Renters’ Rights Act 2025: The Complete Landlord Guide
On 1 May 2026, every assured shorthold tenancy in England stopped being one. No opt-out, no application, no paperwork: fixed-term ASTs became rolling monthly tenancies under a regime that didn’t exist a year earlier.
The headline everyone heard was that Section 21 is gone — and it is. But the second-order changes are the ones costing landlords money: rent review clauses voided overnight, a tribunal that can now only cut a proposed rent (never raise it), and a 12-month re-let ban on the sale and family-occupation grounds carrying a £25,000 civil penalty starting point.
This guide pulls the whole Act together and links to the detail on each part.
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 is the biggest overhaul of English private renting since 1988. Since 1 May 2026 it has abolished Section 21, ended fixed-term ASTs, voided every contractual rent review clause, and rebuilt the possession grounds. Further phases — the PRS Database, a Landlord Ombudsman and the Decent Homes Standard — are rolling out to 2035. It applies to England only.
Key takeaways
- Every AST converted to a rolling monthly assured periodic tenancy on 1 May 2026, automatically.
- All contractual rent review clauses (CPI, RPI, fixed-percentage) are void.
- The First-tier Tribunal can only confirm or reduce a proposed rent, never raise it.
- Possession for sale (Ground 1A) and family occupation (Ground 1) needs four months’ notice and carries a 12-month re-let ban.
- The PRS Database opens 15 December 2026 (£65 per property a year); the Landlord Ombudsman follows in 2028.
In this guide
What is the Renters’ Rights Act 2025?
The most significant overhaul of English private renting since the Housing Act 1988. It abolished Section 21, ended fixed-term ASTs, voided every contractual rent review clause, and rebuilt the possession grounds. England only.
The Act received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 and is landing in phases, as set out in the government’s Implementation Roadmap:
| Phase | Date | What happens | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1a | 27 Dec 2025 | Local authority investigatory powers; ‘AST trap’ fix for long leaseholders (s.31) | In force |
| Phase 1 ‘Big Bang’ | 1 May 2026 | Section 21 abolished, ASTs end, new rent procedure (Form 4A), rental bidding ban, anti-discrimination rules, one-month rent-in-advance cap | In force |
| Phase 2 | Dec 2026 – 2028 | PRS Database (registration opens 15 Dec 2026); mandatory Landlord Ombudsman (2028) | Rolling out |
| Phase 3 | April 2035 | Decent Homes Standard extended to the private rented sector | Pending |
Wales already operates its own regime under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, and Scotland abolished no-fault eviction in 2017. The tenancy reforms are England only, though the discrimination provisions extend narrowly to Wales and Scotland.
What changed for tenancy agreements?
Every existing AST converted automatically to a rolling monthly assured periodic tenancy on 1 May 2026. No new paperwork was needed for written agreements — but landlords had to serve the government’s Information Sheet on every tenant by 31 May 2026, and the penalty for missing it starts at £4,000.
Section 1 inserted a new section 4A into the Housing Act 1988: the rent period can’t exceed one calendar month, so a tenancy that ran quarterly or annually converted to monthly automatically. There was no need to re-protect deposits, re-sign agreements or issue new contracts.
The Information Sheet — if you haven’t served it, you’re in breach
Landlords had to serve the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 on every tenant with a written agreement by 31 May 2026 (and a Written Statement of Terms for wholly oral tenancies).
A URL or hyperlink alone doesn’t count — it must be a hard copy or PDF attachment — and you should hold a read receipt or signed acknowledgement.
The penalty is £4,000 starting, £7,000 maximum, and a breach continuing after 28 days becomes a criminal offence. If you let a property and haven’t done this, do it now.
Other changes in force from day one
Tenants can leave on two months’ notice from day one, with no minimum residency. Landlords can’t demand more than one month’s rent in advance after the agreement is signed, and asking for rent before signing is a Tenant Fees Act 2019 breach.
Who’s excluded?
Purpose-built student accommodation under the ANUK/Unipol code, company lets, agricultural holdings, high-rent tenancies over £100,000 a year, resident-landlord lodgings, holiday lets, and long leases over 21 years. Private student HMOs stay inside the regime but benefit from the new Ground 4A.
How do rent increases work under the new rules?
One increase per 12 months, two months’ written notice, on the new Form 4A only. Every contractual rent review clause is void — and if the tenant challenges, the tribunal can only confirm or reduce your figure.
