The Renters’ Rights Act 2025: A Guide for Private Landlords

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 has brought about the biggest change to landlord and tenant law in recent times. Ahead of the changes coming into force, both landlords and tenants should be fully aware of what’s due to happen and their responsibilities.

Although the Act received a Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, most of the provisions come into force on the 1st May 2026, with others later this year.  

This guide from Setfords Senior Consultant Solicitor Baser Akoodie applies to tenancies in England only.

Article summary: 

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 introduces the most significant reform to private rented sector law in England, fundamentally changing how landlords manage tenancies from 1 May 2026.  

The Act abolishes assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) and Section 21 “no-fault” evictions, replacing them with assured periodic tenancies (APTs) and requiring landlords to rely on Section 8 grounds for possession.  

It also tightens rules on rent increases, bans advance rent payments and rent bidding, strengthens protections for tenants with children, benefits, and pets, and extends Awaab’s Law and decent homes standards to the private sector.  

Landlords must register on a new private rented sector database, join a mandatory Ombudsman scheme, and comply with stricter information and enforcement requirements, with civil penalties up to £40,000 for serious or repeated breaches, making early compliance essential for private landlords operating in England. 

What do I need to know about the Renters’ Rights Act? 

The key thing to know about the Renters’ Rights Act is that it abolishes assured shorthold tenants (ASTs) and no-fault Section 21 evictions.  

From 1^st May 2026, all short-term residential tenancies will be periodic (with some notable exceptions, such as student accommodation).  

Landlords will only be able to end a tenancy under one of the Section 8 grounds of the Housing Act 1998.  

Tenants can give two months’ notice to end a tenancy. 

All existing Assured Shorthold Tenancies will automatically become Assured Periodic Tenancies (APTs) on the 1^st May. 

Can landlords still use Section 21 Notices? 

Landlords can still use Section 21 Notices before 1st May 2026. From this date, you can only use them to start court proceedings up to and including whichever date comes first: 

• The date 6 months after the date you gave the notice 
• 31^st July 2026 

After that date, landlords must give a reason for evicting tenants using one of the Section 8 grounds. Some examples of reasons to evict under Section 8 include: 

• Occupation of the property required by landlord or family 
• The landlord is selling the property 
• The property is owned by an educational institution and is needed to house their students 
• The property is owned by a religious body and it needs to be occupied by a Minister of Religion 
• Severe criminal behaviour by the tenant  
• The tenant has no right to rent 
• The tenant has at least 3 months of rent arrears 

Does the Renters’ Rights Act apply to student lettings? 

The position on student lettings under Act is more complex and specific advice should be always taken. 

University-owned student lettings are already outside the scope of the usual procedure in the Housing Act 1998 and will also be outside the new APT procedure. 

Will landlords be able to increase the rent? 

Subject to limited exceptions, landlords of APTs will only be able to increase the rent by following a revised statutory procedure outlined in Section 13 of Housing Act 1988. Any other rent reviews included in the tenancy agreement will be unenforceable.  

Section 13 broadly allows a landlord to increase the rent once a year with 2 months’ notice. Tenants can challenge excessive increases in the First Tier Tribunal. If challenged, any new rent amount will only be effective after the rent has been decided by the tribunal and will no longer be backdated to the date on the landlord’s notice.  

Will tenants be able to pay rent in advance? 

The Act also bans advance rent payments. Landlords and agents will not be able to invite, encourage or accept any rent or offer to pay before the tenancy starts, even if the tenant offers to do so. Any breaches can result in a penalty of £5000. 

After the tenancy ends, tenants will have the right to a refund of any rent paid for days after the tenancy has ended. 

Will the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme still apply? 

Tenancy deposits will remain at 5 weeks’ rent where the annual rent is below £50,000 and 6 weeks’ rent where it is £50,000 or more. 

Existing tenancy deposit protection requirements for ASTs will continue to apply for tenancies converted to APT’s 

Does the Act prohibit rent bidding competitions? 

The Act will make so-called rent bidding wars illegal.  

