The Summer Rush & The Shifting Rental Landscape

The makeover of the rental world has been delayed yet again - plus our successful landlord webinar, running goals, and our July highlights.

Author

Tristan Gage
August 06, 2025

☀️ A quiet summer for some, not so much for others (us!)

With August now upon us, we at base are well and truly in the thick of our busiest season. The daily flurry of renewals, tenancy move-outs, property resets, viewings, and offers feels never-ending… but as we all know, being busy is a good problem to have. This might, however, be the last “busy season” as we know it. The incoming Renters’ Rights Bill is set to overhaul nearly every major aspect of the private rental sector, including the removal of fixed term tenancies, which will quite possibly remove the seasonality we’ve come to expect over the last 21 years of business. As the bill did not gain Royal Assent before Parliament’s summer recess, we expect the ‘consideration of Lords amendments’ to take place in September before it is finalised. For more detailed updates, don’t forget to keep up with the Renters’ Rights Hub on our website.

Features in this edition:

🏠 Could You Lose Your Home Over £250?

Sounds absurd, but for thousands of UK leaseholders, it’s been a real possibility thanks to a little-known loophole in property law called the “AST trap.”

If your ground rent is over £250 a year (£1,000 in London), your long lease could be classed as an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. Miss just three months’ payments and your freeholder could use eviction laws to repossess your home, and keep 100% of the sale proceeds.

The good news? Reform is finally on the way through the Renters’ Rights Bill and other planned changes, which should close this loophole for good.

📖 Read our full breakdown - including real-life cases and what you can do now - https://www.baseps.co.uk/blog-posts/missing-500-pounds-ground-rent-cost-entire-home-ast-trap.

🙏 Thanks to everyone who joined our Renters' Rights session

Last Thursday we wrapped up our online event for landlords on the Renters’ Rights Bill and it was a packed session full of great questions and helpful insights. There’s a lot changing in the lettings world and it was brilliant to see so many landlords getting stuck in and wanting to stay ahead of the curve.

We covered the major reforms, including Section 21, rent increase rules and periodic tenancies, and what they mean for landlords in real-world terms. The Q&A at the end covered not just the RRB, but also how we came to be called base (a great story!) - and we were chuffed with the turnout.

If you couldn’t make it and would like a copy of the session recording, just hit reply or reach out and we’ll send it over. We will be doing more of these so if you want to get registered ahead of the next one please don’t hesitate to let us know.

🏃‍♂️ Tristan’s Half Marathon Mission

Big shoutout to our own Tristan, who’s running the Big Half London Half Marathon this September to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

He’s smashed 635km of training this year already (yep, he’s also aiming for 1,000km by the end of the year), and this time he’s got two targets for race day: number one, finish the race quicker than 1 hour 40 minutes (which would be a personal best) and number two, raise at least £350 for the British Heart Foundation.

Here’s a snippet from his story:

“For every step that hurts when running long distance, I have to remind myself I am lucky to have the strength of body to be able to run for 13.1 miles at a time. To celebrate this, I’d love for my running to go further than just the steps on the ground, and to raise money to fund research and care for others.”

If you’re able to support, please chip in - every bit helps and means a lot.

✨ Agents Giving Ball 2025 – A Night to Remember!

We had an incredible evening at the stunning Denbies Wine Estate for this year’s Agents Giving Ball, filled with sunshine, celebration, and generous giving.

💥 Over £35,000 raised for St Mungo’s
🏆 Congratulations to Michelle England of PVS Media for winning Best Individual Fundraise
🕺 Dancing, flowing wine, and even a cheeky charity auction win (hello Newcastle Racecourse!)

A huge thank you to Yvonne & Vikki for organising another unforgettable event. Here’s to next year! 💃🍷

In other news…

❤️‍🔥 Hot Picks from July

🏡 Top property: Charlotte Road, Shoreditch - https://tour.giraffe360.com/charlotte-road-ec2a. An incredible home where some subscribers to this newsletter may recall we hosted our landlord filming event early last year. The current tenancy has just renewed, to nobody’s surprise!
💬 Feedback that made us (and specifically An!) feel all glowy: “I have worked with An for a decade now (!!) from abroad, and seeing her email in my inbox always makes me smile. I trust her and her advice completely. She is so dedicated, organized, and on top of things.”
🎉 Social media content: An unusual compliment from a landlord who can’t remember recommending us to a friend! - https://www.instagram.com/p/DMNYwsdRidX/

If you have been forwarded this email, make sure to subscribe to receive future editions direct to your inbox.

To stay on top of the latest updates from base, ensure you are subscribed to our social media channels by clicking the icons below.