The changes brought into renting property practice in England by the Renters Rights Act 2025 have been particularly hard for student landlords.
The loss of the ability to require several months’ rent in advance means that accepting students without a guarantee is now risky.
Plus, student landlords risk tenants ending the tenancy early by a two-month Notice to Quit and missing out on rent for the remainder of the year. Assuming a replacement tenant cannot be found.
The government did introduce a special possession ground, ground 4A, which can be used to evict students staying on, now section 21 is gone. However, it is limited in its use.
A limited possession ground – ground 4a
One of the limitations is that the period between entering into the tenancy and the date the tenants are entitled to possession must be six months or less.
This conflicts with the common practice of students signing tenancy agreements considerably longer than that. Something which both students and landlords found helpful.
I have had quite a few questions in our Landlord Law Members Forum asking how to deal with this. For example,
- One member told me that local agents were using an ‘agreement to let’ document.
- Another asked if getting the students to sign the tenancy agreement but waiting until the deadline had passed before getting the landlord to sign it would comply.
My view is that neither of these would be a good idea and would risk losing your right to use ground 4A.
The important question is when the parties become legally committed. Calling a document an ‘agreement to let’, or postponing the landlord’s signature, may not prevent a binding agreement from being created earlier.
However, there is a solution.
Using a holding deposit
Current legislation provides for landlords to take a holding deposit from tenants to ‘hold’ the property for them.
The default period of time for holding the deposit is 15 days, but the legislation makes it clear that this can be changed by agreement.
Any different deadline must be agreed in writing. The holding deposit must not exceed one week’s rent for the proposed tenancy, even where several students are renting jointly.
So for example if you are negotiating with prospective student tenants in October for a tenancy due to start on 1 July the following year, you can extend the holding deposit period until say, 10 January (the deposit deadline).
Provided you
- Use a holding deposit agreement which reserves the property without creating a tenancy or obliging either party to enter into one;
- Provide any proposed tenancy agreement as a draft, clearly marked ‘subject to contract’, without asking the students to sign it at this stage;
- Do not enter into a binding tenancy agreement before the six-month window begins—for this example, signing from 2 January gives a little margin;
- Give the students the required written Ground 4A advance statement before entering into the tenancy; and
- Enter into the tenancy agreement by the agreed holding deposit deadline.
This gives you a reservation arrangement with the students while postponing the tenancy agreement until the appropriate time. You must still satisfy the other requirements for Ground 4A, which applies to qualifying student HMOs.
It is not as secure an arrangement as signing the tenancy agreement was in the past, but it is better than nothing.
Note that Landlord Law members can use our holding deposit documentation and draft letters.
I would welcome your clarification on one point concerning the timing of student tenancy agreements and Ground 4A.
The NRLA has confirmed through its helpline that a group of students can sign the tenancy agreement and send it to the landlord, who then signs and dates it within the six-month period before the tenancy is due to start. I understand that this is considered acceptable for preserving the landlord’s ability to rely on Ground 4A. A major student letting agency in my area, with more than 600 student properties on its books, is also following this procedure. Both suggest using a holding deposit extension agreement to hold the property until the landlord signs and dates the agreement is acceptable
Your advice suggests that the tenants should not sign the agreement in advance and send it to the landlord for later signature.
I understand that the key issue is when the tenancy is legally agreed, rather than simply who signs first. The NRLA explanation of execution refers to everyone signing and dating the agreement and confirming that it is to come into force. You also point out that earlier email communications could potentially amount to an agreement.
However, where a holding deposit extension agreement is used, it expressly allows either the landlord or the tenants to withdraw from the process, with the tenants potentially losing the equivalent of one week’s rent. My understanding is that this arrangement is intended to preserve the parties’ ability to withdraw while the tenancy agreement awaits the landlord’s signature.
Could you clarify whether you consider that the tenants signing and returning the tenancy agreement in advance would itself jeopardise the availability of Ground 4A, notwithstanding the holding deposit extension agreement, or whether your concern is that the tenancy might already have been legally agreed through the wording of the documents or earlier communications?
I would be grateful for clarification of the legal distinction, particularly as the NRLA’s advice and the practice of a major local student letting agency appear to differ from your recommendation.
We can’t say for sure until we have a decided case on the point. My concern is that if tenants sign the agreement before the six-month period, this risks breaching the conditions for Ground 4A.
An early tenant signature does not necessarily defeat Ground 4A. If the documents clearly make the tenancy subject to contract, with no binding tenancy agreement until the landlord countersigns and communicates acceptance, the tenants’ signature could amount only to an offer. However it is a risk.
For example, deferring the landlord’s signature will not protect the landlord if the parties have already entered into a binding agreement and the tenants signature of the tenancy agreement could be taken as evidence of this.
The fact that many agents are taking a particular view of the law does not necessarily mean that they are right.
My advice to landlords if they want to minimise the risk of losing Ground 4A on timing grounds, is to be super careful and delay any signature of the tenancy agreement until within six months of the date the tenants will be entitled to possession.
My understanding of the purpose of this legislation is that the government wanted to discourage binding tenancy agreements more than six months before possession. If either party signs the tenancy agreement before this, then that could be in question.
I appreciate that signing before the six-month period is probably administratively more convenient. My concern is that if the proper precautions are not taken (and many landlords and agents may not appreciate this), the landlord may lose the ability to rely on Ground 4A and that if they try to use it, they could become involved in complex and expensive litigation arguing the point with a tenant, maybe one who is funded by either legal aid or a tenants organisation.
I have now written a follow up post here https://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2026/10/16/student-lets-and-ground-4a-is-signing-early-worth-the-risk/ which explains my concerns in more detail.