An extraordinary meeting took place last week in Redruth, promoted and hosted by infamous letting agency Lang-Llewellyn, with landlords letting in Cornwall. A reporter from Cobblestone Media was present to hear what Lang-Llewellyn had to say about the new legislation and, shockingly, what they had to say about tenants. The attendance numbered around 70 landlords, all of whom are based in Cornwall, anxious to talk with Lang-Llewellyn about their futures.

The agenda of the meeting focused on preparing private landlords for the Renters’ Rights Act, which, amongst other things, has scrapped no-fault evictions, previously permitted under the Housing Act 1988.

Proceedings were chaired by Sophie Lang and Elliot Newman, with the help of Rhiannon Llewellyn, all of whom are either founding or core members of Lang-Llewellyn Sales and Letting Agency. Their contributions to the discussion were explicitly to “protect the income” of landlords in the room, and their comments about tenants largely reflected this one-sided approach.

No-fault evictions

First on the meeting’s agenda was a discussion of no-fault evictions. Sophie Lang made clear her thoughts on this by stating:

“My pet peeve is the government calling it a ‘no-fault eviction’, because I’m sure none of you have evicted a tenant for no reason, just for fun. It doesn’t happen. It never happens. We always have a reason to evict a tenant; this is just the easiest way of doing it as it currently stands.”

Landlords in attendance expressed concern about having to prove grounds for eviction, as well as the extended notice periods required under the new legislation. Many also worried that there would be repercussions if they did not follow through on those grounds, making them liable to a complaint by ex-tenants. As Lang-Llewellyn pointed out, the arrangement under the current system is easy for landlords, as long as they “tick all the boxes”. Under the Renters’ Rights Act however, they will be required to attend court if tenants refuse to leave.

For this reason, Lang explicitly advised that landlords seek to negotiate their way out of a tenancy “if a tenant is difficult for any reason”, rather than spend time and money before a judge. They also advised that landlords undertake a “strong vetting process”, as it is going to be harder for landlords to “get rid of them if they do turn out to be a problem”.

They attempted to defend their position by arguing that the Renters’ Rights Act will be a detriment to tenants, because landlords will not want to “take the risk” of picking “people on benefits or people who struggle”.

11,400 households in England faced eviction under Section 21 between July 2024 and June 2025, an 8% increase on the previous year. Those campaigning against no-fault evictions say that the new legislation will drastically reduce the number of evictions and save thousands from housing precarity and homelessness.

Know Your Rights… as Landlords

Throughout the talk Lang-Llewellyn seemed to emphasise the increased persecution of landlords. Sophie Lang addressed the crowd as “you poor landlords” before beginning to explain the effects of the legislation. When asked how tenants would know their rights under the new laws, they replied that the government was “ploughing a lot of money into Shelter” — a housing and homelessness charity which offers advice to tenants who struggle.

For decades, Shelter has been a vital charity supporting those on the tougher end of the housing sector, with their 2024–2025 Impact Report claiming that just under 17,000 households reached out to them for advice via their helpline.

They also made odd allusions to “a local vigilante group called Acorn”, which Lang sarcastically described as a “delight”, who are “educating tenants because they’re getting kickback from the government” — a claim that has been firmly denied by Acorn. Lang did correctly inform the crowd that they must issue an updated version of the How to Rent guide by June 2026.

Raising your rent and demanding it early

Elliot Newman, Lang-Llewellyn’s Assistant Head of Tenancy Management, took the mic at this stage to talk about rent increases under the new legislation. He started by warning the crowd that if they wished to increase their tenant’s rent, they had to inform them two months in advance, and added that they could no longer evict a tenant for challenging that increase.

Understanding that landlords may want to sell their houses, he warned against it, as under Section 8 of the Renters’ Rights Act, if a landlord evicts a tenant on the pretext of selling the property, they are unable to put the house back on the rental market for twelve months. He therefore explicitly advised that rents should rise — “little and often” — and in line with market value. He also stated that if rents stay low, tenants might notice and “stay put” for longer than the landlord might like.

