RRA 2025 means for student landlords

Student letting has historically been built around fixed-term ASTs aligned to the academic year, with Section 21 as the fallback if students stayed beyond their agreed term. Both are now gone.

From 1 May 2026, all student tenancies in England are Assured Periodic Tenancies with no fixed term. The academic calendar is no longer embedded in the tenancy structure — it must instead be managed through Ground 4A and the new possession notice framework.

The key changes for student landlords:

• No more fixed terms — tenancies are periodic from day one, with no automatic end date
• Section 21 abolished — you cannot serve a no-fault eviction notice to recover the property
• Ground 4A — the new mandatory possession ground for qualifying student HMOs
• Information Sheet — must be served on all existing tenants (deadline 31 May 2026)
• Ground 4A confirmation notice — must be served on existing tenants alongside the Information Sheet

Ground 4A — your new possession route

Ground 4A is the statutory replacement for the Section 21/fixed-term model for student HMOs. It is a mandatory Section 8 possession ground — if the conditions are met and proven, the court must grant possession.

The three qualifying conditions:

1. The property is a licensed or licensable HMO under Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004
2. The property is let exclusively to full-time students
3. The landlord intends to re-let to full-time students for the next academic year

If all three are met, you can serve a 2-month Section 8 notice citing Ground 4A, with a possession date falling at the end of the academic year. For a detailed breakdown of how Ground 4A works, see our dedicated Ground 4A guide.

HMO licensing for student houses

Most student houses are HMOs and most require a licence. This matters doubly for Ground 4A — you cannot use Ground 4A at all unless the property is licensed or licensable.

Mandatory HMO licence required if:

• 5 or more people from 2 or more households occupy the property, AND
• At least one person pays rent

Additional or selective licensing may apply to smaller student HMOs (3 or 4 occupants) depending on the local authority area. Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool and Sheffield all operate city-wide or significant additional licensing schemes covering student areas. Check your local council's licensing register.

HMO licence conditions post-RRA 2025: Many councils are now incorporating Renters' Rights Act compliance requirements into their HMO licence conditions — including Awaab's Law damp/mould response timeframes and energy efficiency obligations. Check your licence conditions carefully.

Guarantors in 2026

Guarantors are more important than ever for student lets because the tenancy is now periodic with no fixed end date. An old guarantee that was drafted to expire with the fixed term may not extend to the periodic tenancy.

What to check on existing guarantees:

• Does the guarantee expressly cover a periodic tenancy or just the fixed term?
• Was the guarantee executed as a deed (signed, witnessed, and dated)?
• Does the guarantee cap the total liability or is it open-ended?

If your existing guarantees only covered the fixed term AST, they may not automatically extend to the new APT. Take legal advice and consider asking guarantors to sign updated guarantee documents.

For new tenancies from May 2026: Ensure guarantor agreements expressly reference the Assured Periodic Tenancy, are executed as deeds, and clearly state the scope of liability.

Setting up a new student tenancy correctly

For any new student HMO tenancy starting from 1 May 2026, you must:

1. Use an APT agreement — not a fixed-term AST. The new tenancy must be a periodic assured tenancy from day one
2. Include the Ground 4A confirmation notice — either within the tenancy agreement itself or served alongside it. This is essential — without it you cannot use Ground 4A later
3. Provide a Written Statement of Terms — required for all new tenancies under the RRA 2025
4. Serve the How to Rent guide — current version must be provided at the start of every tenancy
5. Protect the deposit within 30 days — in a government-approved scheme and serve prescribed information
6. Complete Right to Rent checks — for all adult occupiers before the tenancy starts
7. Provide current certificates — gas safety certificate, EICR, EPC all current

Marketing and re-letting cycle

Good news — the student letting marketing cycle is largely unchanged. You can still advertise your property to next year's students during the current academic year, take holding deposits, and agree terms for the following September.

What changes is how you recover possession from the current cohort. You cannot rely on the academic year end-date written into the old fixed term — you must serve a valid Ground 4A notice with a possession date aligned to the academic year end.

EPC and energy efficiency

Student HMOs must currently have an EPC rating of E or above — the minimum standard applicable to all private rented properties in England.

The government has proposed raising the minimum to C by 2028 for new tenancies and 2030 for existing ones. This will significantly impact many older student terraces. Plan ahead — retrofitting to achieve a C rating in a Victorian terrace can cost £10,000–£30,000 depending on the property.