Renters' Rights Act 2025. The complete landlord guide for England

Two different duties, same final date: If the tenancy is under a written AST agreed before 1 May 2026, you must give the tenant the official Information Sheet (GOV.UK PDF). If the tenancy is verbal only (no written agreement before that date), you must not send that Information Sheet; you must give a written record of the key terms instead. Mixing these up is a common mistake.

Information Sheet (written AST only): The government has published an official Information Sheet explaining what the Renters' Rights Act means for tenants. It applies where there is an existing tenant with a written AST signed before 1 May 2026.

Deadline: 31 May 2026, now passed. If you have not served it, do so immediately: the civil penalty is not automatic, and serving promptly limits your exposure.

How to serve it: GOV.UK describes providing the document electronically or as a hard copy. In practice, attaching the official PDF to an email or message (or handing over a printout) gives a clear record that the tenant received the sheet. A bare link, without the tenant clearly having the document, can be harder to prove if disputed. It is not the same as GOV.UK explicitly saying "links are invalid" in those words, so check the current publication and keep evidence of what was sent.

Download the official PDF: GOV.UK · The Renters' Rights Act: information sheet 2026

Serve it and prove it: For a free service-log template and a one-click way to serve the official sheet to every tenant with a timestamped delivery record, see our how to serve the Information Sheet and prove it.

Practical note: Official wording focuses on giving tenants the information electronically or in hard copy. Sending the PDF as an attachment or printout is usually the safest audit trail; do not rely on our site paraphrasing GOV.UK as "link = invalid". Read the live guidance.

Verbal tenancy (no written AST before 1 May 2026): Do not use the Information Sheet. You must provide a written statement of the key terms (for example rent, landlord name and address, deposit, and repair responsibilities) by 31 May 2026. That is a separate obligation from the Information Sheet route.

What about new tenancies from 1 May onwards? For any tenancy created on or after 1 May 2026, you must provide a written statement of the key terms before the tenancy is entered into (section 16D(4)). This can be included in the tenancy agreement or provided separately. Giving it before the tenant signs is best practice.

Penalty: Many official summaries cite civil penalties up to £7,000 for failing this duty. Penalties are not automatic for every breach; they depend on enforcement and the facts. We do not state a £40,000 figure here as a verified GOV.UK standard; if you see higher numbers in commentary, cross-check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk. The duty is still to provide the correct document for your tenancy type: Information Sheet vs written key terms.

What it is: Tenants can ask for permission to keep a pet, and you cannot refuse without a reason. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 (section 11) requires you to give or refuse consent in writing on or before the 28th day after a written request. If you reasonably ask the tenant for more information about the pet within that window you have until the 7th day after they provide it; you can also agree a longer period with the tenant, or extend where you need a superior landlord's consent. Always confirm the latest detail on GOV.UK before relying on it.

Reasonable grounds for refusal include: the property is genuinely unsuitable for the type of pet requested (a large dog in a studio flat, for example), the lease of a leasehold property prohibits pets, or there is a history of damage from a previous pet kept by this tenant.

What is not a reasonable ground: a blanket "no pets" policy. The Act specifically removes the right to refuse without reason.

If you approve a pet request: You cannot make consent conditional on the tenant taking out pet damage insurance, nor charge them for cover you arrange. The pet-insurance clause was dropped before the Act passed, and no permitted-payment exception was added to the Tenant Fees Act 2019 for it, so such a charge would fall foul of that Act. The protected deposit remains your remedy for damage.

If you miss the deadline: silence is not consent, but the Act implies the duty into the tenancy, so missing it is a breach of the tenancy that the tenant can enforce.

Practical tip: Log every request the day it arrives. The 28 days run from the request, and holiday weeks eat that time fast.

What it is: Under the Renters' Rights Act, you may only increase rent once every 52 weeks. Any rent review clause in an existing tenancy agreement is now invalid. The only lawful way to increase rent for an assured periodic tenancy in England is through the Section 13 process.

How it works:

• Serve a Section 13 notice (the prescribed form) on your tenant
• Give at least two months' notice before the proposed increase takes effect
• The tenant can challenge the proposed increase at the First-tier Tribunal if they believe it is above market rate

Section 13 notice: the rules, Form 4A and your earliest date

What happened to existing rent review clauses? Any clause in a tenancy agreement that allows rent to be increased by a fixed percentage or by RPI is now unenforceable. You must use Section 13 regardless of what your tenancy agreement says.

Penalty for getting it wrong: An improperly served notice is invalid. The rent increase does not take effect and you must start the process again, losing months of the increase you were entitled to.

Always verify the form against the current prescribed version on GOV.UK before serving. LetCompliance generates a working draft only, not a substitute for legal advice.

What changed: Since 1 May 2026, you can no longer serve a Section 21 no-fault eviction notice. Any Section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026 must have court proceedings started by 31 July 2026; after that date, even previously served notices are dead.

