Renters Rights Act 2025: What Landlords Must Do in 2026

Status: now law and in force

The Renters' Rights Bill is now the Renters' Rights Act 2025

It received Royal Assent on 27/10/2025. The core tenancy reforms took effect on 01/05/2026, when every assured shorthold tenancy in England converted to a periodic assured tenancy and section 21 was abolished. This is no longer something to prepare for. It is the law your tenancies already run under.

27/10/2025Royal Assent, Renters' Rights Act 2025

01/05/2026Tenancy reforms and section 21 abolition in force

31/07/2026Deadline for old section 21 notices, now passed

£40,000Maximum civil penalty for a serious breach

For most landlords across SW11, SW12, SW17 and SW18, the practical questions are no longer about what the legislation might contain. They are about whether your tenancy paperwork is compliant, how you regain possession now that section 21 has gone, and what the new rent increase process actually allows you to do.

This guide sets out what changed, what is already in force, what is still to come, and where the published guidance understates the risk. It is written for landlords rather than for policy readers, and it corrects several points that are still being reported incorrectly.

The short version for landlords

Fixed terms are gone. All private tenancies in England are now periodic assured tenancies. Tenants give two months' notice to leave; you cannot tie them into a term.
Section 21 no longer exists. Possession requires a section 8 notice and a ground under Schedule 2. Moving in or selling requires four months' notice and cannot be used in the first year.
The re-letting restriction is longer than you have been told. Published summaries say 12 months. The statutory mechanism runs roughly 16 months from the date you serve notice.
Rent rises once a year, by statutory notice, with two months' warning. The tribunal can now only confirm or reduce your figure. It can no longer set a higher rent, and it cannot backdate.
Serious rent arrears now means three months, not two, and the notice period doubled to four weeks.
Penalties are meaningful. £7,000 for administrative breaches, £40,000 for serious ones, and rent repayment orders now reach 24 months' rent.
The database, the ombudsman and the Decent Homes Standard are not yet live. Only the ombudsman has a firm year, 2028.

Is the Renters' Rights Bill now law?

Yes. The Renters' Rights Bill became the Renters' Rights Act 2025 on 27/10/2025 when it received Royal Assent. It is cited as 2025 c. 26.

The main provisions affecting private landlords came into force on 01/05/2026. On that date all existing assured shorthold tenancies in England automatically converted to periodic assured tenancies, and no new section 21 notice could be served.

Some parts of the Act are still waiting to be switched on, including the private rented sector database, the landlord ombudsman and the Decent Homes Standard. Those are covered further down.

The Act applies to England. Scotland and Wales have their own systems, and Northern Ireland is separate again. If you let property outside England, this guide does not describe your obligations.

What is in force, and what is still coming

The reforms did not arrive gradually. Almost everything that affects day to day letting landed on a single date. What remains outstanding is largely administrative infrastructure, and some of it has no announced date at all.

27/12/2025 In force
First commencement regulations. Mainly technical: investigatory powers, penalty guidance, and the end of the long lease assured shorthold trap.
01/05/2026 In force
The main event. Assured shorthold tenancies and fixed terms abolished, section 21 abolished, new possession grounds, new rent increase rules, rental bidding ban, rent in advance cap, discrimination ban, right to request a pet, and the new penalty regime.
31/05/2026 Passed
Deadline to give existing tenants the government information sheet, and written terms where the tenancy had been verbal. Failure carries a penalty of up to £7,000.
31/07/2026 Passed
Final date to issue a court claim on a section 21 or section 8 notice served before 01/05/2026. Any such notice not taken to court by then is now spent.
Late 2026 onwards No fixed date
Private rented sector database, rolled out area by area. No specific launch date has been announced. Once live, a landlord who is not registered will be unable to obtain a possession order on most grounds.
2027 Announced
Reforms extend to the social rented sector. Full county court digital possession service expected around the same time.
2028 Announced
Membership of the private rented sector landlord ombudsman becomes mandatory for all private landlords in England.
01/10/2030 Announced
Minimum EPC C equivalent for privately rented homes. This sits outside the Act and is covered separately below.
2035 at the earliest Proposed
Decent Homes Standard applied to the private rented sector. Still subject to consultation and not fixed. Awaab's Law extension to the sector also has no announced date.

