The drive for residential tenancy reform in England was conceived as far back as April 2019 when the government issued a press release announcing the end to 'no-fault' evictions. Following a pandemic, two general elections and five prime ministers, the Renters’ Rights Act was finally enacted at 7.40pm on Monday 27 October 2025.
Although the new legislation has received Royal Assent, the key changes will not come into effect immediately. This time frame, otherwise known as implementation or commencement, has to be set by government. Some changes such as the Private Rented Sector Database and the extension of Awaab’s Law will also require secondary legislation. Notwithstanding this period of grace, landlords and agents need to start preparing for the changes now.
Here is an overview of what landlords, agents and tenants need to know about the new legislation.
The standard six or 12 month fixed-term assured tenancies that private renters usually commit to at the outset will no longer be an option.
Any existing fixed-term tenancies will convert to monthly periodic tenancy agreements and all new tenancies signed on or after this date will be periodic. Rent periods under the new tenancy regime cannot be longer than one month. Landlords who 'purport to let' a property for a fixed-term period, risk a civil penalty of up to £7,000.
Under the old regime, landlords were able to evict their tenants without providing a reason via the section 21 route.
The Renters’ Rights Act abolishes section 21 but protects landlords who need to evict 'at fault' tenants by retaining and expanding on the existing section 8 statutory grounds. This is one of the flagship reforms and is expected to be implemented shortly.
Courts must make a possession order if a landlord can evidence fault-based mandatory grounds such as significant rent arrears or anti-social behaviour. The threshold for eviction via the mandatory rent arrears ground will increase from two to three months’ arrears and the notice period from two to four weeks.
Mandatory orders will also be available if a landlord can make out one of the two new ‘landlord circumstance’ grounds which are that they either need to sell the property or they and / or their family need to move into it. A landlord seeking to rely on either of these grounds needs to give four months’ notice to their tenant and cannot rely on either ground in the first 12 months of the tenancy.
The practical upshot of the abolition of section 21, is that any application for possession will now need a court hearing rather than potentially being ‘fast-tracked’ on paper. There are concerns that this will further overwhelm the court system, which is currently taking an average of 27 weeks to process applications and make the eviction process even more protracted and expensive for landlords.
The Renters Rights’ Act regulates rent increases by prohibiting contractual rent review clauses. This means landlords will only be able to increase the rent once a year via the section 13 statutory process and to no more than market value.
Tenants will be able to challenge these notices at the First-tier Tribunal who will determine what the market rent should be and can either accept the proposed rent or set a lower rent accordingly. Critically, it will no longer be able to set the rent at a higher amount than the requested rent which was permitted under the old regime and any increase will only take effect from the date of the tribunal determination, meaning that tenants will be actively encouraged to challenge rent increases.
We’ve highlighted that rent periods under the new tenancy regime cannot be longer than one month. As such, any clauses in existing and new tenancy agreements which provide for termly, quarterly or yearly rental periods after commencement of the Renters’ Rights Act will be invalid.
With regards to pre-tenancy payments, a new 'prohibited pre-tenancy payment of rent' will be added to the list of prohibited payments under the Tenant Fees Act 2019. A pre-tenancy payment of rent is prohibited if paid before the tenancy is entered into.
There is a great deal of confusion and concern about what is meant by 'entered into' and when all of the different types of pre-tenancy payments, i.e. holding deposit, deposit and initial rent, can be paid by the tenant without triggering a financial penalty.
With this in mind, we have created a flowchart which hopefully provides a clear visual guide as to when the prohibited and permitted pre-tenancy periods start and end and what payments can be made. See below. To view a larger version of the flowchart, you can download it here.
With the abolition of fixed-term tenancies, the new legislation increases the tenant notice period from one to two months and gives tenants the ability to give notice from day one of their tenancy agreement.
Tenants will have an implied right to ask their landlords for consent to keep a pet. Whilst they will still be able to market their properties as ‘no pets allowed’, landlords will have to properly consider any request by existing tenants to keep a pet and can only refuse consent for good reason. Tenants will need to follow the statutory process for making their requests but cannot be asked to provide a 'pet deposit' or be required to take out insurance for any pet damage.
Landlords will no longer be able to impose a blanket ban on letting properties to tenants with children and/or on benefits. They will be required to consider all applicants on their individual circumstances and affordability and cannot decline anyone on account of their having children and/or being in receipt of benefits.
Awaab’s Law is newly-introduced legislation requiring social landlords to investigate and repair any hazards such as mould or damp within certain time limits to bring social housing up to a decent standard of condition.
The Renters’ Rights Act provides for secondary legislation to introduce Awaab’s Law to the private rental sector.
The Decent Homes Standard has set mandatory minimum quality standards to social housing for over 20 years. This will be updated and extended to apply to the private rental sector for the first time and landlords who fail to address serious hazards could be fined up to £7,000 by local councils and could also face prosecution for non-compliance.
A new private rented sector database will be created to help landlords understand their obligations and demonstrate compliance, as well as providing tenants with information about a property they wish to rent alongside transparency throughout their rental period. The database will also provide local councils with more data about private sector properties which it can use to identify non-compliant landlords.
All landlords of assured tenancies will be required to register themselves and their properties on the database and failure to do so could lead to enforcement action by the local council and potentially bar them from getting a possession order.
Bidding wars between potential tenants will be outlawed with a new legal requirement for landlords and letting agents to publish the required rent for a property.
Landlords and agents will be prohibited from 'asking for, encouraging, or accepting any bids' above the publicly stated price. Local councils will be given powers to impose civil penalties on landlords, and anyone acting on their behalf, of up to £7,000 for breaches. This will be per breach so landlords and agents could receive multiple civil penalties.
Landlords will be legally required by law to join this service which will offer free impartial and binding complaint resolution for tenants. It's expected that landlords will be required to pay a small annual fee per property for membership. The Renters’ Rights’ Act includes enforcement measures for landlords who fail to join the service or subsequently fail to comply with decisions.
Purpose built student accommodation registered with a specified government approved national code of practice, currently ANUK/Unipol and Universities UK/GuildHE, falls outside of the assured tenancy system. All purpose built student accommodation tenancies are common law tenancies and therefore the provisions of the Renters’ Rights Act will not apply.
Student properties known in the industry as 'off-street' properties fall within the scope of the new legislation.
If landlords have served section 21 notices, then they must request possession proceedings before the earliest of the following dates:
For section 8 notices that have already been served the time-frame is the earliest of the following:
As noted above, the government has not yet set a commencement date but obviously landlords and agents must be mindful of these provisions if they have already served notices.
For more information on the Renters’ Rights Act and how this may impact your properties or tenancy agreements, please contact our property disputes team.