This is the change affecting the most landlords in practice. Section 6 removed the provision that let contractual reviews override the statutory procedure, so the Section 13 route is now the only route. We cover it in full in our Section 13 and Form 4A guide; the essentials:
| Rule | Before 1 May 2026 | From 1 May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| How to increase rent | Section 13 (Form 4) or a contractual review clause | Section 13 (Form 4A) only |
| Notice period | 1 month | 2 months |
| Frequency | Once per 52 weeks | Once per 52 weeks (unchanged) |
| Tribunal outcome | Could confirm, reduce, or increase | Can only confirm or reduce |
| Rent during challenge | Could be backdated | Frozen at old figure until decision |
| Tenant fee to challenge | £114 + £227 hearing | ~£47, no hearing fee |
Section 7 inserted new sections 14ZA and 14ZB into the Housing Act 1988. The key provision is 14ZB: the tribunal can only confirm your proposed rent or reduce it — never set it higher than your Form 4A figure.
Before this, the tribunal could set a higher figure, which deterred tenants from challenging; that deterrent is gone. The tenant’s fee is around £47 with no hearing fee, and rent stays frozen while the challenge is heard.
So the number on your Form 4A is a ceiling, not an opening position. It needs to be defensible on comparable evidence — a RICS Registered Valuer’s market rent appraisal carries far more weight at tribunal than a Rightmove listing.
Is Section 21 really being abolished?
Yes — fully abolished from 1 May 2026. Section 2 repealed the entire AST regime. Pre-served notices only survived if the court claim was issued by 31 July 2026, a deadline that has now passed.
This wasn’t a suspension or phase-out: since 1 May there is no such thing as an assured shorthold tenancy in England. A valid Section 21 served before 1 May had to be actioned by the earlier of six months from service or 31 July 2026 (the long-stop in Schedule 6, paragraph 4) — that window has closed, so any un-actioned notice has lapsed.
Serving a purported Section 21 now is a breach carrying a civil penalty of up to £7,000. Full detail in our Section 21 abolished guide.
What are the new possession grounds?
Every tenancy ending now goes through Section 8. The grounds have been rebuilt: Ground 1A (sale) is new, Ground 1 (family) carries a four-month notice and re-let ban, Ground 8 (arrears) rose to three months, and Ground 4A covers student HMOs.
The full list is long (the GOV.UK grounds guidance runs to thousands of words) and we walk through it in our possession grounds guide. The five that matter most:
| Ground | Notice | Protected period | Re-let ban | Penalty for breach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ground 1 (family) | 4 months | First 12 months | 12 months | £25,000 start / £40,000 max |
| Ground 1A (sale) — new | 4 months | First 12 months | 12 months | £25,000 start / £40,000 max |
| Ground 2 (mortgage) | 4 months | None | None | — |
| Ground 4A (student HMO) — new | 4 months | None | None | — |
| Ground 8 (rent arrears) | 4 weeks | None | None | — |
| Grounds 7A / 14 (ASB) | Immediate | None | None | — |
Ground 1A (sale) is the one to understand: four months’ notice, a 12-month protected period, and a 12-month re-let and re-marketing ban after possession.
There’s no prescribed evidence of sale intent, but you’ll want an estate-agent instruction, a conveyancer on record, and ideally an independent valuation — because if the sale collapses in the restricted period you face the £25,000 penalty plus a void property you can’t re-market.
Ground 8 (arrears) now requires three months’ arrears (up from two), with any unpaid rent attributable to a delayed Universal Credit housing element disregarded.
What must landlords do now?
If you haven’t already: serve the Information Sheet, audit your agreements, prepare Form 4A templates, build Section 8 evidence packs, and get your safety certificates current ready for PRS Database registration opening 15 December 2026.
- Information Sheet. If any tenant hasn’t received it, serve it now — hard copy or PDF, not a link — and keep proof. You’re in breach until you do.
- Tenancy agreement audit. Treat as void: fixed-term clauses, rent review clauses, blanket ‘no pets’ clauses, and any ‘No DSS / No children’ language in adverts or forms (£6,000 penalty starting point).
- Form 4A templates. Bookmark the GOV.UK forms page, record the last increase date per property, and set 52-week reminders.
- Section 8 evidence packs. Grounds 1/1A: agent instruction, family documentation, valuation evidence. Ground 8: a granular rent ledger with UC carve-out analysis. Grounds 7A/14: incident logs, police references, warning letters.
- Safety certificates. Gas, EICR and EPC all current and digitised — you’ll need them to register on the PRS Database when your region opens.
- Pets workflow. A 28-day written response window for pet requests. You can’t require pet-damage insurance (removed July 2025); the five-week deposit cap is your only security.
- Advertising. State a specific rent in every listing (the rental bidding ban is in force) and remove any discriminatory language.
What’s still coming after 1 May 2026?