Fixed terms have gone: what your tenancies look like now

Every private tenancy in England is now a periodic assured tenancy. There is no such thing as a new twelve month assured shorthold. Rent periods cannot run longer than a month, which in practice ends quarterly and annual rent arrangements.

Existing tenancies were not phased in over time. They all converted on 01/05/2026, whether they were three months old or fifteen years old. Tenants did not need to sign anything new, but landlords were required to issue the government information sheet, and written terms where the arrangement had been verbal, by 31/05/2026.

Before 01/05/2026

Assured shorthold tenancy, usually a six or twelve month fixed term, rolling monthly afterwards. Tenant bound for the term. One month's notice from the tenant once periodic.

Now

Periodic assured tenancy from day one. No fixed term. Tenant can leave at any point on two months' notice. Rent periods capped at one month.

The commercial consequence is the one landlords tend to notice first. A tenant can now move in and give notice in week one, leaving after two months, and there is nothing in the tenancy agreement that can prevent it. Void risk has shifted materially towards the landlord, and it is worth reviewing how you price and market a property with that in mind. If you are letting for the first time under the new system, our guide to renting out a property for the first time covers the practical setup.

Section 21 has been abolished

No-fault eviction ended on 01/05/2026. The last date a section 21 notice could validly be served was 30/04/2026, and the final date to issue a court claim on any pre-existing section 21 or section 8 notice was 31/07/2026. Both of those dates have passed, so every possession action now starts with a section 8 notice and a stated ground.

Court volumes reflect the transition. Ministry of Justice figures for April to June 2026, published on 13/08/2026, show accelerated section 21 claims up 16% year on year at 8,569, consistent with landlords rushing to issue before the backstop. Overall landlord possession claims rose 6% to 23,635, and the median time from claim to repossession was 27.1 weeks.

Plan around the court timetable, not the notice period

A four month notice period is only the beginning. With a median 27 weeks from claim to repossession, a Ground 1A sale can realistically take a year from the decision to sell to vacant possession. If you are selling with a tenant in place, it is worth understanding what selling with a tenant in situ involves before you serve anything.

The possession grounds landlords actually use

Schedule 2 has been rewritten. These are the grounds that matter most in practice, with the notice periods that apply now.

Key possession grounds and notice periods, England, from 01/05/2026
Ground	Use	Notice	Restriction
Ground 1	You or a close family member moving in	4 months	Cannot expire in the first 12 months of the tenancy
Ground 1A	You intend to sell	4 months	Cannot expire in the first 12 months. Re-letting restriction applies
Ground 8	Serious rent arrears	4 weeks	3 months' arrears at both service and hearing
Grounds 10 and 11	Any arrears, or persistent late payment	4 weeks	Discretionary, the court decides
Ground 14	Anti-social behaviour	Immediate	Order takes effect at least 14 days after service
Ground 4A	Student HMO, letting cycle	4 months	HMOs only. Relevant date between 1 June and 30 September
Ground 6 and 6A	Redevelopment, or compliance with enforcement action	4 months	Evidence of intent required

The rent arrears threshold moved against landlords

Ground 8 before

Two months' arrears, two weeks' notice. Mandatory ground: if the arrears stood at the hearing, the court had to grant possession.

Ground 8 now

Three months' arrears, four weeks' notice. Still mandatory, but the threshold must be met at service and at the hearing, and arrears caused by delayed universal credit payments are disregarded.

In practical terms a tenant now has to fall an extra month behind before the mandatory ground is available, and has an extra fortnight to clear it. A tenant who pays down to just under three months before the hearing defeats the ground entirely. Prompt, documented arrears management matters more than it used to.

The re-letting restriction, and why 12 months is the wrong number

This is the single most misunderstood provision in the Act, and the misunderstanding originates with the government's own summary.

If you take possession under Ground 1 or Ground 1A, you cannot let the property again, grant a licence for money, or even market it for letting, during a restricted period. Published guidance describes this as 12 months. The statutory mechanism is longer, because the clock does not start when you get the property back.

How the restricted period is actually calculated

The restricted period begins on the day you serve the section 8 notice and ends 12 months after the relevant date specified in that notice. Because Grounds 1 and 1A require four months' notice, the minimum real-world duration is approximately 16 months from service, not 12 months from possession.

Breach is a criminal offence, or a civil penalty of up to £40,000 as an alternative to prosecution. Marketing the property alone is enough to breach it.

