Renters' Rights Act: an overview for landlords
The Renters’ Rights Act will introduce changes to how landlords let out private properties.
This guidance has been published in advance to reflect the upcoming changes in the Renters’ Rights Act.
You will need to follow the correct processes when renting out your property.
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.
If you already have a written tenancy agreement, you do not need to create a new one. If you do not have a written tenancy agreement, you will need to create one and give it to your tenant.
You will have to give your tenants an information sheet telling them about the changes. This will be published by the government before 1 May 2026.
You will not be able to ask for, encourage or accept a payment of rent before you and your tenant have signed the tenancy agreement.
You will no longer be able to discriminate against potential tenants who are on benefits or who have children.
Your tenant or potential tenant will be able to ask to keep a pet in the property. You will only be able to refuse this if you have a valid reason.
If you want to advertise your property in the future, you will need to publish an asking price. This does not include ‘to let’ signs. It will be illegal for you to encourage people to bid and offer to pay higher rent for your property. You will also not be able to accept offers above the advertised rent.
If you want to increase the rent, you will need to fill out form 4A and give it to your tenant with at least 2 months’ notice. This is also called the section 13 process. Form 4A will be published on GOV.UK for use on or after 1 May 2026.
You cannot increase rent more than once a year and tenants will be able to challenge a proposed rent increase that is above the market rent.
If your tenant paid you a deposit, a court will only give a possession order to evict them if you have put the deposit into a government approved tenancy deposit scheme. A possession order will also only be given if you have returned the deposit to your tenant.
Previously, you could evict tenants without a reason, this was known as a section 21 eviction. You will no longer be able evict tenants using the section 21 process and will need a legal reason to evict them. These reasons are called grounds for possession.
You will need to issue your tenants with a section 8 notice, using one or more of the grounds for possession. You will need to give the tenants the right notice period. In many cases this is 4 months, although for some grounds it is shorter.
If the tenant has not left by the end of the notice period, you must apply to court if you want to get your property back. This is called applying for a possession order.
If your tenant does something wrong, you will be able to give notice using the relevant grounds at any point in the tenancy. This includes where a tenant commits antisocial behaviour, is damaging the property or owes you rent.
If you need to sell or move into your property, you will not be able to evict tenants for this reason within the first 12 months of a tenancy.
If you are renting to students, you 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, you 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).
You can try to end a tenancy if your tenant is late in paying rent. If they do not leave after you give notice, the court only needs to give a possession order to evict them if they owe you 3 months’ rent. If a tenant owes less than 3 months’ rent, the court may decide the tenant can stay.
If you need to evict tenants because of antisocial behaviour, the notice period you will have to give your tenant is going to be shorter. You will be able to apply to court to start the eviction process immediately.
Your local council will have new powers to investigate, collect and act on evidence if you break the law.
If your tenant believes you have committed certain offences, or if you have been convicted of certain offences, they can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order (RRO). If the Tribunal finds you have committed the offence, you may be ordered to pay the tenant an amount of rent that was originally paid. Local councils can also apply for an RRO against you 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.