What replaces it: Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (as amended by the Renters' Rights Act 2025), which requires you to prove a specific ground in Schedule 2. The amended Schedule 2 contains the existing grounds plus new grounds inserted by the 2025 Act (including 1A, 1B, 2ZA–2ZD, 4A, 5A–5H, 6A and 6B), and Ground 3 (out-of-season holiday let) is repealed. The most commonly used possession grounds are:

• Ground 1: landlord (or close family: parent, grandparent, sibling, child or grandchild) intends to move in. Mandatory ground · 4 months' notice · cannot be used in the first 12 months of a tenancy.
• Ground 1A (new): landlord intends to sell the property. Mandatory · 4 months' notice · cannot be used in the first 12 months of a tenancy · property cannot be re-let or marketed until 12 months after the earliest court date in the notice.
• Ground 1B (new): a private registered provider of social housing selling after a Rent to Buy agreement. Not available to private landlords.
• Ground 8: now requires 3 months' rent arrears (was 2 months) at both the date of notice and the hearing. Notice period increased from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. Arrears caused by unpaid Universal Credit housing element are disregarded when counting the threshold.
• Ground 14ZA (new): tenant convicted of an offence connected to a riot in the United Kingdom.
• Ground 14: antisocial behaviour

Rent in advance: Since 1 May 2026, you cannot require more than one month's rent in advance. Any clause in an existing tenancy agreement requiring more than one month upfront is now void. Holding deposits remain capped at one week's rent.

Why compliance matters more now: Courts assessing a Section 8 claim will look at your compliance record. A missing Gas Safety certificate, an unprotected deposit or an expired EICR gives the tenant grounds to challenge your claim and can cause the court to adjourn the hearing. The backdoor exit that Section 21 provided, where compliance gaps could be bypassed, is permanently closed.

Practical tip: Before serving any Section 8 notice, check that every compliance item is current: Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, deposit protection, Right to Rent, and the 31 May 2026 duty that applies to your tenancy type: Information Sheet or written key terms for a verbal tenancy, not both by mistake.

These requirements pre-date the Renters' Rights Act, but their significance increased sharply once the new regime took effect on 1 May 2026. None of them is a statutory bar to a Section 8 possession order (the deposit rules are), but each carries its own penalty.

Gas Safety (CP12): Annual inspection by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Give a copy to existing tenants within 28 days and to new tenants before move-in. Missing the check is a criminal offence under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, with an unlimited fine and up to 2 years' imprisonment on conviction in the Crown Court (and manslaughter charges where a tenant dies from carbon monoxide or a gas incident).

EICR: Every 5 years by a qualified electrician. Provide to tenants within 28 days. Carry out any C1 or C2 remedial work within 28 days. Penalty: up to £40,000 per property.

EPC: Must be E or above to let legally. Every 10 years, or when starting a new tenancy with an expired certificate. Penalty: up to £5,000.

Deposits must be protected in one of three government-approved schemes within 30 days of receipt: DPS, TDS or mydeposits. Prescribed Information must be served on the tenant within the same 30-day window.

Under the Renters' Rights Act, deposits must remain protected for the full duration of the tenancy, including any holdover period. While a deposit is unprotected, or the scheme rules or Prescribed Information have not been complied with, the court cannot make a possession order on any ground except 7A and 14, until the deposit is returned or a deposit claim under section 214 is decided, withdrawn or settled.

Common issue: Landlords who transitioned from a fixed-term to a periodic tenancy without re-registering the deposit. If this applies to you, check your deposit status now.

The Renters' Rights Act extends the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. How and when each requirement bites in practice, including damp and mould, is set out in regulations and GOV.UK guidance; confirm the live rules for your property rather than relying on this page alone.

What it means in practice:

• Your property must be free from Category 1 hazards (serious risks to health or safety)
• The structure and exterior must be in good repair
• Heating, hot water and basic facilities must be in working order

Awaab's Law: Named after Awaab Ishak, it has set fixed timescales for social landlords to investigate and fix hazards such as damp and mould since 27 October 2025. For the private rented sector, the same-style statutory time limits are scheduled but not yet in force: government consultation and commencement dates are still to come, so they do not automatically apply to private lets from 1 May 2026. This in-force-versus-merely-passed distinction is where most Renters' Rights Act confusion comes from, and we set it out with sources on what landlords get wrong. Verify GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the current position. Do not treat social-sector figures here as PRS law.

Penalty: Tenants can apply to a tribunal. Since May 2026, the maximum claim period for rent repayment orders is 24 months (doubled from 12).

Right to Rent checks remain mandatory before any adult occupier moves in. For tenants with time-limited immigration status, a follow-up check is needed before the statutory excuse from the first check runs out: the latest of 12 months after it, the end of the permission and the expiry of the document.

Civil penalties were significantly increased on 13 February 2024 and now apply at the following maximums:

• First breach: up to £5,000 per lodger and up to £10,000 per occupier in a rented property.
• Repeat breach (within 3 years): up to £10,000 per lodger and up to £20,000 per occupier.
• Knowingly letting to a person disqualified by their immigration status remains a separate criminal offence with up to 5 years' imprisonment.