The commercial implication is significant. If you serve notice on a Balham flat in January intending to sell, and the sale falls through in the summer, you cannot simply put it back on the rental market to cover the mortgage. You are locked out of letting it until roughly the following May.

In July 2026 between 80,000 and 100,000 rental homes nationally were sitting unsold and barred from returning to the rental market for this reason. It is also part of why landlord selling has slowed rather than accelerated: the restriction cuts off the fallback option, so some landlords are choosing not to start the process at all.

The House of Lords voted to reduce the restriction from 12 months to 6. The Commons rejected that amendment in October 2025, so the longer period stands.

Rent increases: one route, once a year

Rent review clauses in tenancy agreements no longer have any effect. The only ways rent can rise are a statutory section 13 notice, a tribunal determination, or a written agreement reached after a tribunal determination.

The rent increase process from 01/05/2026
Element	Requirement
Mechanism	Statutory section 13 notice on prescribed Form 4A. Contractual review clauses are void
Frequency	Once in any 12 month period
Notice period	Minimum two months, doubled from one month
Tenant challenge	Application to the First-tier Tribunal before the increase takes effect
What the tribunal can do	Confirm your figure, or reduce it to open market rent if that is lower. It cannot exceed your proposal
Backdating	Not permitted. Any increase applies from the date of determination
Hardship	The tribunal may defer the increase by up to a further two months

A correction worth noting

Under the old rules, a tenant who challenged a rent increase risked the tribunal setting a higher rent than the landlord had asked for. That deterrent has gone. The tribunal can now only confirm or reduce your figure, and cannot backdate it. Any article still saying tenants challenge at their peril is describing a system that ended on 01/05/2026.

The practical effect is that the downside of a challenge now sits entirely with the landlord: at best you get the rent you asked for, but later than you wanted. Setting a defensible, evidence-based figure in the first place is considerably more important than it was. That is precisely the kind of judgement a local valuation assessment and current comparable evidence supports.

Bidding wars and rent in advance

Two further restrictions took effect on the same date.

No rental bidding

You and your agent must publish a stated asking rent, and must not invite or accept offers above it. This ends the practice of listing low to generate competition.

Penalty: up to £7,000.

Rent in advance capped

No rent may be taken before the agreement is signed. After signing, the maximum is one month's rent, or 28 days where the rent period is shorter. Tenancies entered into before 01/05/2026 keep their existing arrangements.

Penalty: up to £5,000.

Deposit caps are unchanged at five weeks' rent, or six weeks where annual rent is £50,000 or more. This matters more than it sounds, because of what happened to pets.

Pets, and the two things that did not happen

Tenants now have the right to request permission to keep a pet, and you must consider the request and cannot unreasonably refuse it. Two widely reported protections for landlords were removed before the Act passed, and both are still being reported as though they exist.

Removed

You cannot require pet insurance

The power to make pet insurance a condition of consent was withdrawn by government amendment in July 2025. Any such term in a new tenancy is of no effect.

Rejected

There is no pet damage deposit

The Lords proposed an additional deposit of up to three weeks' rent for pets, outside the existing cap. The Commons rejected it in October 2025. Pet damage comes out of the standard five week deposit.

Your practical protection is therefore a well-evidenced inventory and a thorough check-in report, not an insurance requirement you are no longer permitted to impose.

Discrimination against tenants on benefits or with children

It is now unlawful to refuse a tenancy, or to advertise in terms that discourage an application, on the basis that a prospective tenant receives benefits or has children. This covers indirect practices as well as explicit "no DSS" wording, so affordability rules and referencing criteria that have that effect in practice are also caught.

Breaches attract up to £7,000 for a first or minor contravention, rising to £40,000 or criminal prosecution where the conduct is serious, persistent or repeated.

What non-compliance now costs

The Act created a two-tier civil penalty system, enforced by local authorities. Councils keep the receipts, which gives them a direct incentive to enforce.

