The Renters’ Rights Bill And High Value Tenancies

8th October 2025 | Caroline Vernon | Residential Property, Renters' Rights Bill, Property

The Renters’ Rights Bill is due to change the legal framework for residential tenancies in England, introducing stronger protections for tenants and increased regulations for landlords.

The position with tenancies for high rents over £100,000 or more needs to be considered. The current position is rents over this sum are not protected by the Housing Act 1988, such tenancies cannot be Assured or Shorthold tenancies where the rent is above the high rent threshold. Therefore current tenancies with annual rents over £100,000 are exempt from the statutory protections of The Housing Act 1988. They are considered as common law tenancies governed by the terms of contract and common law requirements. The exemption is there as such tenants are deemed sophisticated consumers who do not need statutory protection and who can afford to obtain legal advice. Therefore, these tenancies being exempt, fall outside the reform to Assured tenancies in the Renters’ Rights Bill.

However the Government could of course increase the high rent threshold bringing tenancies with high rents into the reformed assured tenancy regime.

Historically, the threshold was increased in 2010 from £25,000 to £100,000 to reflect rising inflation and changing market conditions. The increase in the annual threshold therefore, meant many more tenancies were then protected by the Housing Act legislation. Clearly rents have risen once again, 15 years having elapsed since the last review. Therefore, we could see that the threshold is raised once again.

These higher rent tenancies would then fall within the scope of the Renters’ Rights Bill which means landlords are restricted on rent increase and rent review clauses and landlords would be subject to statutory procedures for rent changes, tenancy renewals and evictions. Grounds for possession would be required before serving Notices to Quit and compliance would be needed with the Deposit Protection Rules, registering on the private rented sector database and with the private rented sector landlord ombudsman and of course repairing obligations to meet standards under the Decent Homes Standards and AWAAB’s law.

Although only a small number of tenancies will be affected if the threshold raised from £100,000, it would affect landlords, requiring them to follow the increased regulation.

It does appear that the market is re-setting due to the Government’s proposed changes and it remains to be seen whether we will have an active and profitable rental market following November’s budget.

To find out more, please contact the Residential Real Estate team.