What you need to know about the Renters’ Rights Act

The government has now published the implementation dates and guidance for landlords, tenants and agents for the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 after it was granted royal assent at the end of October.

The act will be implemented in three phases, with the first phase starting on 1 May 2026. From this date:

• Section 21, the notice-only route to possession, will be abolished
• All assured shorthold tenancies will become fully assured and run month-to-month
• The new grounds for possession under section 8 (listed below) will come into effect
• Landlords will only be able to increase rent once a year via a section 13 notice
• Rental bidding and accepting more than one month’s rent in advance will be banned
• It will be illegal to discriminate against renters with children or on benefits
• Tenants will have the right to request a pet
• Local councils' enforcement powers will be strengthened

The second phase relates to the rollout of a private rented sector database and a private rented sector ombudsman. The third phase will be the extension of a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector.

Here, CLA experts answers some frequently asked questions that CLA members, landlords and agents have ahead of the first phase, and highlights some key terms you may read in relation to the act. This list of questions is not exhaustive, so please contact the CLA for further guidance if you are entitled to advice.

It does not. The act mainly applies to assured and assured shorthold tenancies as granted under the Housing Act 1988. Rent Act 1977 tenancies, Rent (Agricultural) Act 1976 tenancies and other types of regulated tenancies are mostly out of scope of the reforms. It also does not apply to service occupancy agreements, if you are housing employees in this way.

If there is an existing written tenancy agreement, you will not need to serve a new one. But landlords of existing tenancies will need to provide tenants with a government issued ‘information sheet’. This will be published online in March 2026 and will need to be served on or before 31 May 2026.

However, if there is no written agreement i.e. the tenancy agreement was verbal, one will need to be provided on or before 31 May 2026, along with the ‘information sheet’.

Until there are new forms of tenancy agreements available, you should continue to serve new tenants with your standard tenancy agreement, likely an assured shorthold tenancy; the CLA can provide this on request. This is because on the implementation dates, all existing tenancies, regardless of when they were created, will convert to the new regime automatically and become fully assured monthly periodic tenancies.

However, after the government issues the ‘information sheet’ for tenants in March 2026, you should serve this with any new tenancy agreements. When there are new standard forms of tenancy agreements (likely January 2026), which will include prior notice of certain section 8 grounds, among other things, the CLA will be able to provide these to members.

No - farm business tenancies and Agricultural Holdings Act tenancies are out of scope. However, a couple of the new grounds for possession are relevant in that context – see new grounds 2ZA and 2ZC.

It does. These are governed by the Housing Act 1988 and will be in place where full-time agricultural employees have been housed by their employers after 1989 (unless opted out by prior service of a ‘form 9’ notice).

Yes, this is currently the ‘form 9’ route of opting out whereby agricultural employees are granted an assured shorthold tenancy rather than an assured agricultural occupancy (AAO). A new prescribed form is likely to be issued, which you will be required to serve to ensure that such tenancies are assured (rather than AAOs) and therefore can be ended (using ground 5C ) once the job has ended.

If you have already served a ‘form 9’ notice on an existing tenant, it remains effective from the implementation date, and you will be able to rely on the mandatory ground 5C, which allows for possession of a property that has been provided as part of an employment package when that employment ends.

When the property database and landlord ombudsman come into effect in the second phase, there will be additional costs to join these schemes, which are yet to be determined. If you use an agent to manage your properties, it is also possible they will charge you an additional fee when they are required to serve the government ‘information sheet’, for example.

No, fixed terms are being abolished so you will not be able to create a tenancy for a short-term. A verbal agreement could still be made with a tenant that they will only occupy the property for a short-time, but this will rely on the tenant serving two months’ notice at the agreed point. However, the written tenancy agreement cannot oblige the tenant to serve the notice and therefore any verbal agreement would not be enforceable.

You can serve a section 21 up until 30 April 2026. However, the deadline for applying for court proceedings is the 31 July 2026, or within six months from service of the section 21 notice, whichever is sooner. From 1 May 2026, a section 21 cannot be served.

