The Renters' Rights Act 2025: What landlords and tenants need to know

06 March 2026

Roxanne Watson and Daniel Wright

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (“RRA”) comes into force on 1 May 2026. From this date, all assured shorthold tenancy agreements (with very limited exceptions during a short transitional period – see below) will automatically become periodic assured tenancies, with any fixed terms within the current agreements becoming void, as well as any contractual break rights.

The periodic assured tenancy will be linked to the rental payment date (i.e. if a tenant pays monthly on the first of each month, their periodic tenancy is monthly starting on the first of the month) and can be no longer than one month.

Once the RRA comes into force, section 21 notices will be abolished, meaning the end of “no fault” evictions. This means that tenants will have greater rights to remain in their property and will no longer have the worry of not being able to raise issues in relation to property with their landlord, for fear that in doing so unscrupulous landlords will start the eviction process. If a tenant wants to end their tenancy, they will need to provide at least two months’ notice.

The exceptions to this position will be in respect of any notices validly served under section 21 or section 8 prior to 1 May 2026 and provided proceedings are issued by the earlier of (a) the expiry of the notice in question, or (b) 31 July 2026. In those circumstances the tenancy will remain an assured shorthold tenancy until conclusion of those proceedings.

Grounds of possession: How landlords can end a tenancy

With the abolition of the section 21 process landlords will only be able to end a tenant’s right to occupy their property on the basis of limited grounds. The most common grounds upon which landlords can serve notice to evict their tenants, as well as the notice periods required, is set out below (note in particular the introduction of grounds 1 and 1A, likely in an attempt to counteract the impact of abolishing section 21).

Mandatory grounds

If the ground is made out the Court must make a possession order:

Ground	Summary	Notice period
1. Occupation by landlord or family	The landlord or their close family member wishes to move into the property. Cannot be used for the first 12 months of a new tenancy.	Four months
1A. Sale of dwelling-house	The landlord wishes to sell the property. Cannot be used for the first 12 months of a new tenancy	Four months
2. Sale by mortgagee	The property is subject to a mortgage and the lender exercises a power of sale requiring vacant possession.	Four months
4. Student accommodation	In the 12 months prior to the start of the tenancy, the property was let to students. Can only be used by specified educational establishments.	Two weeks
5A. Occupation by agricultural worker	The landlord requires possession to house an agricultural worker, either as an employed or self-employed worker for the landlord.	Two months
5C. End of employment by the landlord	The dwelling was let as a result of the tenant’s employment by the landlord and the employment has come to an end or the tenancy was not meant to last the duration of the employment and the dwelling is required by a new employee.	Two months
6. Redevelopment	The landlord wishes to demolish or substantially redevelop the property which cannot be done with the tenant in situ. Various time limits and/or notice requirements exist for this ground depending on the circumstances.	Four months
6B. Compliance with enforcement action	The landlord is subject to enforcement action and needs to regain possession to become compliant. Under this ground, the court will be allowed to require the landlord to pay compensation to the tenant when ordering possession.	Four months
7A. Severe Anti-social and/or Criminal Behaviour	The tenant has been convicted of a type of offence listed in the ground, has breached a relevant order put in place to prevent anti-social behaviour or there is a closure order in place prohibiting access for a continuous period of more than 48 hours.	Landlords can begin proceedings immediately.
8. Rent arrears	The tenant has at least three months’ (or 13 weeks’ if rent is paid weekly or fortnightly) rent arrears both at the time notice is served and at the time of the possession hearing.	Four weeks

Discretionary grounds

If the ground is made out the Court has discretion as to whether or not they make a possession order:

Ground	Summary	Notice period
10. Any rent arrears	The tenant is in any amount of arrears.	Four weeks
11. Persistent arrears	The tenant has persistently delayed paying their rent.	Four weeks
12. Breach of tenancy	The tenant is guilty of breaching one of the terms of their tenancy agreement (other than the paying of rent).	Two weeks
13. Deterioration of property	The tenant has caused the condition of the property to deteriorate.	Two weeks
14. Anti-social behaviour	The tenant or anyone living in or visiting the property has been guilty of behaviour causing, or likely to cause, nuisance or annoyance to the landlord, a person employed in connection with housing management functions, or anyone living in, visiting or in the locality of the property. The tenant or a person living or visiting the property has been convicted of using the premises for illegal/immoral purposes, or has been convicted of an indictable offence in the locality.	Landlords can begin proceedings immediately
14A. Domestic abuse	A social landlord wishes to evict the perpetrator of domestic violence if the partner has fled and is unlikely to return.	Two weeks
15. Deterioration of furniture	The tenant has caused the condition of the furniture to deteriorate.	Two weeks
17. False statement	The tenancy was granted due to a false statement made knowingly or recklessly by the tenant or someone acting on their instigation.	Two weeks

It is the intention of the RRA to allow good tenants who do pay their rent and do not otherwise breach their tenancy agreement to be allowed to remain in the property for as long as they wish. Where tenants are in breach of the terms of their tenancy agreement, many of the previously existing grounds for possession have been relaxed to:

create a higher threshold before the ground becomes applicable, and/or
allow tenants additional time to remedy.

Taking ground 8 as an example, the level of rent arrears to be able to rely on this ground has increased from two months to three months, and the length of notice to be given has increased from two weeks to four weeks.

Landlords should also be aware that they will need to ensure that they have dealt with the relevant requirements concerning the tenancy deposit and the prescribed information before a possession order can be made by the court. In circumstances where the deposit has not been dealt with properly, it will need to be returned to the tenant before a possession order can be made.

