The Renters' Rights Act, Three Months In: What Hull Landlords Have Learned

It's been three months since the Renters' Rights Act reforms took effect on 1 May 2026, and long enough now for the practical realities to start showing themselves, some expected, some less so. Here's what we've actually seen on the ground managing properties across Hull, alongside a couple of important updates every landlord should know about right now.

The Notice Period Mismatch Nobody Warned Landlords About

One of the most immediate practical issues we've run into isn't really about our own tenancies at all. It's what's happening on the other side of a letting, with the incoming tenant.

The pattern looks like this: a tenant vacates, the property goes back on the market, and we find a good replacement tenant quickly. So far, so straightforward. The problem is that the incoming tenant almost always has their own existing tenancy elsewhere, and under the new rules, they typically owe their current landlord two months' notice before they can leave. Unless they're able to cover two rents at once, which very few tenants can, that two-month notice period on their current home becomes the real bottleneck, even though our property is ready and a tenant is lined up.

For us, this means the length of a void period on a property is increasingly tied to something we have no direct control over: how quickly an incoming tenant can be released from their current tenancy elsewhere. It's worth factoring this into expectations around how fast a property can genuinely be re-let, even when demand and marketing have gone well.

In response, we've started weighting this into how we vet incoming tenants in the first place. Where we have a choice between applicants, we're now paying closer attention to who can genuinely move quickly, whether that's a tenant already at the end of their current notice period, someone between tenancies, or someone whose current landlord has indicated flexibility, rather than assuming every strong application will be free to move at the same pace.

Section 8 Is Now the Only Route, and the Courts Are Showing It

With Section 21 gone, every possession claim in England now has to go through Section 8, which means proving a specific ground in court rather than simply giving notice. The result, based on recent reporting, is a court system under real strain. Average processing times for possession claims have been reported at around 33.8 weeks, and some sources are now citing average timeframes of over eight months from claim to repossession, longer still in London, as the system absorbs a much larger volume of cases that previously would have gone through the simpler Section 21 route.

For landlords, this makes two things more important than ever: getting the notice and evidence right the first time, since even small errors can lead to delays or a case being struck out, and being realistic about timeframes if a possession claim does become necessary. This isn't a system built for a quick resolution anymore.

There have also been changes specifically to the rent arrears ground under Section 8. The required notice period has been extended from two weeks to three, and the arrears threshold needed to rely on the mandatory ground has increased from two months' rent to three months' rent. In practice, that means landlords dealing with arrears now have to wait longer, and let more arrears build, before they can rely on the strongest possession ground available.

A Deadline That Has Just Passed

If a Section 21 notice was served before 1 May 2026, the transitional window to apply to court on the strength of it closed on 31 July 2026, regardless of how much time would otherwise have remained on the notice. Anyone who hadn't started court action by that date will now find the notice has lapsed, and the tenancy has automatically become an assured periodic tenancy under the new rules. If this applies to a property you own and you're not certain where things stand, it's worth checking without delay, since the options from here are different to what they would have been a week ago.

Rent Reviews Now Follow a Stricter Process

Rent increases are limited to once per year, via a formal Section 13 notice, and tenants have the right to challenge an increase at the First-tier Tribunal if they think it's above market rate. This is a real shift from the more informal rent conversations many landlords are used to having directly with tenants, and it means the paperwork and timing around rent reviews matter more than they used to.

In practice, though, we haven't found this to be the source of conflict some landlords feared. Most tenants are realistic about rent increases if they can see the reasoning behind them. A steady, marginal increase that tracks the market and inflation, rather than a sudden jump, rarely causes a problem. Tenants generally understand that costs move over time, and a landlord who's clearly being reasonable, rather than opportunistic, tends to keep a good working relationship even through a rent review.

What This Means If You're Managing a Property Yourself

None of this is designed to catch landlords out, but it does mean the margin for error on notices, timing and documentation is smaller than it was under the old system. We're increasingly hearing from landlords, particularly those self-managing or juggling a portfolio across multiple agents, that keeping pace with all of this on top of everything else has become genuinely time-consuming.

If you'd like a second opinion on where a tenancy currently stands, or simply want the compliance side handled properly going forward, we're happy to have a no-obligation conversation.

This article reflects the Renters' Rights Act reforms as they stood at the time of writing and is intended as general guidance, not legal advice. WG Property is an independent letting agency based in Hull, managing properties across all HU postcodes and the wider East Yorkshire area.