The Renters' Rights Bill, Labour's flagship overhaul of the private rented sector, is beginning to bite before it has even fully cleared Parliament — and nowhere is the disruption more acute than in the student housing market. By scrapping fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies in favour of rolling periodic agreements, the reforms strike at the heart of a system that has for decades relied on landlords and letting agents signing students up for the following academic year as early as October or November, months before the current tenancy ends. Without the certainty of a fixed term, tenants can now serve two months' notice at any point, and landlords have lost the practical ability to guarantee possession in time for the new intake each September. Agents in university cities report lettings processes that once took a fortnight now stretching to six weeks or more, as both sides negotiate around ambiguity the legislation has yet to resolve.