Real Estate: on the horizon (spring)

The clocks have sprung forward, lambing season is well underway and many of us have recently overdosed on chocolate eggs. But spring 2026 is also witnessing several significant legal developments affecting the real estate sector.

All kinds of everything

It seems like I have been talking about the Renters’ Rights Act in its various guises for several years (because I have!), but we are now only a few days away from the biggest change to the private rented sector (PRS) in a generation.

On 1 May 2026, the first phase of PRS reforms will take effect. Fixed term tenancies will no longer be allowed and millions of existing assured shorthold tenancies will miraculously transform overnight into assured periodic tenancies. No-fault eviction under section 21 of Housing Act 1988 will be wiped away, with possession governed by a revamped section 8 regime. New rules will apply to rent reviews, advance rent payments, keeping of pets and lots more.

While tenants are perhaps unlikely to be dancing around the maypole celebrating their increased protection, PRS landlords need to ensure they are fully conversant with the new rules and that their processes and documentation are up-to-date.

As well as the ban on fixed terms, new tenancies must contain prescribed written statements. The final Regulations made in late March differ from the draft; landlords and agents who acted promptly to update their standard documents may therefore need to double-check that their wording remains correct.

Landlords are also required to send an information sheet to existing tenants, summarising the changes to their tenancies. With several million ASTs affected and a deadline of 31 May, this will be a major task for some landlords. At least the government have confirmed that service by email is permissible, attaching the pdf of the information sheet that can be downloaded from gov.uk.

Professional landlords have been monitoring the situation throughout and are well-advised by their professional bodies. My biggest fear is for occasional or accidental landlords – those involved in retail, farming, transportation and other sectors, who may have a tiny smattering of residential tenants across their otherwise exclusively commercial property portfolios.

The exemption removing Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) from the assured tenancy regime also comes into effect on 1 May. Whilst this will allow PBSA providers to continue granting fixed term tenancies coinciding with the academic year, the exemption is not retrospective and any tenancies already granted will convert into assured periodic tenancies on 1 May.

Phase 2 will begin in late 2026 and will see the establishment of a PRS database and a landlord ombudsman.

Phase 3, focusing on physical conditions, will follow later. Further consultations will be required, and the government has recently announced that the Decent Homes Standard will be applied to both the private and social rented sectors from 2035.

What’s another year?

Very soon it will no longer be possible to keep confidential the terms of agreements giving an undertaking (such as a business or charity) control over land.

The government confirmed in March that the new register of contractual controls - established under Part 11 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 - will now go live on 6 April 2027, rather than 2026 as previously indicated.

Notifiable agreements include option agreements, conditional contracts, pre-emption agreements and promotion agreements, but not restrictive covenants or overage agreements. Exceptions include short-term arrangements lasting less than 18 months (rather than 12 months as previously proposed).

Agreements must be notified to the Land Registry within 60 days. Variations and assignments must also be notified, together with any exercise or termination of the rights granted.

The recently-published draft Regulations and guidance confirm it isn’t only agreements entered into from 6 April 2027 that are affected. Any agreements entered into between the Regulations being made (expected imminently) and 6 April 2027 must be notified by 6 October 2027. But at least that is better than having to notify agreements dating back to 2021 as previously proposed.

Rise (upwards-only) like a phoenix

Despite opposition from the landlord lobby and some tweaks along the way, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill continues to make steady progress through Parliament. This is the Bill that seeks to ban upwards-only rent reviews in new business tenancies, as well as making significant reforms to the Assets of Community Value regime.

Having cleared the House of Commons in November 2025 and the House of Lords in April 2026, the Bill is currently in the ‘ping-pong’ stage where the Commons and the Lords seek to agree the final wording. The Bill is likely to receive Royal Assent before the summer recess. [NB. The Bill received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026].

We will then await an implementation timetable for the provisions of most interest to the real estate sector. The final stage impact assessment assumes that the ban on upwards-only rent reviews will take effect in financial year 2027/28.

Making your mind up

Changes to the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) regime were confirmed in the government’s recent ‘partial response’ to its December 2024 consultation.

The biggest change will be the introduction of new-style domestic EPCs, with four headline metrics plus two secondary metrics. However, the single carbon-based headline metric will be retained for non-domestic EPCs and the current 10 year validity period will be retained for all EPCs.

Having previously advised that any changes would take place this year, the government now says that the changes will take place in the second half of 2027, with the precise date and roadmap promised by summer 2026.

A response to the outstanding points – including whether there should be a requirement to renew expiring EPCs – is also promised this year.

The government has also confirmed that the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) for privately rented homes will increase to EPC ‘C’ (measured across two metrics), but now with a single commencement date of 1 October 2030 for both new and existing tenancies.

There is still no MEES roadmap for commercial properties. Indications are that this has been delayed while the government prioritises domestic properties.

Coming soon

Other things to look out for in the next few months include:

• Business tenancies – the second part of the Law Commission consultation on security of tenure and renewal rights under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (promised in ‘spring 2026’) will hopefully be launched very soon.
   

• Insurance commissions – on 3 June, the Court of Appeal is due to hear the landlord’s appeal in ‘London Trocadero (2015) LLP v Picturehouse Cinemas Limited [2025] EWHC 1247 (Ch)’, where the High Court ordered the landlord to refund significant sums in respect of insurance commissions unlawfully charged to the tenant over several years.
   

• Commonhold – expect progress on the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill (published in January 2026) and the government’s attempt to impose a revitalised commonhold as the default tenure for new leasehold flats, following the close of the ‘Moving to commonhold: banning leasehold for new flats’ consultation on 24 April.
   

• Competition law – the Competition and Markets Authority’s ‘Invitation to comment’ on whether Aldi and Lidl should be designated as large grocery retailers under the Controlled Land Order (which would put them in the same position as the seven large grocery chains) closed on 13 April, with a provisional decision expected in July and a final decision in September.

Beyond the horizon

Looking further ahead:

• Ground rents – having legislated in 2022 to ban ground rents in new long residential leases, the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill mentioned above seeks to cap ground rents in existing long residential leases at £250 per annum with effect from late 2028, reducing altogether to a peppercorn 40 years later.
   

• Trusts declared by attorneys – we still await a Supreme Court hearing date for the final appeal in ‘National Iranian Oil Company v Crescent Gas Corporation Limited and another [2025] EWCA Civ 1211’, where the Court of Appeal held that an agent or attorney cannot declare a trust of land.
   

• Building Safety Levy – this new levy on residential developers to pay for the remediation of building safety defects, is scheduled to start on 1 October 2026.
   

• Residential conveyancing – we should expect further progress at some point with the government’s plans to reform home buying and selling.
   

• Law Commission – we can expect a response in due course following the recent consultation on chancel repair, and some movement on the real estate projects in the 14th programme of law reform, published in September 2025.

*An earlier version of this article appeared in Estates Gazette.