Rent reviews: New rules on increases and tenant challenges

Once the RRA comes into force, any contractual rent review clauses included in current agreements will be rendered void and landlords will not be able to include them in any new agreements. The basis of the rent review will be to the market rent and landlords will need to serve their tenants with at least two months’ notice under section 13 Housing Act 1988, using a prescribed form. They will only be able to instigate the initial rent review at least 52 weeks after the tenancy agreement was entered into and subsequent rent reviews cannot take place until at least 52 weeks after the previous increase took place.

In addition to being able to challenge any rent increase under the ‘section 13’ process (see below), RRA affords tenants an additional challenge to rent not available to them previously, as they may now also challenge rent via the First-tier Tribunal (“FTT”) at the outset of the tenancy, within a period of six months from the beginning of the tenancy.

The tenant’s options for responding to the landlord’s notice of intended rent review are:

Accept the increased which will take effect as specified in the notice.
Make an application to the FTT to challenge the rent review before the proposed starting date of the increase as specified in the notice.
Challenge the validity of the notice.

Landlords should bear in mind that the FTT generally operates on a ‘no-costs’ basis so tenants will be able to challenge rent reviews without the risk of a costs order being made against them in the event the challenge is unsuccessful. Further, the RRA provides that any rent reviews determined by the FTT cannot be backdated (although there is provision for the making of additional regulations at a later date to provide the FTT with power to backdate rent reviews should the commencement of the RRA result in delays/large influx of cases) and will take effect from the date specified by the FTT and cannot be any higher than market rent. The FTT will also have the power to extend the start date for the rent review by two months in cases where a tenant can show exceptional hardship of the rent review taking effect immediately.

There is an argument that there will be nothing to lose for a tenant in bringing a challenge to a proposed rent increase under RRA as, even if the rent is ultimately set at the level proposed by the landlord in the section 13 notice, the tenant will not have to begin paying that rent until after the FTT process has concluded and an award made. The risk is a surge of tenant applications to FTT, resulting in the FTT becoming overwhelmed and causing significant backlogs in the Tribunal as a consequence.

Landlords’ duties: Registration, compliance and financial penalties

The RRA will bring with it the introduction of a mandatory national landlord database in England requiring landlords to register themselves and their properties. It will be a landlord’s responsibility to update the database with the requisite information for themselves as landlord (such as name, contact details etc) and their properties (such as type of property, number of bedrooms and safety information).

The database will also include details of any enforcement action which has been taken against landlords. It is not anticipated that this will be introduced on 1 May 2026 and will instead be rolled out on a later date (currently to be confirmed but provisionally expected to be late 2026).

The RRA imposes the following duties on landlords in relation to the database:

a duty to ensure that there is an active landlord entry and an active dwelling entry on the database and the details will need to be maintained by the landlord.
a negative duty that a property cannot be marketed for rent unless there is are active landlord and dwelling entries in relation to the property.
any advert marketing a property for rent will also need to include unique identifiers of the property and the landlord.

If these duties are breached by the landlord, the landlord:

will not be able to recover possession of the possession property (unless in relation to grounds 7 or 14A).
could face financial penalties of up to £7,000 for their first offence.
could face potential criminal offences.
could potentially have a rent repayment order imposed on them following an application by the tenant.

From 1 May 2026, when entering into a new tenancy, landlords will need to provide their tenants with a statement of terms (which will need to provided before the tenancy is entered into and updated when the landlord changes).

This requirement also applies to existing written tenancies where landlords will be required to provide an information sheet (in a prescribed form to be published) to their tenants by 31 May 2026. In respect of unwritten oral tenancies, landlords will be required to provide a full statement of terms for those tenancies by 31 May 2026. Failure to do may mean financial penalties. Landlords of numerous residential properties should be looking to try and start this process as soon as possible to ensure that it is carried out by 31 May 2026.

Next steps for landlords

Before 1 May 2026

Review existing tenancy agreements to identify fixed terms and contractual break rights that will become void on commencement.
Consider whether to serve any Section 21 or Section 8 notices before 1 May 2026, ensuring proceedings are issued by 31 July 2026 at the latest.
Confirm all tenancy deposits are properly protected and prescribed information has been served.
Update template agreements to remove contractual rent review clauses.

By 31 May 2026

Provide an information sheet to all tenants under existing written tenancies.
Provide a full statement of terms to all tenants under existing oral tenancies.

Ongoing

Register on the national landlord database once introduced and ensure all property listings include the required unique identifiers.
Familiarise yourself with the updated grounds for possession, in particular the new Grounds 1 and 1A, and the increased rent arrears threshold (now three months).
Seek legal advice promptly if you intend to pursue possession proceedings.

Next steps for tenants

From 1 May 2026

Your tenancy will automatically convert to a periodic assured tenancy - you cannot be required to leave solely because a fixed term has expired.
Section 21 no-fault evictions are abolished. You can only be evicted on specific statutory grounds.
To end your tenancy, you must give your landlord at least two months' written notice.

If you receive a possession notice

Check that your landlord has specified a valid ground and served the correct notice period - if not, the notice may be invalid.
Seek legal advice, particularly if you believe the ground relied upon does not apply to your situation.

Regarding rent increases

Your landlord must use the Section 13 process with at least two months' notice - contractual rent review clauses are no longer enforceable.
You may challenge any proposed increase at the FTT before it takes effect, at no risk of a costs order if unsuccessful.
You may also challenge your rent within the first six months of a new tenancy.