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By Brendan Geraghty, Chief Executive of the ºÚÁÏרÇø

For generations, Britain has measured housing success, and often personal success, by one narrow metric – home ownership. Renting’s been treated as a life stage to pass through, not a tenure to aspire to yet some 20 million people in the UK (one in three of us) live in rented homes. In England alone, nearly one in five households are privately rented making it the second-largest tenure after home ownership.

The passing of the Renters’ Rights Act into law last month marks a pivotal moment in the long history of renting in England. By abolishing Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions and creating a new framework of periodic tenancies, a landlord database and dedicated ombudsman, the Act effectively normalises renting as a mainstream tenure, one which is long-term and accountable. It’s a structural shift that gives renters stability and good landlords the clarity they deserve.

But new legislation alone won’t fix our national attitude towards renting. If the 80s were the decade of Right to Buy, the 2020s should be the decade of Right to Rent Well, redefining renting as vital national infrastructure in the same way owning a home is viewed. The nation’s economic engine depends on it; workers rely on good-quality rental homes so as to live near their employment. Without it, cities stall and regional growth plans falter.

At the same time, we must acknowledge that this is now the 21^st century and the rental landscape itself is changing. It’s encouraging to see some strides being taken to move renting into the mainstream consciousness with Experian’s recent announcement that rental payments will be reflected in an individual’s credit score. A welcome step, but more needs to be done.  

When it comes to changing, and raising the standards of rental homes, the Build to Rent sector, which delivers purpose-built, professionally managed rental homes, has been quietly maturing from niche to national over the past decade. Almost 140,000 additional, good quality Build to Rent homes have been completed across the UK in that time, with a further c. 160,000 under construction or in planning. Savills research suggests the sector could ultimately deliver two million additional rental homes and attract up to £300 billion of institutional investment into the UK. Such sizeable investment would enable the delivery of the quality new homes so greatly needed and, with institutional capital’s vested interest in the long term success of such developments, foster community for the benefit of all. 

Having quality rental housing stock matters not just for investors but for renters and communities. Build to Rent homes are built to modern safety, energy and accessibility standards, managed by professional on-site teams, and maintained with service-level commitments unheard of in much of the traditional private rented sector. They set a new benchmark, showing that renting can be safe, sustainable and aspirational.

The ARL, working as part of  the BTR Alliance, is codifying this professionalism through the Rental Living Code of Practice and a new Social Contract, a voluntary but robust framework covering resident experience, transparency, safety and community engagement. Together with the Renters’ Rights Act, it’s evidence of a sector determined to lead by example, not wait to be regulated.

Our commitment to setting standards in rental living is also demonstrated through our upcoming annual conference on 6^th November in London. Highlighting our members’ commitment to investing in, and evolving rental living, our two conferences in one day not only demonstrate strong ambition to attract investment to  build much needed homes but to manage them professionally in a customer centric culture. The event also aims to nurture human capital through our NextGen Pathway Conference that will equip our growing workforce with skills and knowledge to make their careers, and the rental living sector, a long term success.

Revaluing renting also means changing the story we tell ourselves. Owning and renting a home are not adversaries, they are symbiotic. Most first-time buyers build their savings and stability in the rental market before they buy a home, if renting is insecure or unaffordable, home ownership rates fall too. A fair, professional rental market isn’t anti-ownership, it’s pro-home-ownership, giving households secure breathing room to plan and save.

So the challenge we now face is cultural as much as it is structural. The Renters’ Rights Act has rebalanced the legal framework; Build to Rent is raising the bar when it comes to standards and the ARL’s Code of Practice is embedding accountability. What remains is for all of us, policymakers, investors, landlords, the media and the public, to redefine what renting means in modern Britain.