Lower tier £7,000

Failing to provide written terms or the information sheet
Purporting to create a fixed term
Serving a notice without a proper ground
Rental bidding breaches
A first or minor discrimination breach
Database or ombudsman non-registration, once those are live

Higher tier £40,000

Breaching the Ground 1 or 1A re-letting or marketing restriction
Using a possession ground you know cannot succeed, where the tenant leaves within four months
Serious, persistent or repeated discrimination
Repeated or fraudulent database breaches
Available as an alternative to criminal prosecution

Rent repayment orders were strengthened at the same time. The maximum recoverable period doubled from 12 to 24 months' rent, the application window extended to 24 months from the offence, and orders now reach superior landlords and company directors. Repeat offenders must be ordered to pay the maximum. These changes are not retrospective and apply only to offences committed on or after 01/05/2026.

The quiet enforcement mechanism

Once the private rented sector database goes live, a landlord who is not registered on it will be unable to obtain a possession order on almost any ground. That is a more effective lever than any fine, and it is the main reason to register promptly when the rollout reaches your area rather than waiting to be chased.

What has not been switched on yet

Several headline measures are on the statute book but not in force. Landlords reading older coverage sometimes assume these already apply.

Provisions passed but not yet commenced, as at 15/08/2026
Measure	What it will require	Timing
PRS database	Registration of landlords and properties; non-registration blocks possession orders	Rollout from late 2026, phased by area. No specific date announced
Landlord ombudsman	Mandatory membership for all private landlords in England, with binding redress	2028
Decent Homes Standard	Minimum condition standard extended to private rented homes	Proposed 2035 at the earliest, subject to consultation
Awaab's Law	Fixed timescales to investigate and remedy damp, mould and other hazards	No date announced. Still at consultation stage
Social rented sector	The tenancy reforms extend beyond the private sector	2027

EPC C is a separate regime, and the timetable changed

Minimum energy efficiency standards are not part of the Renters' Rights Act. They sit under separate regulations, and the two are frequently conflated. The timetable also changed in January 2026, so older guidance is unreliable.

The old proposal

EPC C for new tenancies from 2028, then all tenancies from 2030. Cost cap discussed at £15,000.

Confirmed position

A single compliance date of 01/10/2030 for all privately rented homes. Cost cap £10,000, with exemptions valid for 10 years. A dual-metric standard: fabric first, then either a heating system or smart readiness measure.

Two caveats matter. Properties already at EPC C are treated as compliant until the certificate expires. And the requirement is not yet law: the government confirmed the policy in January 2026 and intends to lay a statutory instrument with the aim of it taking effect in 2027. Our guide to landlord EPC requirements covers the current rules that still apply in the meantime.

For a Victorian conversion flat off Northcote Road or a period terrace near Bellevue Road, the fabric-first element is the part to plan for. Solid wall insulation and glazing work in conservation areas takes time to specify and consent, and 2030 is closer than it looks once you account for tenancy cycles.

What the market has actually done

Attributing market movement to a single piece of legislation is unreliable, because tax changes, mortgage rates and affordability are all acting at once. The published data as at August 2026 is genuinely mixed, and it is worth reading it honestly rather than selectively.

2.2% Annual private rent inflation in London, June 2026 ONS, released 22/07/2026

−27% Net balance of surveyors reporting falling landlord instructions RICS, three months to July 2026

9.2% Of homes listed for sale had been let in the past five years, down from 11.3%

27.1 wks Median time from possession claim to repossession Ministry of Justice, 13/08/2026

Those figures point in different directions, and the tension is instructive. RICS shows landlord instructions falling sharply, which suggests supply leaving the market. Our research has found that landlord sell-off is actually slowing, with fewer former rentals appearing on the sales market than a year ago.

Both can be true at once. A landlord who neither lets nor sells shows up as a fall in instructions without showing up as a sale, and the re-letting restriction is a plausible reason for exactly that behaviour. It removes the option of putting a property back on the rental market if a sale stalls, which makes starting the process riskier.

On rents, note that headline figures measure different things. ONS reports 3.4% annual growth across England because it captures all tenancies including existing ones. Zoopla reported 2.1% in June 2026 because it measures new lets. Neither is wrong, and quoting one against the other is a common error.

London remains the softest major market at 2.2% annual growth, well below the UK average. For landlords across the commons that argues for realistic pricing and retention of good tenants over aggressive annual increases, particularly given the tribunal can no longer reward an ambitious ask.

Your compliance position: a short audit

Work through these. Most landlords who are exposed are exposed on the first three.

