Renters Reform Legislation and Local Housing Bills: What Croydon Tenants Can Expect

Legislation advancing through Westminster this summer is set to reshape the rights of private renters across England, with Croydon among the boroughs most directly exposed to the changes. The Renters' Rights Act, which received Royal Assent in spring 2025, abolished Section 21 'no-fault' evictions and introduced a new Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector. For Croydon, where roughly 30 percent of households rent privately according to the 2021 Census, the practical consequences are now beginning to take shape as local enforcement timelines come into focus for 2026.

The timing matters because Croydon has spent the past three years under financial pressure following its Section 114 notices in 2020 and 2022, which effectively declared the council unable to meet its legal spending obligations. A government-appointed improvement board oversaw the recovery period. The borough is now operating under a revised budget framework, and the question of how it funds new enforcement duties under the Renters' Rights Act sits squarely in that context. Under the legislation, local councils are required to inspect rental properties against the Decent Homes Standard and pursue landlords who fail to meet it, duties that require officer capacity Croydon is still rebuilding.

How Croydon Compares to Neighbouring Boroughs

Compare that position with Sutton or Bromley, both of which maintained stable local authority finances through the same period and have larger existing housing enforcement teams. Sutton, for instance, launched a proactive landlord licensing scheme in 2023 covering selective areas under the Housing Act 2004, giving its officers structured experience with large-scale rental inspections before the national standard took effect. Croydon's selective licensing scheme, which covers parts of the Broad Green and Woodside wards, has been operational since 2022 but covers a narrower geographic footprint than equivalent schemes in Newham or Southwark, two inner-London boroughs that policy analysts cite as benchmarks for high-intensity enforcement. The Local Government Association noted in its 2025 submission to the Housing Select Committee that councils with pre-existing licensing infrastructure are expected to transition to Decent Homes enforcement at significantly lower marginal cost than those without it.

For Croydon residents the differences are concrete. A tenant in a cold or damp privately rented flat in Thornton Heath now has a statutory right to demand the landlord remediate the problem under the Decent Homes Standard, and can complain to the council if the landlord does not act. The council is required to respond. But the speed and consistency of that response will depend on officer availability. The Greater London Authority's 2025 Housing in London report recorded that Croydon received 1,847 formal complaints about private rental conditions in 2023-24, the fifth highest volume among the 33 London boroughs. Enforcement notices issued in the same period totalled 214, a ratio that housing advocates note leaves a significant gap between complaints logged and formal action taken.

Budget Pressures and What Comes Next

Croydon Council's approved budget for 2026-27 allocated an additional 480,000 pounds to its housing enforcement function, partly funded through a ring-fenced grant from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The government has committed 5 million pounds nationally to help councils build Renters' Rights Act enforcement capacity in the first full year of operation. How that national pot is distributed, and whether Croydon's share is proportionate to its caseload volume, is expected to be confirmed by MHCLG in the autumn spending round. The legislation states that councils may retain all income from civil penalty fines issued under the Act, up to a maximum of 40,000 pounds per offence for the most serious breaches, which is projected to create a partial self-funding mechanism over time.

For residents with queries about their rights under the new framework, Croydon Council's housing enforcement team can be contacted directly, and the charity Shelter operates a free advice line covering London tenants. The next formal milestone is a statutory review of the Decent Homes Standard's application to the private sector, which the government says will be completed by December 2026 and will inform whether the enforcement framework requires amendment before wider rollout.