Renters Rights Act · 41 guides
Guides covering the Renters Rights Act 2025 (in force 1 May 2026): the end of Section 21, new Section 8 grounds, Section 13 rent increases, tenant pet requests, the Decent Homes Standard for the PRS and the private landlord database. Updated each time a statutory instrument lands on GOV.UK.
Possession6 October 2026
Accelerated possession claims in England jumped 31% in the quarter Section 21 ended, from 6,415 to 8,379. The Ministry of Justice’s own council-level data, counted: which regions and councils rose most, where the most claims were made, and what the next figures will show.
7 min readRead
Possession6 October 2026
Prosecutions for squatting in a home nearly doubled to 51 in the year to March 2026, 31 of them in London. Prosecutions of landlords and others for illegal eviction or harassment stayed rare at 29. Ten years of Ministry of Justice figures, counted.
6 min readRead
Renters Rights Act27 July 2026
The Renters’ Rights Act broke the student letting calendar. Fixed terms are gone, and Ground 4A only works if you signed the tenancy no more than six months before the students moved in. That rules out the traditional autumn signing season.
10 min readRead
Possession27 July 2026
Your tenant enters the Debt Respite Scheme and your arrears claim stops for 60 days. What the moratorium actually blocks (grounds 8, 10 and 11), the rent they must still pay, and the 20-day window to challenge it.
9 min readRead
Possession4 June 2026
When the rent stops, the clock starts. The 2026 arrears playbook for landlords and agents: act in week one, the early contact that helps your case, the higher Section 8 Ground 8 threshold, Universal Credit direct payments, and the illegal moves that turn your problem into a crime.
15 min readRead
Renters Rights Act6 April 2026
Missed the 31 May 2026 deadline on an existing tenancy? Serve the Information Sheet now and prove it: email with PDF, or tracked post. Up to £7,000.
12 min readRead
Renters Rights Act6 April 2026
The lawful rent increase route for assured periodic tenancies in England after the Renters Rights Act: prescribed form, two months’ notice, once a year, and void-notice traps.
11 min readRead
Section 2120 February 2026
Section 21 was abolished 1 May 2026. Old Form 6A still in court? This UK guide covers the transition window and the Section 8 grounds that replace it.
10 min readRead
Renters Reform29 March 2026
The Renters Rights Act 2025 abolished Section 21 from 1 May 2026. New possession grounds, rent increase rules and a landlord database: here's what it means for you.
13 min readRead
Renters Rights Act31 March 2026
The Renters’ Rights Act has applied since 1 May 2026: Section 21 has gone, every tenancy rolls month to month, and you need a ground to get your property back. What changed, what comes later, and a checklist for each property.
11 min readRead
Renters Rights Act17 April 2026
Section 8 is now the only route to possession in England after Section 21 abolition. Every ground explained, notice periods, evidence required and which ones courts actually grant.
24 min readRead
Renters Rights Act2 October 2026
Not decided yet: the Renters’ Rights Act leaves the public list to later regulations. What you will submit, who can see it today, the 21-day rule for council entries and what your adverts must show.
8 min readRead
Renters Rights Act17 April 2026
England’s Private Rented Sector Database opens on 15 December 2026, region by region. The deadline for each region, the £65 fee, what you must submit and the penalties for not registering.
15 min readRead
Possession17 April 2026
Section 21 is gone. This is the complete 2026 eviction playbook for England landlords: choosing the right Section 8 ground, serving the notice, court timescales, bailiff stage and the costs to expect at every step.
25 min readRead
Rent Arrears17 April 2026
Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 tenants can challenge any Section 13 rent increase at the First-tier Tribunal. Here’s how the process works, what evidence wins, and how to set a defensible rent from the start.
17 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 April 2026
On 1 May 2026 every assured shorthold tenancy in England converted to an assured periodic tenancy, no paperwork required. What changed, what you still owe tenants you missed, and the void clauses.
10 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 April 2026
From 1 May 2026 you must advertise a single asking rent and cannot invite tenants to bid higher. The ban explained, pricing tests that still work, and how to handle multiple offers.
9 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 April 2026
The Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman is launching under the RRA. This 2026 guide explains what it will do, when mandatory membership begins and how to prepare.
10 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 April 2026
Tenants have the right to request a pet under the RRA. Landlords have 28 days to respond in writing, longer only if they ask for more information. This deep dive covers reasonable refusal, exact process and a legal response template.
12 min readRead
Possession19 April 2026
From the day you serve a notice to the day the bailiff hands you the keys: the realistic 2026 timeline for a Section 8 possession claim, with the latest MoJ figure (a median of 27.1 weeks from claim to repossession, April to June 2026), the bailiff queue, and how the Renters’ Rights Act extends every step. Cleanest cases take 6–9 months; contested ones often run past a year.
17 min readRead
Renters Rights Act17 July 2026
Since 1 May 2026 you cannot ask for, encourage or accept rent before the tenancy is signed, and cannot require more than one month in advance. The new cap, the one thing a tenant can still do voluntarily, the £5,000 penalty, and the compliant alternative to big upfront sums.
