PBSA RRB exemption wording announced

This has been coming for some time, but the exact wording of how the Purpose-Built Student Accommodation sector (“PBSA”) will be made exempt from the Renters’ Rights Bill (“RRB”) has not been clarified until now.

Clause 34 in the RRB list of amendments contains this much awaited exemption (link: HL Bill 60—Running List 1 April ). More importantly, it has been put forward by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage who is the Labour minister for Housing in the House of Lords. This means it is very likely to garner government support and so make it into the final version of the RRB. That said, the usual caveats apply; these are proposed amendments so not necessarily going to make it and even if they do make it the amendment may not be in the form it is now. 

The gist of Clause 34 is that if a PBSA provider signs up to an approved code of conduct then the tenancies that it creates cannot be Assured Tenancies and so will fall outside of the RRB. Currently the approved code is produced by ANUK and Unipol and details on that code can be found here:  https://www.nationalcode.org/download-codes

The code itself is quite benign and you would expect most reputable PBSA providers to already be compliant with it.

The clause operates (as expected) by amending Paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1988 which is currently reserved for higher education establishments. This means that PBSA would still be subject to the Tenant Fees Act (“TFA”) (see S28 of the TFA and the definition of “tenancy”) but not the new part of the TFA that introduces a ban on advanced rent as this section only applies to Assured Tenancies. This alone is a good reason for a PBSA who is not currently a member of the code to sign up as it allows them to take on ‘risky’ foreign students who may not be able to provide a UK guarantor.