For example, if a section 21 notice was served on 30 April 2026, it would expire on 31 July 2026. If a Section 21 notice was served on 30 November 2025, it would expire on 30 May.

The main change will be the inability to serve section 21 notices, so it is worth deciding if there are any notices that need to be served before 30 April 2026. If you have any verbal, non-written, tenancies, these must be put in writing and given to the tenant on or before 31 May 2026.

A full list of grounds for possession under the revised section 8 are listed in this PDF document.

From 1 May 2026, tenants will be able to give you two months’ notice to end their tenancy, at any time.

This is possible using new mandatory ground 5A and requires two months’ notice.

It is important to note that it is one of the few grounds under the new regime that will require “prior notice” (that repossession might be needed for this reason) to have been given to the assured tenants whose tenancy you are ending.

If you want to use the section 8 possession ground 5A (incoming agricultural worker), for new tenancies from 1 May 2026 this must be included in the written tenancy agreement.

For existing tenancies, you will not be required to give prior notice of your intention to use the ground, however, you will have had to provide existing tenants with the government issued ‘information sheet’, which will likely include details about the new and reformed section 8 grounds.

No, you will not be able to accept an offer that is more than the advertised rent.

Lump sum payments in advance will be banned. After the tenancy agreement has been signed will you be able to ask for rent in advance, but only a maximum of one month’s rent.

From 1 May 2026, all rent increases will have to be made via the statutory section 13 process, which has been amended by the act. A new prescribed form will be published by the government in due course. Landlords will be able to increase rents to market level once a year via this route. Any existing rent review clauses in tenancies will become invalid.

Yes, they can challenge a rent increase by referring it to the first tier tribunal (FTT) for a determination as to the “market rent” for the property. Such referrals can take time and the concern for landlords is that the FTT can only decide to keep the rent the same or lower it (rather than raise it) and any rise will not kick in until the determination is made and will not be backdated.

No, the new rules just mean that you cannot unreasonably withhold permission if/when a tenant requests to keep a pet. From 1 May 2026, tenants can request to keep a pet, and you have 28 days to consider their request. If you refuse, you must provide valid reasons. What constitutes a valid reason is likely to be addressed in further government guidance and may, in time, be determined by the landlord ombudsman.

No, you cannot. The Tenant Fees Act 2019, which restricts deposits to five weeks’ rent (in most cases) has not been amended, so you cannot increase deposits to account for additional costs of a tenant with a pet.

Yes, you can, but it cannot be because they have children or are on benefits, it has to be for another valid reason. More guidance is awaited on what reasons will be acceptable and we have urged the government to consider carefully the particular needs of rural communities.

Councils across England will be legally responsible for overseeing these new rights from 1 May 2026, backed by stronger enforcement powers. This includes tougher fines of up to £7,000 for breaches, rising up to £40,000 if landlords repeatedly breach the rules or commit a serious offence.

Tenants or local authorities will also be able to seek newly increased rent repayment orders, forcing landlords to pay back rent if they have committed an offence/s.

The database and the ombudsman are going to be implemented in the second phase, which will be from late 2026. Landlords will most likely be required to join the database in late 2026, but not the ombudsman until 2028, depending on how long the government takes to establish the scheme.

The Decent Homes Standard has already been consulted upon, and the government propose that this will be implemented in either 2035 or 2037.

There is fairly comprehensive guidance available on gov.uk:

• Guidance for landlords and letting agents
• Government roadmap for implementing the act
• A summary of the measures in the act

Form 9 – The current prescribed form to opt-out of assured agricultural occupancy available here: Assured tenancy forms - GOV.UK.

Implementation date – When most of the tenancy reforms come into effect - 1 May 2026.

Information sheet – A government issued document, to be published in March 2026, which will need to be served on existing tenancies created on or before 30 April 2026.

Prescribed form – Government issued forms to serve certain notices on tenants, for example, a prescribed ‘form 9’ notice.

Section 13 – The statutory route landlords must use to raise rents annually after the implementation date.

Section 21 – Notice-only route to possession, also known as ‘no-fault’ eviction notice.

Section 8 – The alternative route to possession, section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 has a list of reasons a landlord can seek possession.