Real Estate Bulletin - July 2025

Government proposed ban on upward only rent reviews for business tenancies

On 10 July, the government tabled the draft English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill which contained provisions banning upward only rent reviews in business tenancies. The proposed bill is not intended to have retrospective effect, so will only apply to new tenancies entered into after the bill becomes law. The bill will also allow tenants to serve trigger notices to initiate rent reviews at the review date, to prevent landlords from delaying a review in unfavourable conditions.

The proposal will apply to open market rent reviews, index linked rent reviews, turnover base rents and rents by reference to any of the above.

We take a look at these proposals in more detail here.

Renters’ Rights Bill

The Renters' Rights Bill (RRB) has concluded its House of Lords stage and is set to return to the House of Commons for its final stage on 8 September.

With "just" 77 amendments (out of hundreds debated in the Lords) to be considered, we still don't have a definitive position on what these reforms will entail.

However, overall we view that these reforms will, on balance, benefit the larger-scale, professionally run, institutional capital-backed BTR, PRS, SFR, and PBSA markets. However, this will likely come at the expense of the small-scale, amateur, or accidental landlord segments.

Operators in these markets will need to double down on regulatory oversight and operational efficiencies, while the capital backing them will need to reassess financial models to ensure sufficient headroom for the inevitable consequences of these reforms.

Improving the quality of private and socially rented housing – recent developments

Alongside and also as part of the Renters’ Right Bill the government is progressing its agenda to improve the quality of both social and privately rented housing.

The Decent Homes Standard: In July the government issued a consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for social and privately rented homes. Through the consultation the government is looking to modernise the DHS, which currently applies to socially rented homes, but which will now, via the Renters’ Rights Bill, also apply to the private rented sector.

Despite the government’s view that the DHS requires modernisation, the timetable for implementation of the new DHS appears to a be slow one, with the government proposing that the DHS ‘becomes an enforceable requirement in privately rented homes from 2035 or 2037, and a regulatory requirement in social housing from 2035 or 2037’.

Awaab’s Law: At the end of June the government laid draft regulations (The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025) which will see the start of a phased introduction of Awaab’s Law for socially rented homes. The regulations will come into force on 27 October 2025.

Draft non-statutory guidance for social landlords was published to accompany the regulations.

The regulations provide that from 27 October 2025 landlords will have to address all emergency hazards and all damp and mould hazards that present a significant risk of harm to tenants to fixed timeframes. The guidance provides details on the phased approach to the remaining hazards that will be covered by the legislation.

Through the Renters’ Rights Bill the government plans to extend Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector and in the DHS consultation the government notes that it will ‘consult on the approach for giving effect to Awaab’s Law in privately rented homes in due course’.

Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) for Socially Rented Homes in England: On the 2 July the government issued a consultation seeking views on proposals to set a MEES for socially rented homes. Reflecting the government’s ambition in this area for the private rented sector the consultation proposes that all socially rented homes reach EPC C or equivalent by 2030. The refence to ‘EPC C or equivalent’ is intended to capture the proposed changes to the EPC metrics which are set out in the recent government consultation on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPB) framework. The proposal is that MEES for the social rented sector would be implemented via the DHS and the government proposes that this element would be implemented sooner that the rest of the DHS.

The consultation also includes an optional call for evidence which is seeking views on longer term decarbonisation and net zero in the social rented sector.

As with the consultation on MEES for the private rented sector, the consultation is linked to the outcome of the proposed changes to EPCs and the development of the Home Energy Model (HEM) which are planned for 2026. It is also closely linked to the consultation on the DHS set out above.

This consultation closes on 10 September 2025. You can access the consultation here.

Consultation: Strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services

This consultation looks at implementing certain aspects of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA) as well as future reform on leasehold charges and services.

You can read about the proposals contained in the consultation here.

Remediation Acceleration Plan update

On 17 July 2025 the government published an update to its Remediation Acceleration Plan which was first published in December 2024. The plan was first published to respond to the perceived slow pace of remediation to buildings with unsafe cladding, and to protect and support residents and leaseholders further in such buildings. A summary of the plan as first published is here.

Measures discussed as part of the July update include:

• the new Remediation Bill: this concept was flagged in the original plan, and the Government has now expanded upon its intention to introduce legislation (a draft of which has not yet been published), noting that this will now ‘create a hard ‘endpoint’ for remediation’. A new ‘Legal Duty to Remediate will compel landlords to remediate their buildings within fixed timescales or face criminal prosecution’.

  The government has stated the Bill will require:

  • landlords of buildings 18m or more in height with unsafe cladding to complete remediation by the end of 2029.
  • landlords of buildings 11-18m in height to complete remediation by the end of 2031.

  The government also sets out that the legislation will ‘give named bodies, such as Homes England and local authorities, powers to remediate buildings with unsafe cladding if the landlord fails to do so’. The legislation will be ‘brought forward as soon as parliamentary time allows’.

• Proposals to ‘tighten fire assessment standards to minimise delays to remediation start dates and provide certainty on the scope of works’.

• Measures to support the delivery of Local Remediation Acceleration Plans (LRAPs).

• Plans to give social landlords the same access to government remediation funding as private building owners. This will be supported by a new joint plan between government, social landlords and regulators ‘to speed up remediation’.

• Plans to ‘establish a National Remediation System (NRS) to serve as the single source of data for all relevant buildings over 11 metres to enhance information sharing across partner organisations’.

• An update in relation to increased enforcement activity by local authorities in relation to buildings 11m + with unsafe cladding (such as by way of exercise of Housing Act 2004 powers) and confirmation that a special remediation enforcement unit will be set up within the Building Safety Regulator in relation to unsafe cladding on buildings 18m / 7 storeys or more in height.

The update also highlights that on 10 July 2025 the government laid draft regulations in relation to the Building Safety Levy and published accompanying guidance. The update confirms the Building Safety Levy will come into effect from 1 October 2026.

Law Commission Consultation: Chancel repair liability

On 15 July the Law Commission published a consultation on reforms to the law governing land registration and chancel repair liability. As summarised by the consultation, chancel repair liability is an obligation on a landowner to pay for certain repairs to a local church and the intention of the Land Registration Act 2002 was that chancel repair liability should not bind purchasers of land after 2013 unless the interest is protected on the registered title to the property.

However, there is a question mark as to whether these measures were effective and searches and insurance in relation to chancel repair liability continue to be purchased. The consultation is looking at options to clarify the situation. The consultation closes on 15 November 2025.

ECCTA – your questions answered

With the ECCTA deadline approaching, client queries are rising. Our team shares clear, practical answers to help businesses get ready.

Mansion House Speech and Leeds Reforms: The biggest regulatory change in a decade?

In this briefing we have summarised the reforms (as set out in the speech and the accompanying documents), what they mean for firms and when to expect change. You will find our take on the proposals, timing and what we think are the key issues that firms need to consider.