View in browser Home The Hub Waitlist YouTube Newsletter #153 Hello We've finally had official confirmation this week that the Renters' Rights Bill won't receive Royal Assent until September. This came in the form of an announcement that the "consideration of the Lords' amendments" to the Bill, aka "ping pong", is scheduled to start on 8 September. I explain what this parliamentary jargon means for us below. Last week I said to "watch this space for the continued evolution of The Independent Landlord". A frenetic week later whilst trying to shake off a bad cold, I've got beta testers lined up to trial what I'm calling The Independent Landlord Hub, with a "soft launch" planned to start around the beginning of August. I see an unmet need for a secure and supportive environment where those in the private rented sector who want to do the right thing can talk to each other, ask questions in live webinars and find reliable resources on upcoming legislation and the practicalities of letting and managing properties. This is where The Independent Landlord Hub comes in. Waitlist for the Hub Introducing The Independent Landlord Hub I'm very excited about The Independent Landlord Hub. Although I've been thinking for a while about how best I can support everyone in the PRS as we start to implement a whole host of new laws, it was a conversation with N, a subscriber, at last Wednesday's National Landlord Investment Show that galvanised me into action. What N explained is that he'd like to be able to participate in webinars where he can ask questions, and take part in discussions in a forum in a secure environment. He also wanted to be able to find my gems easily. Like a woman on a mission, I have now created The Independent Landlord Hub, which I'll shortly open to the beta testers. I've chosen a platform that integrates well with my website and which is accessible from a browser or an app. It's intuitive and easy to use. There's currently two sections: Hub Central - this is where the live webinars replays sit, as well as a Renters' Rights FAQs (another from N's wish list), Hub Resources, a Latest News section, and more. Hub Community - this is the forum, and it has separate spaces for different topics such as Renters' Rights, EPCs, MTD/Tax, and issues with tenants. You can see a sneak previous of where I'd got to by this Tuesday with the app version on this page, although I've refined it further since then. The image above is a screenshot of the desktop version that I took this morning, which shows how it looks now. I'll be opening the Hub to everyone, not just landlords, and am keeping the soft launch price at a very affordable £10 per month or £100 a year. I'm planning to start the soft launch around the beginning of August, and the first RRB webinar on the platform will be on Friday 8 August at midday. The main launch will be after I get back from holiday in mid September. This turns out to be perfect timing as we'll have Royal Assent by then, and things will start to move very quickly for us. You can find out more and even sign up for the waitlist for the soft launch on this page. PS I'll still keep this newsletter and the content on the main website free, and will continue to put some free training on YouTube. However, I'll be closing the Facebook group on 15 August as it's become unwieldy and takes a whopping 7-10 hours of my time a week to moderate! Check out The Independent Landlord Hub What happens next with the Renters' Rights Bill? The fact that the benches in the background of the photo are green and not red shows that our attention on the Renters' Rights Bill is about to turn back to the House of Commons, and the large Labour majority. The woman in the image above is Lucy Powell, Leader of the House, and she announced yesterday that the Bill will go back to the House of Commons on 8 September for the "consideration of amendments" stage, aka "ping pong". In terms of what this means for us, we now have certainty (rather than relying on one of my educated guesses) that Royal Assent won't be until after the summer. I'm putting my money on the Renters' Rights Act 2025 being on the statute book by the time parliament has its break for the party conferences on 16 September, as this will allow Angela Rayner to say at the conference that Labour has outlawed "arbitrary evictions", even though the new laws won't have come into force then... My current estimate is that the new tenancy system will come into effect in Q2 2026. Of course we don't yet have the final version of the Bill, but it's unlikely to change much. The government lost the vote on 7 amendments during the Report Stage, but none of them were the big amendments discussed with much fanfare, but then dropped at the Committee Stage. (I didn't bother writing about them at the time, as I knew they wouldn't make it onto the Bill). Of the 7 amendments, apart from a new 3 week pet deposit and making it harder for councils to issue penalties for rental discrimination and rental bidding, the rest are changes to some of the Section 8 grounds for possession (you can find out more here). The Third Reading takes place this coming Monday, and only a couple of minor typographical amendments have been tabled. The die is now cast. I'd better get cracking with the next draft of my book, The Good Landlord Handbook, which will be "Renters' Rights Ready"! The latest on the Renters' Rights Bill When will the RRB come into effect? The 12 key provisions in the RRB Renters' Rights Bill Hub of Free Resources That's all for this week. I'll see you in your inboxes next Friday. Suzanne PS If you were forwarded this newsletter by someone, you can sign up here to receive your own copy in the future. It's totally free. 😊 Buy me a coffee ☕️ Index of blog posts by topic The Independent Landlord instagram facebook linkedin youtube You received this email because you signed up for my newsletter. Assume third party links are affiliate links, and note my disclaimer. Unsubscribe

Posted by Pete England at 2025-07-18 11:14:16 UTC