The Renters’ Rights Act and student lets: why summer rent just disappeared

Quick answer: Since the Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026, fixed-term tenancies are gone. Every tenancy is now a rolling periodic one, so a student can give two months’ notice and leave at the end of term. That removes the guaranteed summer rent the student lets model relied on. For landlords in university cities like Manchester and Salford, it changes the maths on whether student property still stacks up, and pushes many towards professional tenants instead.

Most of the noise around the Renters’ Rights Act has been about the end of Section 21 and the new rules on pets. But the change that’s quietly going to cost a specific group of landlords real money has barely been mentioned: the abolition of fixed terms.

Every assured shorthold tenancy automatically converted to a rolling assured periodic tenancy on 1 May 2026, and a tenant can now give two months’ notice to leave at any point (gov.uk, Renters’ Rights Act: an overview for landlords). For most of the portfolio we manage at Stoneworth, that’s something we plan around. For student lets, it rewrites the business model.

In our own portfolio this is less of an issue, as the small number of student lets we manage are let to overseas students who typically stay put through the summer rather than heading home the moment term ends. But we work with enough landlords across Manchester and Salford to know that for anyone holding traditional student stock, this is a real and immediate hit.

How does the Renters’ Rights Act affect student tenancies?

Picture a student house in Manchester. The course finishes in late spring, the tenant has no reason to be near the place over summer, and they can now serve notice and go. The June, July and August rent that landlords used to bank on, occupied or not, can simply disappear.

There is a transitional possession ground for student lets, Ground 4A, but it is narrow. According to gov.uk, it only covers full-time students on a joint contract in a house in multiple occupation (HMO), it does not apply to purpose-built student accommodation, and the landlord must have served written notice at the start of the tenancy (for existing tenancies, a written statement had to be given by 31 May 2026). Studios, one and two-bed flats, and any let that falls outside the HMO definition simply do not qualify. A lot of student landlords are about to find out their property isn’t covered.

Do student landlords still get summer rent?

In most cases, no longer automatically. If a tenant can hand back the keys every summer, the question becomes whether students are still worth it.

A reliable three-month void each year is a serious hit to a yield that higher mortgage costs were already squeezing. Some properties still stack up. The ones that only ever worked on a full twelve months of guaranteed rent don’t anymore.

Should student landlords switch to professional tenants?

That is exactly the calculation many are now running. Landlords who have always defaulted to students are starting to look at professional tenants instead. They stay longer, pay more predictably, and have no built-in reason to leave when term ends. Less exciting on a spreadsheet, but over a few years you collect more.

If you’re weighing that up on a Manchester or Salford unit, send it over and we’ll run the numbers with you.

Why the “boring” buy-to-let strategy keeps winning

There’s a pattern here. Regulation made HMOs harder work. Tax changes hollowed out holiday lets. Now students can walk without paying for the months they’re gone. Almost every high-yield strategy people raved about over the last few years has taken a knock.

Meanwhile, plain single-let buy-to-let just keeps ticking over. One property, one tenant, one tenancy that runs for years. As everything around it gets harder or more expensive, the boring option keeps looking smarter. It’s the strategy we keep coming back to with landlords who want to sleep at night, and it shapes how we think about the portfolio at Stoneworth.

Three market signals worth your attention

Students aren’t the only tenants getting a second look. Polling of landlords by the NRLA found that 78% expect the Act to make them more selective about who they let to. The groups most likely to be filtered out are tenants with irregular incomes, international students without a UK guarantor, and renters on housing benefit. The Act risks squeezing exactly the people it was written to protect.

Awareness is rising, but a long tail remains. Barclays’ Property Insights research found tenant awareness of the Act climbed sharply ahead of it coming into force, yet a significant minority of renters still didn’t know it existed. Of those who did, many worried the reforms could reduce supply and push rents up over the long term, a concern that is well founded.

Rents up, prices flat. ONS figures show average UK private rents rose 3.5% in the year to April 2026, to around £1,381, while average house prices were broadly flat over the same period. Rents climbing while purchase prices stand still means the numbers on new acquisitions are working better than they have in years, particularly across the North West where we operate.

Frequently asked questions

Can students leave a tenancy early under the Renters’ Rights Act? Yes. Since 1 May 2026, student tenancies in the private rented sector are rolling periodic tenancies, so a student can give two months’ notice and leave at any time, including at the end of the academic year. This does not apply to purpose-built student accommodation, which is treated differently.

Do student landlords still get guaranteed summer rent? Not automatically. Because students can now serve notice and leave once their course finishes, landlords can no longer rely on rent continuing through June, July and August. This is the single biggest financial change the Act brings to student lets.

What is Ground 4A and does it protect student lets? Ground 4A is a possession ground that lets a landlord regain a property to re-let it to a new group of students for the next academic year. It only applies to HMOs let to full-time students, requires written notice at the start of the tenancy, and does not cover purpose-built student accommodation or smaller non-HMO flats.

Should I switch from student tenants to professionals? It depends on the individual property, but many landlords in university cities are making the switch. Professional tenants typically stay longer, pay more reliably, and have no built-in reason to leave each summer, which can mean more collected rent over time even if the headline yield looks lower.

How does this affect landlords in Manchester and Salford specifically? University cities feel this most acutely because so much stock is let to students. With strong rent growth across the North West and flat purchase prices, the case for stable professional lets, or for re-running the numbers on existing student property, is stronger here than almost anywhere.

If this has you rethinking a property, a student let that no longer adds up or a wider strategy question, that’s the conversation we have with landlords every week at Stoneworth. Get in touch and we’ll talk it through.