In our latest webinar, Nick Emms was joined by Martin Blakey – Independent Commentator and former Chief Executive at Unipol.
The pair discussed how PBSA would be exempt from the Renters’ Rights Bill because whilst it has always been clear that the government would make it exempt, it was less clear on how they would do that.
Here is an overview of the key takeaways from the webinar:
Specified status
PBSA has been granted the same 'specified status' that universities receive, meaning that PBSA providers don’t have to follow the same rules as landlords.
Common law tenancies
On top of this, PBSA will issue common law tenancies rather than the assured tenancies that are covered by the Renters’ Rights Bill, as a result the RRB will not apply. This means that while the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 will still offer some protections to tenants, any RRB-specific provisions will not apply e.g. tenure changes.
Membership of a government-approved code will be required
Code membership is a requirement for those managing and controlling larger developments for student accommodation (PBSA.)
There can only be one Code Member managing and controlling a given building, responsibilities cannot be divided between multiple members.
A transitional period will be required to manage the change
Martin says that at present, PBSA private providers issue Assured Shorthold Tenancies. He says, “The Bill makes it clear that only tenancies granted after specified status has been granted, will be common law tenancies.”
Furthermore, this means that those students who were on ASTs will become assured tenants and the Act’s provisions will apply to them during what is known as the ‘transition phase.’
The government claims that the academic cycle of student accommodation would be maintained through the new 4a grounds. This repossession allows landlords to end a tenancy if the student lived in a HMO and notice was properly served at the time of granting the tenancy.
These arrangements, however, have caused major problems for studios (affecting an estimated 78,000 tenancies), as ground 4a is not applicable for this scenario.
Student tenants
One final point to note is that the student tenant must be at (or intend to study at) a specified educational institution.
Nick Emms at Accommodation For Students says, “It seems likely that there are PBSA who have student tenants who are not at a specified educational institution and will need to be careful not to be caught out by this.”
To watch the full webinar, click on the link here.
