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Renters Rights Act

New Changes Are Coming From The 1st May 2026
On 28th October 2025, the Renters’ Rights Bill was passed into law. The incoming changes under the new Act will mean more complexity and compliance for landlords. Below are brief details of key changes but further information can be found on the government website by clicking the following link.  Guide to the Renters’ Rights Act – GOV.UK

Key Changes

Fixed Term Tenancies Abolished
The government is replacing fixed term assured shorthold tenancies (AST’s) with new periodic tenancies, this means landlords can no longer issue fixed term tenancy agreements, all new tenancies will be rolling period tenancies from day one, tenants can leave at anytime by giving two months’ notice

Section 21 Abolished
Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions will no longer be able to be used and landlords cannot give tenants notice without a valid legal reason and evictions must follow section 8 rules, which outline specific grounds. The grounds include landlords wishing to sell a property, move back into the property (landlord or close family members), breach of tenancy, rent arrears and anti-social behaviour

  • Landlords cannot give notice to the tenant within the first 12 months of a tenancy
  • Landlords must give a minimum of 4 months’ notice
  • Landlords will not be able to market or re-let their property for 12 months after using the moving or selling grounds

Rent Review Changes
Landlords and letting agents will be able to increase rents once per year to the market rate – the price that would be achieved if the property was newly advertised to let. To do this, they will need to serve a simple ‘section 13’ notice, setting out the new rent and giving at least 2 months’ notice of it taking effect. If a tenant believes the proposed rent increase exceeds market rate, they can then challenge this at the First-tier Tribunal, who will determine what the market rent should be.

Rental Asking Prices
Landlords and letting agents will be required to publish an asking rent for their property and be prohibited from asking for, encouraging, or accepting any bids above this price.

Rent In Advance
Landlords and letting agents will be prohibited from requiring or accepting any payment of rent in advance of the tenancy being entered into. A landlord will only be able to require up to one month’s rent (or 28 days’ rent for tenancies with rental periods of less than one month) once a tenancy agreement has been signed and before commencement. Once a tenancy starts, a landlord will be unable to enforce any terms in a tenancy agreement that require rent to be paid in advance of the agreed due date.

New Pet Policies
Tenants will have the right to request permission to keep a pet and landlords will be unable to refuse a pet request without good reason and will have 28 days to refuse a written request. If a tenant feels that the landlord has unreasonably refused their request, they will be able to escalate their complaint to the Private Rented Sector Ombudsman or take the case to court.

Tenant Discrimination
The legislation aims to prohibit blanket bans on tenants in receipt of benefits or families with children. Landlords and agents will continue to have the final say on who they let their property to and can carry out referencing checks to make sure tenancies are sustainable for all parties. They will be able to do this based on affordability, but not on the basis the prospective tenant has children or is in receipt of benefits.

Decent Homes Standard
Landlords are required to make sure their property is fit for human habitation at the beginning of the tenancy and throughout as per the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018. A new Decent Homes Standard will set clear expectations for the minimum standards landlords’ properties must achieve. There will be stronger rules around keeping properties free from damp and mould and a minimum timeframe for fixing issues.

Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman
The government will introduce a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman Service, which all private landlords in England with assured or regulated tenancies will be required by law to join, including those who use a managing agent. Tenants will be able to use the service for free to complain about a landlords’ actions or behaviours. The service will offer fair, impartial and binding resolution for tenants, and will have powers to compel landlords to issue an apology, provide information, take remedial action, and/or pay compensation. The service will also benefit landlords by resolving tenant-initiated complaints in the quickest and most cost-effective way possible. Landlords will also have access to guidance and support from the ombudsman service to help them improve their complaint handling practices.

Private Rented Sector Database
A new Private Rented Sector Database will be introduced where all landlords of assured and regulated tenancies will be legally required to register themselves and their properties on the database and could be subject to penalties if they market or let out a property without registering it and providing the required information.

Further information of the full Renters’ Right Act can be found at Guide to the Renters’ Rights Act – GOV.UK