Letting to students in Brighton used to run on a predictable cycle: sign a fixed term in the autumn or winter, collect a guarantor, hand the house back clean in summer. Since 1 May 2026, none of that is guaranteed. Tenancies are periodic, one student leaving can end the whole tenancy, and rent in advance is capped at one month.
Brighton has two universities, Sussex and Brighton, so there’s steady demand for student housing across the city. But the rules for landlords have changed a lot since 1 May. Here’s what matters before you start recruiting for the next academic year.
The old cycle is gone
All assured shorthold tenancies became assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026. That means no fixed terms. A student can give two months’ notice and leave at any point in the tenancy, not just at the end of the academic year.
In practice, this makes the traditional “10 or 12 month fixed term, handed back in summer” plan something you can no longer count on. Some students will leave after Easter exams rather than staying through to the end of the summer term. That makes the turnaround work between groups harder to plan, and it makes void periods less predictable.
The point: you can still aim for a September-to-summer pattern, but you can’t rely on it. Build your costs and cashflow around the possibility that a house may need re-letting mid-year.
Joint and several liability: what changed
Under a joint tenancy, every tenant is jointly and severally liable for the full rent. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is how a joint tenancy ends.
If one joint tenant serves notice, the whole tenancy ends for everyone. A single student giving two months’ notice terminates the tenancy for the entire household, so the other tenants lose their home and you lose your protection against an unplanned void.
Some landlords are responding by moving towards individual room lets, where each student has their own agreement and one person leaving doesn’t affect the others. That comes with its own trade-offs in management time and licensing, so it’s a decision to make property by property rather than as a blanket policy.
Guarantors and rent in advance
Rent in advance is now limited to one month. That ended the common practice of collecting a term’s or a year’s rent upfront, which many landlords used to cover international students who had no UK guarantor.
- UK guarantors still matter. A guarantor remains the main way to back up rent from a student with no income of their own. Make sure the guarantor agreement is drafted for a periodic tenancy, not copied from an old fixed-term template.
- International students are the hard case. Without upfront payment or a UK guarantor, you’re left with a gap that landlords are increasingly filling with professional guarantor services, which typically charge around 5–8% of annual rent.
- Professional guarantors aren’t a perfect substitute. The market is unregulated and the cover isn’t the same as a personal guarantee, so read the terms before relying on one.
Ground 4A: the student HMO possession ground
The Renters’ Rights Act created one new route specifically for student houses. Ground 4A lets a landlord recover possession of a student HMO so it can be re-let to a new group for the next academic year. It has strict conditions, and missing any of them means you can’t use it.
| Requirement | What it means |
|---|---|
| Property type | A student HMO where every occupant is a full-time student. One non-student resident rules the ground out. |
| Pre-tenancy notice | You must tell the tenants, before the tenancy begins, that you intend to rely on Ground 4A. |
| Timing of the tenancy | The tenancy must not be entered into more than six months before the tenants were entitled to occupy the property. |
| Notice period | Four months. |
| Possession window | The possession date must fall between 1 June and 30 September. |
The six-month rule has a knock-on effect. It stops you signing a group in autumn for a September start the following year, which pushes recruitment later, towards January. If you’ve been used to filling houses early in the academic year, that’s a real change to how you market.
For tenancies that already existed before 1 May 2026, there was a one-off transitional arrangement allowing notice to be served between 1 May and 31 July 2026 with two months’ notice instead of four. That window has closed, so for this year’s cycle, any new tenancy needs the pre-tenancy notice in place from day one.
Miss the June to September window and you can’t use Ground 4A for that cycle. It is a narrow tool, so plan the timing backwards from 1 June, not forwards from when you happen to start thinking about it.
Summer voids
The old student model accepted a summer void as the price of a full-year rent, often covered by a 12-month tenancy. With periodic tenancies, you can’t count on the same cover, and a house vacated early leaves a longer gap to fill.
- Budget for a gap. Assume at least some mid-year or summer vacancy and price it into your yield rather than treating it as a surprise.
- Check your insurance. Student houses that sit empty over summer can fall foul of vacancy clauses, so tell your insurer when a house is likely to be empty for 30 days or more.
- Use the quiet months. If a house is vacant between groups anyway, that’s the time for repairs and redecoration, before marketing starts again in January.
Licensing still applies
Brighton & Hove runs additional HMO licensing city-wide, which covers shared houses with three or four unrelated occupants, alongside mandatory HMO licensing for five or more. Most student houses in the city need one or the other. Selective licensing is also expanding into Central Hove and Regency from 20 October 2026, so check where your property sits before letting. Our guide to landlord licensing and compliance covers the detail.
What to do before the next academic year
- Decide between joint and individual lets. Weigh the protection of joint liability against the risk that one student’s notice ends the whole tenancy.
- Update your guarantor paperwork. Check that agreements are written for a periodic tenancy and that international students have a workable alternative.
- Serve the Ground 4A pre-tenancy notice with every new student let if you want to keep the option of using it.
- Plan the signing date around the six-month rule, which means recruiting later than many landlords are used to.
- Build a void allowance into your numbers and sort insurance for any period the house may stand empty.
Student lets in Brighton can still be a solid investment, but they now need more planning and tighter paperwork than before. We manage lets across Brighton & Hove and can help you set up compliant student tenancies through our managed lettings service.
Letting to students for the first time, or reviewing your setup?
Tell us about the property and how many students you’re housing. We’ll check the licensing, the paperwork and the Ground 4A timing before you start marketing.
Talk to us about student letsRenters’ Rights Act provisions, including Ground 4A conditions and the transitional notice window, are summarised from legal commentary published by Trowers & Hamlins, Pinsent Masons and The Independent Landlord, current as of October 2026. Professional guarantor fee levels are indicative market figures, not fixed prices. This is general information and not legal advice. Please take professional advice before serving any notice or relying on a specific ground for possession.