When discussing rent taken in advance, Lang-Llewellyn rightly pointed out that landlords could no longer take more than one month’s worth. Because of this, student properties listed with Lang-Llewellyn could see their rent over twelve months compacted into ten, with higher monthly payments intended to cover potential early exits. As part of the HMO network, they are actively encouraging other agencies to do this, with Rhiannon Llewellyn stating that they were “working all loopholes on the student side of things”.

Students could be further effected by exemptions to the legislation. Sophie Lang added that “another loophole” she was pursuing was exemptions for Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSAs). Free from the new legislation, PBSAs will not face the same restrictions on rent in advance and fixed-term tenancies, and Lang explained that she was attempting to get Lang-Llewellyn designated as a PBSA provider in order to immunise their landlord clientele.

Watch out for the Ombudsman and “Make friends” with the inspectors

This was the big one. The government is set to bring in a private landlord ombudsman, and all private landlords – whether or not they use an agency – will be required to sign up.

Free and broad, the ombudsman service will be available to any tenant who wishes to make a complaint about landlord conduct without going to court. Landlords can be fined up to £7,000 for initial breaches and up to £40,000 or criminal prosecution for continuing or repeated breaches.

A landlord will be in breach of their code of conduct if they turn up unannounced or without sufficient notice, refuse to handle mould, etc. Any information about breaches will be available to the council, though it was pointed out that it is not yet clear what details will be made public.

On the subject of the landlord ombudsman, Lang made some interesting remarks. Noting that there will be an advice helpline, she advised that if a landlord suspects a tenant is going to make a complaint, they should make contact first.

Later in the evening, the team outlined the new local authority investigatory powers. Lang alleged that the council was planning to crack down on landlord breaches to collect fines “because they are poor”, citing that Cornwall was one of a small number of councils given additional funds to look into breaches.

Following on from her earlier statements, she said that landlords should seek to “make friends” with council inspectors. Leading by example, she explained how Lang-Llewellyn “take them a coffee” when they attend a property and “greet them lovely, and then they are on-side from day one”. She did take care to insist: “That’s not bribery, by the way — I’m not going on record… that’s just being nice.”

You want to live in a decent home?

Concerns about the new Decent Homes Standard focused primarily on mould and pets.

The Renters’ Rights Act will extend Awaab’s Law into the private rented sector, requiring that landlords do everything within their power to eliminate mould in their properties. Sophie Lang stated on the issue that “currently mould is treated as a hazard, but, you know, we do what we do — tenant lifestyle, etcetera, etcetera”, but that it deserved special attention because of Cornwall’s high humidity. She lamented that “we are not allowed to say that it is the tenants’ fault anymore unless we can prove that we’ve done everything possible”.

Pets will also no longer act as a restriction, as landlords will not be able to refuse a tenant based solely on pet ownership. This comes with caveats, but even landlords with allergies would not be able to refuse a tenant on these grounds, as they should be conducting inspections of the property through a third party. When those present asked questions about how their property may be affected by tenants’ pets, Sophie Lang replied: “Unfortunately, no one lives quite as good as you generally, and if your tenant lives like a pig, there’s nothing you can do about it until they vacate.”

What happens next

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s meeting, the Lang-Llewellyn team claimed that this was the biggest change to renting and letting since the 1980s, and they are right to be nervous. The Renters’ Rights Act is the most progressive and sweeping piece of housing legislation that any government has implemented in recent decades, protecting tenants and tightening restrictions on landlords.

New local authority investigatory powers come into effect on December 27. By May of next year, no-fault evictions will be scrapped. Although other sections of the Renters’ Rights Act will come into effect in the mid-2030s, 11 million people will have their housing circumstances change for the better in one way or another. 

Image via: Cobblestone Media.