Information sheet and written terms issued to every existing tenant by 31/05/2026. If you missed it, do it now: the penalty risk continues while the breach continues.
Tenancy documents updated to remove fixed terms, rent review clauses and any pet insurance requirement, all of which are now void or unenforceable.
Rent increases moved onto Form 4A with two months' notice, once a year, and diarised so you do not miss a cycle.
Advertising checked for anything that could read as excluding benefit recipients or families, including affordability thresholds that have that effect.
Asking rent stated and held, with no offers above it invited or accepted.
Rent in advance limited to one month, and nothing taken before signing.
Arrears monitored monthly, given the three month threshold must be met at both service and hearing.
Inventory and check-in reports strengthened, since the deposit is now your only protection against pet damage.
EPC pathway costed ahead of 01/10/2030, particularly for period stock.
Database registration completed promptly once the rollout reaches SW London.

If the compliance burden has changed your view of letting

Some landlords have concluded the administration is no longer worth doing themselves. Others are reconsidering whether to hold at all. Both are reasonable positions, and the right answer depends on your yield, your mortgage position and how long you intend to hold.

We manage property across Battersea, Clapham, Balham, Wandsworth and Earlsfield, and we have spent the year since the Act came into force working through exactly these questions with landlords on the patch.

See how our property management works Landlord services Book a market appraisal

Frequently asked questions

Does the Renters' Rights Act apply to the whole UK?

No. It applies to England only. Scotland has its own system under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, Wales operates under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, and Northern Ireland is separate again. If you let property outside England, none of the rules in this guide describe your obligations.

How does the Act affect an existing periodic tenancy?

Every existing assured shorthold tenancy in England converted to a periodic assured tenancy on 01/05/2026, including those already running periodically. No new agreement was needed, but landlords had to supply the government information sheet, and written terms where the tenancy had been verbal, by 31/05/2026. From that date the new possession grounds, rent increase rules and notice periods applied to those tenancies.

Can I still evict a tenant if I want to sell?

Yes, using Ground 1A. You must give four months' notice, and the notice cannot expire within the first 12 months of the tenancy. The significant restriction is what follows: you cannot let or even market the property for letting during the restricted period, which runs from service of the notice until 12 months after the date specified in it, so roughly 16 months in total. Breach carries a penalty of up to £40,000.

How much notice do I give on a rolling contract now?

All tenancies are now rolling. The notice you give depends entirely on the ground. Four months for moving in, selling, redevelopment or a student HMO. Four weeks for rent arrears or persistent late payment. Anti-social behaviour proceedings can be started immediately. A tenant leaving of their own accord gives two months.

Can the tribunal increase my rent above what I asked for?

No, and this changed on 01/05/2026. The First-tier Tribunal can now only confirm your proposed rent or reduce it to the open market rent where that is lower. It cannot set a higher figure, and it cannot backdate the increase. It can also defer the increase by up to two further months where immediate effect would cause the tenant undue hardship.

How many months of arrears do I need for a mandatory possession order?

Three months, up from two. Weekly or fortnightly tenancies need 13 weeks, up from eight. The notice period doubled to four weeks, and the arrears must reach the threshold both when you serve notice and at the hearing. Arrears attributable to delayed universal credit payments are disregarded.

Do I have to allow pets?

You must consider a written request and cannot unreasonably refuse it. You cannot require pet insurance, as that provision was removed before the Act passed, and there is no additional pet deposit, as the Lords amendment proposing one was rejected. Pet damage is covered by the standard deposit of five weeks' rent, so a detailed inventory is your main protection.

Is the landlord database live yet?

Not as at August 2026. The rollout is expected from late 2026 onwards, phased by area, and no specific launch date has been announced. Once it is live, registration matters a great deal: an unregistered landlord will be unable to obtain a possession order on almost any ground.

Does my property need to be EPC C now?

Not yet. The confirmed position is a single compliance date of 01/10/2030 for all privately rented homes, with a £10,000 cost cap. The earlier proposal of EPC C for new tenancies from 2028 has been dropped. The requirement is still awaiting a statutory instrument, which the government aims to bring into force in 2027. Current minimum EPC E rules continue to apply in the meantime.

Should I sell my rental property because of the Act?

That depends on your numbers rather than on the legislation alone. The compliance burden has increased and possession has become slower and less certain, but London rents are still rising, stock is constrained, and the re-letting restriction means selling is a decision that is difficult to reverse. Work out your net yield after the additional administration, and take tax advice, before treating it as a binary choice.