We are embarking on a decisive shift in England’s housing system. The Renters’ Rights Act starts to come into force, setting in motion a phased reform that will reshape private renting over the months ahead. It is one of the most consequential housing reforms in a generation, and one that reflects how profoundly the role of private renting in England has changed.

Over the past two decades, the private rented sector has almost doubled in size, becoming home to around 4.6 million households, including a growing number of families with children. What was once seen as a short-term, transitional tenure has become a long-term reality for millions. At the same time, affordability has tightened sharply. Rents have risen faster than incomes in many parts of the country, with pressures particularly acute in London and the South East. In high-cost areas, the margin for financial shock has narrowed to almost nothing for many people. As private renting has expanded, so too has instability, driven not only by formal eviction but by a wider pattern of churn, as rising rents, short tenancies and landlord decisions make it harder for people to stay put. The result is that the loss of a private tenancy has become the leading driver of homelessness, now accounting for nearly four in ten cases where people are at risk.

The Act seeks to rebalance that system in concrete ways. Most tenancies will move onto an open-ended footing, removing fixed end dates that have often triggered displacement, while landlords will no longer be able to evict without a defined legal ground. Notice periods will be strengthened, increasing both security and predictability, and rent increases will be limited to once a year, with tenants able to challenge them through a tribunal if they exceed market levels. Advance rent payments will be capped, and a new ombudsman and property database will strengthen oversight and accountability. In practice, this should mean fewer sudden moves, more predictable tenancies, and a stronger ability for people to stay in their homes.

But experience elsewhere suggests that turning those intentions into reality is far from automatic. Wales introduced a major overhaul through the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, implemented in December 2022, focused on improving the system by simplifying tenancy law and extending notice periods. This brought real benefits, with greater consistency improving clarity for landlords and agents and making the framework easier to navigate. Yet the transition also exposed the limits of legal reform on its own. The changes affected more than a million tenancies, and early evaluation commissioned by the Welsh Government found that tenant awareness remained limited even after contracts had been converted. The law changed, but the system around it was slower to catch up.

Scotland went further. Through the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, implemented in 2017, it changed the structure of private renting itself, introducing open-ended tenancies and removing fixed end dates for new lets. This is much closer to the model England is now introducing. Scotland’s experience shows that strengthening rights changes behaviour across the system, not just outcomes for tenants. Evidence from the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence and Scottish Government analysis points to improvements in security, but also to more complex responses in landlord behaviour, rent-setting and participation in the market over time. For tenants, navigating the new system in practice has not always been straightforward.

Taken together, Wales and Scotland point to a consistent pattern. Rights have strengthened on paper, but making them work in practice has proved more challenging, with outcomes depending as much on how the system responds as on the law itself. Similar dynamics can be seen internationally. In Ireland, successive reforms to strengthen tenant protections have improved security, but have not prevented continued pressure on rents or supply, highlighting the limits of regulation without wider system alignment. In the Netherlands, a highly regulated rental sector offers strong tenant protections, yet continues to face persistent challenges around supply and access. What these examples show is that behaviour adapts quickly, while institutions often take longer to respond.

So the priority in England is to help the system adapt, quickly. This is the question local leaders have been asking us: how to turn a change in the law into a change in outcomes.

The starting point is to make rights visible and usable. The experience of rental reform in Wales shows that rights alone are not enough: if tenants do not understand them, they cannot exercise them. That requires moving beyond passive communication towards system-wide clarity, with clear information at the start of a tenancy, consistent messaging across landlords and agents, and targeted outreach to those most at risk. It also means supporting landlords with practical guidance and standardised processes so that compliance becomes the default rather than the exception. Without this, new rights may exist on paper but not in people’s lives.

Alongside this, enforcement needs to be strengthened, but in a way that is integrated with support. In many areas, enforcement is fragmented and largely reactive, with limited capacity to intervene before problems escalate. Local authorities often encounter cases only once arrears have built up or relationships have broken down, when options are more limited and outcomes more costly. More effective approaches bring together enforcement, advice and casework, allowing issues such as illegal eviction, disrepair or rent arrears to be identified and resolved earlier. In London, boroughs are beginning to test this more integrated model through the ‘Safer Renting’ initiative, delivered in partnership with the Greater London Authority and six boroughs, combining specialist housing advice with targeted enforcement and tenancy sustainment support. While still developing, this approach reflects a growing recognition that enforcement on its own is not enough: preventing homelessness depends on resolving problems earlier, not simply acting once they reach crisis point.

Beyond this, the system needs a better data infrastructure that allows it to act earlier and more intelligently. One of the most consistent barriers identified by local authorities is the absence of a joined-up view of the private rented sector, with data fragmented across local, regional and national systems. The introduction of a property database offers a significant opportunity, but only if it is used as part of a wider data and insight framework that connects these different levels of the system. Linking landlord records, enforcement activity, homelessness outcomes and court timelines would allow risks to be identified earlier, interventions better targeted, and a clearer picture of how the system is evolving in real time. Without this, the system will continue to act too late, rather than early enough to prevent problems from escalating.

And critically, the justice system needs to adapt to prevent crises rather than simply processing them. As possession increasingly depends on formal legal routes, there is a risk that pressure accumulates within the courts, leading to delays, complexity and poorer outcomes for both tenants and landlords. International experience points to a more effective approach. In cities such as New York and Philadelphia, eviction diversion programmes bring together legal advice, financial assistance and mediation before or at the point of hearing, resolving cases earlier and reducing evictions. These models recognise that by the time a case reaches court, the system has already begun to fail. Replicating elements of this approach in England would mean strengthening pre-court resolution pathways, improving access to advice, and creating clearer routes to financial and housing support.

To act on these lessons, local systems will need not only resource, but clearer direction from central government: what to implement, how to implement it, and how to adapt as behaviour changes. This is the challenge many local leaders have been raising with us in recent months. Evidence from implementation research, as well as experience from housing systems in the UK and internationally, suggests that outcomes improve when investment is paired with practical models, structured support and shared learning, enabling local areas to act earlier and more effectively.

The rules of renting will change, but whether this changes outcomes will depend on how the system around it responds. Legislation can reshape the framework, but it is the system itself that determines whether people are able to stay in their homes. One law can change how renting works, but only a system can make it work.

• Ligia Teixeira is Chief Executive of the Centre for Homelessness Impact

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