The Renters' Rights Act 2026: a complete guide for landlords and agents

The Renters' Rights Act is the biggest change to the law governing private renting in England for more than thirty years. It received Royal Assent in 2025, and its core reforms began to take effect from 1 May 2026. If you let or manage residential property in England, almost every part of how you start, run, and end a tenancy is now different.

This guide sets out what the Act changes, what is already in force, and what is still being phased in. It is written for landlords and letting agents who need to act, not for lawyers who want the statute recited back to them.

What the Act changes at a glance

The Act reshapes the private rented sector across several areas at once:

• It abolishes Section 21 no-fault evictions.
• It ends fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies and moves everyone onto periodic tenancies.
• It rewrites the Section 8 grounds for possession.
• It limits rent increases to once a year through a single Section 13 process.
• It creates a Private Rented Sector Database and a new Ombudsman.
• It extends the Decent Homes Standard and Awaab's Law to private rentals.
• It gives tenants a right to request a pet that landlords cannot unreasonably refuse.

These are not minor procedural tweaks. They change the legal relationship between landlords, tenants, and the courts.

The abolition of Section 21

Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 let a landlord recover possession of an assured shorthold tenancy without giving a reason, which is why it was known as the no-fault eviction. From 1 May 2026, that route is gone. Landlords can no longer serve a Section 21 notice on an assured tenancy.

There is a transitional window for notices already in motion. A Section 21 notice served before commencement can still be relied on, but court proceedings based on a pre-commencement notice must be issued by 31 July 2026. After that date the notice is unenforceable, regardless of the expiry date printed on the form. If you served a Section 21 notice in early 2026 and have not yet acted, the 31 July deadline is the one to diarise.

Everything we wrote in our Section 21 changes guide about the prerequisites for a valid notice (deposit protection, EPC, gas safety record, the How to Rent guide) is now history for new possession claims. Going forward, possession runs through Section 8.

Periodic tenancies replace fixed terms

On 1 May 2026, almost all existing assured and assured shorthold tenancies converted automatically into assured periodic tenancies. New tenancies are periodic from the start. There is no fixed term any more.

What this means in practice:

• A tenant can end the tenancy by giving two months' notice at any point.
• There is no end-of-term date for the landlord to plan around, because there is no end of term.
• The familiar twelve-month AST with a six-month break clause is no longer something you can grant.

For agents, this removes the renewal cycle that a lot of fee structures and diary systems were built on. The tenancy simply continues until either side ends it lawfully.

The new Section 8 grounds for possession

With Section 21 gone, every possession claim needs a ground. The Act keeps Section 8 but reworks the grounds, adding new ones and changing the notice periods and thresholds on existing ones.

The grounds most landlords will use:

• Sale of the property. A landlord who genuinely intends to sell can seek possession, but only after the tenancy has run for an initial protected period, and the property cannot then be re-let for a set period afterwards.
• Landlord or close family moving in. Similar protected-period and re-let restrictions apply.
• Serious rent arrears. The mandatory arrears ground has been adjusted, with a longer notice period and a higher arrears threshold than before.
• Anti-social behaviour. Grounds covering anti-social behaviour have been strengthened to make it easier to act in serious cases.

The practical effect is that possession now requires evidence and planning. You cannot simply wait for a fixed term to end. Keep clean records of rent accounts, correspondence, and any breaches, because the ground you rely on has to be proven.

Rent increases through Section 13

The Act standardises how rent goes up. A landlord can raise the rent only once in any twelve-month period, and only through a Section 13 notice giving at least two months' notice. Rent review clauses that try to bypass this no longer work.

A tenant who thinks the proposed rent is above the market rate can challenge it at the First-tier Tribunal. The Tribunal cannot set a rent higher than what the landlord proposed, which removes the old risk that challenging an increase could backfire on the tenant. Set increases at a defensible market level and keep evidence of comparable rents.

The Private Rented Sector Database

The Act establishes a Private Rented Sector Database. Landlords will need to register themselves and their let properties, and certain information will be recorded against each entry. The database is intended to improve transparency and help councils target enforcement.

The database is being rolled out after the new tenancy regime rather than alongside it, and full operation is not expected before 2027 at the earliest. Watch for the registration window opening and treat database registration as a future precondition for serving possession notices, because that linkage is part of the design.

Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector

The Decent Homes Standard has applied to social housing for years. The Act extends it to private rentals, setting a minimum condition baseline that let properties must meet. The detailed standard is being settled through consultation, and the current expectation is that it will come into force later this decade rather than immediately. Use the lead time to survey your stock against the existing social-sector criteria so there are no surprises when the private-sector version is finalised.

Awaab's Law comes to private renting

Awaab's Law sets legally binding timeframes for landlords to investigate and fix serious hazards such as damp and mould. It began in social housing and the Act extends it to the private rented sector, with the requirements phased in over time and damp, mould, and the most dangerous hazards prioritised first.

In practice this means that once a tenant reports a serious hazard, the clock starts. You will have a fixed period to investigate and a further fixed period to make the property safe, with the exact windows set by the regulations. Missing them is a breach you can be held to. We cover the mechanics in detail in our Awaab's Law compliance guide, and our Awaab's Law software tracks these response timelines for you.

Pets

Tenants gain a right to request to keep a pet, and the landlord cannot unreasonably refuse. A landlord can require the tenant to hold pet damage insurance (or to cover the cost of the landlord's own such insurance) to protect against damage. Decide your house policy on what counts as a reasonable refusal and document the reasoning each time, because a blanket no is no longer safe.

Key dates to diarise

• 1 May 2026. Section 21 abolished. Existing tenancies convert to periodic. Most of the Act's tenancy rules apply.
• 31 July 2026. Last date to issue court proceedings on a pre-commencement Section 21 notice.
• 2026 onward. Landlords must give tenants the official information sheet within the published deadline, with financial penalties for missing it.
• 2027 onward. Private Rented Sector Database expected to come into operation, with phased Awaab's Law duties and the Decent Homes Standard following.

Exact dates for the database, the Ombudsman, the Decent Homes Standard, and the later Awaab's Law phases are being set by secondary legislation, so check the current government roadmap before relying on any single date.

What to do now

Audit your portfolio against the new rules. Confirm every let property has current gas, electrical, and energy certificates, because possession and condition duties all assume your compliance paperwork is in order. Update your tenancy templates to periodic form, brief your team on the Section 8 grounds, and build a process for the Awaab's Law response clock so a hazard report never sits unactioned.

DwellBridge tracks the six core UK certificate types with compliant, at-risk, and breached states and expiry reminders, monitors Awaab's Law response timelines, and uses AI agents to chase renewals and tenants across WhatsApp, SMS, and email so the deadlines this Act introduces do not slip through. See the compliance engine for how it fits together.