Tenancy Fees
The Renters’ Rights Act is here. For most landlords, it’s a wake-up call. For us, it’s a Tuesday. Here's what you need to know:
For years, renters across the country have been putting up with hidden fees, unresponsive landlords, and leases designed to catch them out. The Renters’ Rights Act is the government finally stepping in to change that — and it’s long overdue.
For you, living at Vincent Square, a lot of this will feel familiar. The transparency, the flexibility, the on-site team that genuinely care — that’s not new around here. But there are some genuine changes to how your tenancy works, and we want to make sure you’ve got the full picture.
Why are there new rules?
The Renters’ Rights Act has been designed to achieve a fairer and more transparent landscape for tenants. Whilst delivering fairness has been one of the bedrocks of our rental philosophy since our inception, there has been “bad landlord” behaviour from some which has put renters’ at a disadvantage.
How does this affect my current tenancy?
In truth, a lot of the changes will be experienced by “new” Residents as many relate to the application process. But the main ones for existing Residents in place, taking effect from 1st May are:
- Your tenancy used to have an end date (it was a fixed-term agreement), but now it doesn’t. This gives you the freedom to choose when you leave, providing you serve us at least 2 months’ notice to leave.
- Any term in your agreement that relates to there being a “term” or a fixed period, just fall away – all agreements become “Periodic”.
- There’s a new mechanism for increases in rent. It used to be that you could negotiate a term and a price at the start of your tenancy and lock that in. Now the only way rent can be increased is by the Landlord providing you with a Section 13 notice of an increase to the rent. This will give you 2 months’ notice of a rent increase and rent increases can be made no more frequently than once every 12 months.
- We’ve always sought to be a pet friendly landlord (subject to the space available in your apartment and the type of animal) and we are no longer charging a pet rent. You can find our Pet Policy here.
What do I need to do?
Nothing, really. The Government is providing us with a leaflet to explain the changes taking effect as part of the Renters’ Rights Act and we will serve it to you as soon as we’re provided with it.
Do I need to sign a new agreement?
No – just look out for the Government information sheet that we will provide to you by the end of May.
How do I serve you notice?
If you wish to end your tenancy, you need to provide us with written notice. We kindly request that this is done by way of an email to enquiries@vincentsquare.co.uk.
Your notice has to be at least 2 months and has to end in line with a rental period (i.e the last day of the month). So, if you served us notice on 2nd January, your departure date would be 31st March.
What if I locked in a price and a term that I was happy with over more than one year? Can I keep that?
No, we're afraid not. Any terms in an agreement that relate to their being an end date or have a price increase mechanism are no longer valid. We’ll be in touch when we are allowed to serve a Section 13 notice of a rent increase and discuss this with you.
How will I know when I am due for a price increase?
You should expect this at every 12-month period since your last increase (and for clarity, not in the first 12 months of your tenancy). We won’t change the way we do things though – we’d rather sit down with you and have a chat first so we can help guide you through this.
Where do I find more information?
You can find more information direct from the Government right here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act
