Renters' Rights Act - Print version

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Introduction

*All information on this webpage comes from Government Guidance [https://www.gov.uk/housing-local-and-community/rented-housing-sector] and may be subject to change.

The Government has introduced the Renters’ Rights Bill, now officially law as the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/26/contents/enacted], marking the most significant reform to the private rented sector in over 30 years. First presented to Parliament on 11 September 2024, the Act affects over 11 million tenants and 2.3 million landlords across England.

From 1 May 2026, major reforms under the Renters’ Rights Act will transform renting in England.

Key measures include:

  • abolition of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions – landlords will no longer be able to evict tenants without a valid reason from 1 May 2026, giving renters greater security and reducing the risk of homelessness
  • transition to periodic tenancies – fixed-term contracts will be replaced with rolling tenancies, allowing tenants to give two months’ notice at any time.
  • stronger protections for renters – including limits on rent increases (once per year, with two months’ notice), a ban on rental bidding wars, and a new right to request pets
  • updated Rent Repayment Orders – enforcement powers have been strengthened, allowing councils to reclaim rent from landlords who breach legal obligations
  • decent Homes Standard and Awaab’s Law – extended to the private sector, requiring landlords to address serious hazards like damp and mould within set timeframes
  • new Ombudsman and Property Portal – a national database and redress scheme will improve transparency and accountability

Phase 1: Immediate Changes (Effective 1 May 2026)

Major Changes for Landlords

End of Section 21 ‘No-Fault’ Evictions

  • Landlords can no longer issue Section 21 Notices or evict tenants without reason.
  • All existing assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) will change to assured periodic tenancies and new tenancy agreements will be assured periodic tenancies.
  • Assured periodic tenancies will run on a rolling basis, for example, monthly. It will no longer be possible to have an end date on your tenancy agreement.
  • Landlords will require a legal reason to evict tenants.

Rent Rules

  • Rent increases limited to once per year. Landlords will be required to fill out Form 4A and give it to their tenants with at least 2 months' notice. Form 4A will be published on GOV.UK [https://www.gov.uk/housing-local-and-community/rented-housing-sector] for use on or after 1 May 2026.
  • Tenants can challenge rent increases that are above market rent.

Fairness & Non-Discrimination

  • Landlords cannot ask for, encourage or accept a payment of rent before signing of the tenancy agreement.
  • Landlords will not be able to discriminate against potential tenants who are on benefits or who have children.
  • When advertising a property landlords have to publish an asking price and it will be illegal to accept offers above the advertised rent.

Pets Policy

  • Landlords must consider pet requests within 28 days of receiving the written request from the tenant and they cannot unreasonably refuse.
  • Landlords must consider each request on a case by case basis.
  • Reasonable reasons to refuse include another tenants having allergies, the property being too small for a large pet or several pets and if the pet is illegal to own.
  • Unreasonable reasons to refuse include the landlord not liking pets, having issues with tenants that had pets in the past, previous damage to the property from tenants with pets, knowledge that the tenant needs an assistance animal such as a guide dog and if they think the pet might affect future rentals.
  • Refusing the pet request must be done in writing with an explanation for the refusal.
  • Tenants will have the right to challenge the refusal if they believe it is unreasonable. They will be able to submit a complaint or apply to the court to start court proceedings against the landlord.
  • Damage caused by pets to the property can be recovered from the deposit.

Tenant Eviction - Grounds for possession

  • Landlords will need to issue tenants with a section 8 notice, using 1 or more of the grounds for possession. In many cases this notice period is 4 months but some are shorter. If the tenant has not left after the notice period then Landlords can apply to the court for a possession order.
  • In order to end a tenancy agreement for rent arears landlords will have to give notice but the court will only give a possession order to evict if the tenant owes 3 months rent. less than 3 months rent arears and the court may decide the tenant can stay.
  • Evicting tenants for antisocial behaviour will require a shorter notice period. landlords will be able to apply to court to start the eviction process immediately.
  • If the tenant paid a deposit, the court will only give a possession order to evict if the deposit was put into a government approved tenancy deposit scheme and the deposit has been returned to the tenant.
  • If Landlords need to sell or move into their property, they will not be able to evict tenants for this reason within the first 12 months of a tenancy.
  • If a landlord is renting to students, they may be able to evict them using the new possession ground to relet the property to students in the new academic year. To do this, they will need to give notice at the start of the tenancy. The ground does not apply to all student properties, such as purpose built student accommodation. It covers full-time students on a joint contract in a house in multiple occupation (HMO). 

Enforcement & Penalties

  • Local councils have new powers to investigate, collect and act on evidence where landlords have broken the law effective from 27 December 2025.
  • Tougher fines of up to £7,000 for breaches, rising up to £40,000 if they repeatedly or continue to breach the rules or commit a serious offence.
  • If a tenant believes the landlord has committed certain offences or if the landlord has been convicted of certain offences then they can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order (RRO). Landlords may be ordered to pay the tenant an amount of rent that was originally paid. Local councils can also apply for an RRO against landlords for rent paid by Universal Credit.
  • The list of offences for which an RRO can be awarded will be expanded.
  • The maximum amount a landlord can be ordered to pay will increase from 1 to 2 years rent.

Phase 2: Late 2026

Key Changes for Landlords

After the first phase of changes in May 2026, the Renters’ Rights Act will come in two further stages, with phase 2 (starting late 2026) 

Private Rented Sector Database

  • A new central online database where all landlords must register themselves and the properties they rent out.
  • The database will be rolled out in two stages
  • Landlords will be required to sign up in a staggered process by different areas across England from late 2026.
  • Failure to register could result in fines and enforcement action.

Landlord Ombudsman Service

  • A new free independent body to handle tenant-landlord disputes.
  • Mandatory membership for landlords.
  • Designed to provide quicker and cheaper resolution to disputes without the need to go to court.

More protections to improve conditions in private rented homes will come in phase 3, with public consultations informing their introduction.

This includes introducing a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time so tenants have safe, secure and warm housing. Extending Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector will also be consulted on soon, to protect all tenants from dangerous homes.

Alongside the Renters’ Rights Act, we will also see an improved Housing Health and Safety Rating System which will better assess health and safety risks in homes and making it more efficient and easier to understand – also supporting work to introduce the Decent Homes Standard to privately rented homes.

Resources & Guidance

Below are links to different guides that are relevant to landlords and tenants understanding their responsibilities with the introduction of the Renters' Rights Act. Please note that we will aim to keep these links to the guide up to date as and when there are changes.

You can find all of these guides on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's 'Changes to Private Renting' guidance page [https://www.gov.uk/housing-local-and-community/changes-to-private-renting].

Newsletter

You can sign up to our Landlord Forum mailing list [https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKCOVENTRY/subscriber/new?topic_id=UKCOVENTRY_89] to receive news and updates relevant to Coventry landlords. We will be sending out a newsletter specific to Renters' Rights Act once we have updated our policies an procedures in line with the legislation.

View all previous issues of the newsletter [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/landlordforum].

 

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