A property on an APT must specify the proposed rent. Once specified, landlords and agents must not invite, encourage or accept offers of rent higher than the advertised sum.  

This may impact the market in certain areas where bidding wars are common, such as London. Landlords may choose to raise the advertised rents in a bid to combat this. 

What about the prohibition of discrimination against tenants on benefits or with children? 

The Act makes it illegal to discriminate against tenants who have children or are receiving benefits.  

However, landlords will be able to refuse to rent to these tenants if renting to them would make an existing insurance policy invalid. The insurance policy must already be in place when the Act comes into force. 

Landlords will also be able to refuse to rent to tenants with children where it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. For example, the explanatory notes to the Act suggests that barring a tenant with two teenage children from renting a small bedroom in an HMO, which would result in overcrowding, is a legitimate reason to refuse rent. 

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Find out more about the Renters' Rights Act

Will landlords be able to refuse to rent to tenants with pets? 

The Act states that tenants in all private sector APTs have a right to keep a pet at the property with the landlord’s consent, which they mustn't unreasonably withhold. 

Awaab’s law and a decent homestead 

The Act states that both Awaab’s law and the decent home standards will apply to private sector tenancies, not just social housing.  

The law requires landlords to take action to fix reported health and safety hazards within set time limits. It has been introduced in phases in the social housing sector, and the Government has said it will be consulting on its approach to implementation for the private sector in due course.   

What is Awaab’s law? 

Awaab’s law came about because of a young child dying due to poor housing conditions. 

The new private rented sector database and Landlord redress scheme.  

Under the Act, landlords and properties must be registered on a new private rented sector (PRS) database. This is likely to be implemented by the end of the year and there could be huge fines if landlords do not participate. 

It will also be compulsory for landlords to join the new Ombudsman scheme, designed to provide a speedy and cost-effective means of resolving disputes with tenants. There will be large fines should landlords not comply. 

There is no indication at this stage of when the scheme will be launched or how much landlords will need to pay to join. But, it is also likely to be implemented by the end of year. 

Changes to the information that must be provided to tenants 

The Act imposes a new duty for landlords to provide a written statement of the terms and other information before a tenant takes on an APT with them.  

The exact terms and information landlords will need to cover are yet to be set out. 

What are the penalties for non-compliance with the Act? 

The Act imposes a lot of new duties on landlords and agents with various sanctions for breaches, including increased civil fines and new criminal offences for persistent or serious breaches. Local housing authorities will have a duty to take enforcement action. They have been given enhanced investigative powers to help them do this.  

Specific duties and penalties 

In addition to their obligations already mentioned, landlords and agents will be under specific duties not to:  

• Claim to grant a fixed-term assured tenancy (AT) or assured shorthold tenancy (AST). 
• Claim to end an assured periodic tenancy (APT) by serving a notice to quit or by verbal notice. 
• Rely on statutory grounds for possession when they do not reasonably believe they can obtain a possession order. 
• Rely on an advance notice ground for possession. 
• If a landlord evicts a tenant because they say they or a close family member needs to live in it, or because they are going to sell it, they cannot then re-let it or advertise it for rent (including short-term or Airbnb-style lets) within the next 12 months on a short lease or licence. 

Criminal offences and penalties 

New criminal offences created by the Act include: 

• Using a legal ground to evict a tenant, even though the landlord would not be able to win a court order using that ground. If the tenant leaves within four months without an order of possession being made, this counts as a breach. 
• Breaking the restriction on letting or marketing the property discussed above. Letting agents are only protected if they can show they took all reasonable steps to avoid breaking this rule. 

Persistent or repeated breach of other duties under the Act  

Landlords may face penalties for ongoing or repeated breaches of their other duties, such as providing false or misleading information to the new private rented sector (PRS) database or failing to comply with the PRS database or Ombudsman scheme. 

Financial penalties for breach can be up to £7,000 for an initial, less serious breach but can rise up to £40,000 for serious, persistent or repeated breaches. 

Get in touch with Baser Akoodie for advice in relation to the Renters' Rights Act.