The PRS Database from 15 December 2026, the Landlord Ombudsman in 2028, and the Decent Homes Standard in April 2035.
| What | When | Key detail |
|---|---|---|
| PRS Database | Registration opens 15 Dec 2026; nationwide by 14 Nov 2027 | Register yourself + each property via the ‘Register your rental property’ service, £65 per property a year. No possession order without a current entry (except Grounds 7A/14). Penalties up to £40,000. |
| PRS Landlord Ombudsman | Mandatory 2028 | Compulsory membership for every private landlord; decisions enforceable like court orders. |
| Decent Homes Standard | 1 April 2035 | Condition-based test including a new damp-and-mould criterion, enforced by local authorities with civil penalties. |
| Awaab’s Law (PRS) | To be confirmed | In force for social housing since Oct 2025; the PRS timeline is not yet set. |
Full detail on the register and the redress scheme is in our PRS Database and Landlord Ombudsman guide.
What are the penalties for getting the Renters’ Rights Act wrong?
Breaches carry up to £7,000. Offences carry up to £40,000 (or prosecution with an unlimited fine). Rent Repayment Orders now run to 24 months’ rent.
| Offence | Starting point | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Re-letting during a restricted period | £25,000 | £40,000 |
| Knowingly misusing a possession ground | £30,000 | £40,000 |
| Unlawful eviction or harassment | £35,000 | £40,000 |
| Purporting to let on a fixed term | £4,000 | £7,000 |
| Failing to serve the Information Sheet | £4,000 | £7,000 |
| Discrimination in letting | £6,000 | £7,000 |
Rent Repayment Orders have been strengthened across the board: 24 months maximum (up from 12), available against superior landlords and company directors, and for repeat offenders the tribunal must order the full maximum.
Local authorities now have a statutory duty to enforce (Section 107) and keep the penalty income — the financial incentive to investigate is baked into the legislation.
How does the Act affect property valuations and rental evidence?
It converts rent-setting from a contractual exercise into an evidentiary one. The figure on your Form 4A is the ceiling the tribunal works within, and the landlord who serves without a RICS-backed comparable evidence pack is handing the tenant a free option to have the rent cut.
Most coverage of the Act focuses on compliance. The valuation exposure bites in three places:
- Every Form 4A is a valuation case file. Your proposed rent is the maximum the tribunal will consider; a challenge costs the tenant about £47 and freezes the rent. A Registered Valuer’s market rent letter of achieved lettings survives scrutiny where a portal screenshot doesn’t.
- Ground 1A makes pre-notice valuation evidence essential. The 12-month re-let ban means a collapsed sale leaves a void property, a potential £25,000 penalty and RRO exposure — so dated valuation evidence created before the notice proves the sale intent was genuine.
- The death of rent review clauses creates recurring work. Portfolio landlords who relied on CPI or RPI escalators now need open-market rent re-evidenced at each 52-week interval — a recurring need, not a one-off, and the same discipline as a commercial rent review.
The gap most guides leave is the evidential burden on the landlord side of a tribunal hearing — which is exactly where getting it wrong costs the most.
Frequently asked questions
It received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 and commenced in phases. The main tenancy reforms — abolishing Section 21, ending ASTs and the new rent procedure — took effect on 1 May 2026. The PRS Database, Landlord Ombudsman and Decent Homes Standard follow between 2026 and 2035.
Yes. Every existing assured shorthold tenancy in England converted automatically to a rolling monthly assured periodic tenancy on 1 May 2026 — no action, re-signing or re-protection of deposits was required.
The tenancy reforms are England only. Wales operates its own regime under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, and Scotland abolished no-fault eviction in 2017. Only the anti-discrimination provisions extend narrowly to Wales and Scotland.
Yes, but only on a proven Section 8 ground — sale, family occupation, serious rent arrears, anti-social behaviour and others — each with its own notice period and evidence requirements. No-fault eviction under Section 21 is no longer available.
The Information Sheet 2026 is a prescribed document explaining the new tenancy system. Landlords had to serve it on every tenant with a written agreement by 31 May 2026. If you haven’t, you’re in breach — the penalty starts at £4,000 — so serve it now and keep proof.
Registration opens on 15 December 2026, rolling out region by region, with all landlords required to register by 14 November 2027. It costs £65 per property per year, and you can’t obtain a possession order without a current entry (except on anti-social-behaviour grounds).
Valuation evidence for the new rules — done right
Blackacre’s RICS Registered Valuers produce market rent appraisals for Form 4A and independent valuation evidence for Ground 1A sales — the evidence that stands up at tribunal. Across London, Surrey and Sussex.