The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 has changed the legal framework within which Build to Rent schemes are operated, but it has not displaced the national planning policy model for the sector. Affordable Private Rent remains the expected form of affordable housing, with 20% of homes generally treated as the appropriate benchmark and a minimum 20% discount to market rent. Affordable and market homes should remain under common management, with the affordable provision maintained in perpetuity.

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What has changed is the tenancy regime sitting beneath those requirements. Since 1 May 2026, most Build to Rent tenancies are assured periodic tenancies. Rent increases must normally follow the section 13 procedure, can usually take place only once a year and require at least two months’ notice. For Affordable Private Rent, the discount is recalculated when the tenancy is granted or the rent is reviewed.

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That matters because planning obligations have often been drafted around assumptions about how individual tenancies can be managed. A section 106 agreement may specify who qualifies for an affordable home, how rents are reviewed and what happens when a household no longer satisfies an income threshold. Those provisions now need to work within a statutory tenancy regime that may not allow the landlord simply to recover possession.

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The updated Planning Practice Guidance addresses this directly. Where an Affordable Private Rent tenant ceases to meet an agreed income threshold, the expectation is not automatic eviction. Instead, the home can be deallocated from the affordable provision and another equivalent unit substituted. This makes flexibility in the planning obligation increasingly important.

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A section 106 agreement that permanently fixes individual units as affordable may therefore be harder to operate than one which protects the overall affordable housing quantum while allowing substitution. Equally, a clause which assumes loss of eligibility automatically results in vacant possession may create an obligation that cannot readily be satisfied under the tenancy legislation.

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For new schemes, the practical lesson is to treat the planning obligation, eligibility arrangements and tenancy documentation as one operating system. Particular attention should be given to substitution of affordable units, section 13 rent-review dates and valuation evidence, service and ancillary charges, monitoring requirements and consistency between the tenancy agreement and section 106.

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For existing schemes, however, the position should not be overstated. Existing planning obligations do not need to be revisited simply because the Renters’ Rights Act has changed the tenancy regime. The updated guidance confirms that changes are not required merely because an older obligation refers to a tenancy type which has since been abolished.

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That does not mean every historic agreement will operate perfectly. Some schemes may still need to consider whether eligibility criteria, unit specifications or other drafting create a practical conflict with the new regime. The distinction is important: there is no general requirement to reopen existing section 106 agreements, but there may be scheme-specific reasons to review how particular provisions operate.

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The planning risk therefore lies less in the headline affordable housing policy than in the drafting beneath it. For new Build to Rent applications, planning and tenancy arrangements should be aligned before determination. A clause that appears workable in planning terms but cannot be implemented lawfully once the building is occupied risks creating an avoidable compliance problem.

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The Renters’ Rights Act is therefore not simply a landlord-management issue. It now forms part of the planning mechanics of delivering and maintaining affordable housing over the life of a Build to Rent scheme.