Regulations everywhere not just crypto

Good morning/evening
 
For those of you that don't know, I rent out the UK house, receive a regular income from this and have for years. At one point I was considering selling it so I could have a lump sum to invest in Bitcoin, amongst other things. In the end I chose to not do that YET and will continue to rent it out for a few more years and then re evaluate from there, so with that in mind, the house needs to be modernised and freshened up a bit. Now although we have a current tenant that has been there for years, it has to be done in our window of availability, and we don't have a huge chunk of time in which to do this, so we have planned the trip for February 2026.
 
Now it seems more through luck than judgement because on May 1st 2026 there are a lot of new rules for landlords which has been described as the biggest shake up to renting in England for more than 30 years, a new law giving tenants more rights was formally approved at the end of October. So below are some of the changes that will come into effect.
 

The new regulations
Now I have put this one first, because I don't like it lol
There will be a new landlord database, that we will have to pay to go on that contains details about the landlord, so tenants know who they are renting from, this will also include documentation such as gas safety certificates, electrical safety certificates. The reason I don't like it, well exactly how much personal information will be on there? Who exactly can look at this? Also When it comes to a government database for landlords, well they can't even keep the budget details safe, whether it was a leak or an accident is irrelevant, it is just another example that they can'[t be trusted! If you do not register on the database an Initial or minor non-compliance by a landlord (including failure to join the public database or ombudsman) will incur a civil penalty of up to £7,000 and serious, persistent or repeat non-compliance will incur a civil penalty of up to £40,000, with the possibility of a criminal prosecution.
https://www.bbc.com
OBR apologises over pre-Budget leak
 
There will be no more 'No fault evictions' (section 21). This means that the landlord will be unable to sell or move back into their property in the first 12 months after a tenancy begins and after the first 12 months the landlord will have to give the tenant 4 months notice. Then they will have to prove it is only for either a family member to move into the house or for it to go on the market to be sold. Now we had to use this section 21 notice to be able to take back possession of the house, to be able to stay in it while doing the work, so no idea how we could do this after 1st May!
A tenant will have to be in rent arrears for 3 months instead of 2 for rent protection insurance to begin or an eviction process to start. We did have one tenant who decided he did not want to pay lol, then after the then two months without paying, he would then pay half a month, which would then put the rent insurance process back to the start......So technically it was a waste of time anyway and we had to put up with this for the whole year he was there. 
This brings us to
No more fixed contracts, we will no longer be able to have a 6 or 12 month fixed contract.
Fairer rent rules, you can only put up rents once per year. A landlord will have to give 2 months notice of any rent increase, it can be no more than 2% per year, if the tenant sees this as unfair they can take the landlord to court and appeal. Tenants could use this just as a way of extending the time they have at the lower rate for a few months because even if it is ruled as 'a fair increase' it will not be backdated!
No changes from advertised prices, well that was something I thought was already in place so no change there.
1 months rent upfront is now the maximum you can request, which again is no change for me.
It will be illegal for a landlord to specify no people on benefits or no families with children. I have for the whole time I have rented, specified no people on benefits so that will have to change.
As the landlord I can no longer say no pets, this is another thing I have always specified, just due to the fact that there can be more damage caused and not all pet owners are responsible ones. 
There will be a free to use ombudsman for tenants who need to complain about their landlord.
Warmer safer homes that are more energy efficient and to be energy rateded to EPC rating C or above.
I will fail on this due to the points system as I currently have an E rating and need a C rating.  

• EPC E: 39-54 SAP points
• EPC C: 69-80 SAP points 

This is kinda big for me because my EPC rating is not C, well I hear you ask, how can you make it C? Well it is a modern build so it has cavity wall insulation, LED lights and double glazing, but that is not enough, I have to either

• Put up solar panels 10 - 15 points
• Switch from electric heating to gas 10 - 40 points
• Rip up the carpets, insulate the floor and put in laminate flooring. 1 - 10 points
• New loft insulation will help but not enough. 2 - 15 points

Solar will by no means be cost effective for me.
A complete new heating system will cost at least 10K.
I had new carpets put in quite recently, re doing that would really annoy me! Not my original choice of word.
Insulating the loft is only a few hundred pounds but I only gain a few points and I need to gain 20 points as I am on 49 points and need to get this up to 69 or over! If I do not reach this level I can not have a new tenant in! So the only real option is a new gas central heating system.
Any problems that arise will need to be fixed at a quicker timescale. I do always approve any work that needs to be done almost immediately so no real change there. I just spent £1000 to upgrade the fuse box!
 
There are other rental sectors that may be affected more than people like my husband and I, that have just 1 property on the rental market.
 

 
Some of the comments I have seen about the new regulations
 
Am I right in thinking when the new act comes in, that tenants could take a property, making out to the landlord that they will want it for a year or two, but then walk away after 2 months so long as they have given the correct amount of notice ? If I am right, this seems about the worst thing for landlords. It will make a lot more void periods & far more expenses in letting fees, etc. I can see furnished properties being used almost like an airbnb, when its convenient for tenants just to rent for a couple of months.
 
Hi I have heard that proposed legislation is coming whereby if the landlord wanted to sell the property but was unable to sell, the new legislation would prevent the landlord from re letting the property for a whole year? Yes, this is true
 
My thoughts
 
Well I understand that there are some landlords that technically let out below standard accommodation, sometimes even things like converted garages for silly rents and to me it does not look like these changes will really make much difference to these types of landlords anyway. For people like me, who rent out what was our family home, it just means more paperwork, more regulations and less rights for us. We spent 20 years working to be able to pay for a house and yet when we choose to use it as an investment, we have less rights in what we do with it and who we rent it out too. It hardly seems fair to me that we have less choices and rights as the homeowner/landlord than the tenants.
 
What do you think? Would you still rent out your house with the new regulations? Or are you renting and do you think the new regulations are good? As always, thank you for reading and please feel free to comment.