11 min readRead
Renters Rights Act17 July 2026
Since 1 May 2026 a tenant can end a periodic assured tenancy on two months’ notice. There is no minimum tenancy length, so they can give it from day one. What the notice must say, when it has to end, and what it means for landlords who expected a tenant to stay a year.
9 min readRead
Possession6 August 2026
A guarantee is only worth what you can enforce. What to check in the document before you rely on it, the order of steps that keeps a claim intact, and the situations where a guarantee that looked solid no longer bites.
9 min readRead
Possession17 July 2026
The notice has expired and the tenant is still there. You cannot change the locks or force them out: that is a criminal offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. The lawful route: a possession order, then county court bailiffs. The steps, the timeline and the costs.
10 min readRead
Possession6 August 2026
The tenancy does not end when the tenant does. It either passes to a qualifying successor automatically, or it forms part of the estate and continues. What section 17 of the Housing Act 1988 actually says, and the two mistakes landlords make in the first week.
9 min readRead
Possession17 July 2026
The tenant has gone and left their stuff. You cannot just bin it: the belongings are still theirs, and disposing of them wrongly is a claim waiting to happen. The Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 process: the notice, the "reasonable period", selling, and accounting for the proceeds.
9 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
There is no percentage cap on a rent increase. That does not mean you can put it up by whatever you like. Since the Renters’ Rights Act, an increase runs through one Section 13 notice a year, to market rent, and the tenant can take it to a tribunal that cannot set it higher than you asked.
9 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 introduced a national landlord database. Selective licensing schemes still run under Housing Act 2004. They sound similar but they’re different regimes with different fees and different fines, and landlords in a selective licensing area will need both. Updated with the Government’s September 2026 dates and £65 fee.
11 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
Ground 1 (landlord moving in) and the new Ground 1A (landlord selling) are the two big mandatory grounds under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Powerful, but full of traps: 12-month bars, 4-month notice, £40,000 penalties if you re-let inside the ban. What the ground requires, what evidence courts want, and how not to lose it.
12 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
Ground 14 is discretionary: the court grants possession only if it is reasonable. The case turns on your evidence. What counts as ASB, what evidence wins, and when the mandatory Ground 7A is the better route.
11 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
From 1 May 2026 every new tenancy in England is an Assured Periodic Tenancy: open-ended, with no fixed term and no Section 21. Existing ASTs converted on the same day. What that means for rent reviews, tenant notice, landlord notice, and every clause in your old tenancy agreement.
10 min readRead
Renters Rights Act21 September 2026
A clause in the agreement that raises the rent is now of no effect for an assured tenancy. Section 13 is the only route up, the notice period is two months, and the figure on your notice is the most you can end up with.
8 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
The latest Ministry of Justice figures put the median at 27.1 weeks, just over six months, from a landlord’s claim to repossession in England and Wales. What the notice-to-vacant-possession clock actually looks like in 2026, what each stage costs, and the specific things landlords do that add weeks.
12 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
A Section 8 notice served with the wrong form, wrong ground, wrong date or wrong delivery method is void, and a void notice means starting again with a fresh notice period. The 2026 mechanics: Form 3A, notice periods, service methods, delivery evidence and the traps that most often bite.
11 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
A straightforward Section 8 arrears eviction in 2026 costs a £415 court fee, a £152 warrant of possession, about £1,200 to £2,200 for a fixed-fee solicitor if you use one, and, the biggest cost, around 40 weeks of lost rent at the median. The full breakdown, plus how rent guarantee insurance changes the maths.
9 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
From 1 May 2026 every new Assured Periodic Tenancy in England must start with a written statement of key terms served on the tenant. It sits alongside deposit Prescribed Information, gas safety, the EICR, the EPC and Right to Rent. The RRA 2025 Information Sheet was only for tenancies already running on 1 May 2026. What the written statement must contain, and how it fits with everything else.
10 min readRead
Rent Arrears18 July 2026
A possession order does not put the arrears in your bank account, and once the tenant has left you need a money claim. How to use Money Claim Online, the court fees, getting a County Court Judgment, and the four ways to enforce it (bailiffs, attachment of earnings, charging order, third-party debt order), and when it is worth it.
10 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
A disrepair counterclaim is a common way a Section 8 possession claim gets derailed, because damages set off against the arrears can drag them below the Ground 8 threshold and collapse your mandatory ground. How counterclaims work, what actually defeats them, and the records that decide it.
11 min readRead
Rent Arrears18 July 2026
When a tenant on Universal Credit falls behind, you can apply for the housing element to be paid straight to you, plus a deduction towards the arrears. The UC47 form has gone: this is the Apply for Direct Rent Payment service, the two-month trigger, the vulnerability route, and what it will not fix.
9 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
Your tenant has quietly put the property on Airbnb or moved someone else in. What that breaches, why it puts your mortgage, insurance and lease at risk, the evidence to gather, and how possession actually works under Ground 12, without doing anything unlawful yourself.
10 min readRead
Renters Rights Act18 July 2026
A squatter is not a tenant, and the route is completely different. Squatting in a residential building is a criminal offence, so the police can act. For everything else there is the Interim Possession Order or a claim against trespassers. And one rule never changes: never force entry yourself.
9 min readRead
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