Guidance

How to rent

This guide is for people who are looking for a house or flat to rent.

From:

Published:

10 June 2014

Last updated:

1 May 2026

Show all updates

1 May 2026
Page has been withdrawn due to changes from the Renters' Rights Act.
2 October 2023
The How to Rent guide has been updated with advice on how to access free legal aid services, advice and support, regardless of financial circumstances.
24 March 2023
Updated How to rent: the checklist for renting in England.
21 July 2021
Added How to rent: easy read
10 December 2020
Updated the How to Rent guidance.
7 August 2019
3 June 2019: Corrected to reflect the rebranding of National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) to Safeagent, and to update links to the GOV.UK client money protection scheme webpage. 29 July 2019: The ‘Before you start’ section was updated to clarify Shelter’s advisory role. The sentence ‘If you don’t have a guarantor, you can ask Shelter for help’ was amended to ‘If you don’t have a guarantor, you can ask Shelter for advice’.
31 May 2019
Guide updated following the Tenant Fees Act 2019.
9 July 2018
On 6 July 2018 the title of the guide was amended to 'How to rent: the checklist for renting in England'.
26 June 2018
Added updated guide.
17 January 2018
Removed reference to the 'London Rental Standard' in the renting 'Direct from the landlord' section.
1 February 2016
Updated the How to Rent guide.
1 October 2015
Updated with the latest edition of this guide
25 September 2014
Added updated guide.
11 June 2014
Added information about Acrobat Reader download
10 June 2014
First published.

Applies to England

HTML

PDF, 586 KB, 19 pages

This guide was for tenants and landlords in the private rented sector. It helped them understand their rights and responsibilities before 1 May 2026.

This guide has now been withdrawn and is not up to date.

This guide has been retained for tenancies where the landlord served a notice for possession under section 21 before 1 May 2026.