Assured Periodic Tenancies and SDLT: The Implications of the Renters’ Rights Act

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (RRA 2025) shakes up the traditional structure of residential tenancies – fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies will be abolished and home rentals must instead take place as assured periodic tenancies (APTs) from 1 May 2026.

One elusive but significant consequence of this arises from the interaction between the new tenancy model and the existing Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) regime.

However, what looks like just a shift in tenancy structure could, in practice, pull thousands of renters into scope of SDLT reporting and payment obligations for the first time.

Update – Case Law and Legislative Developments – Enfranchisement – April 2022

This article covers some case law and legislative developments over the last 12 months relating to enfranchisement

A covenant to repair is not a covenant to modernise

The Upper Tribunal’s decision in Mountview Estates Plc v W8 Property Ltd [2026] UKUT 196 (LC) provides useful guidance on the condition in which a flat is to be valued when calculating the premium payable for a statutory lease extension.

The case concerned a flat which both parties’ valuers described as “uninhabitable”. The landlord argued that the valuation should nevertheless assume that the flat had been brought up to a clean, modern and readily marketable standard because the lease required the tenant to keep it in “good tenantable repair”.