What new rights will tenants get in Renters' Rights Act? • The Independent Landlord

With the tenancy reforms in the Renters’ Rights Act due to come into force on 1 May 2026, exactly what new rights will tenants be getting?

We’ve all heard a lot about the abolition of Section 21 “no fault evictions”, but the Renters’ Rights Act is so muc more than that.

In this post, I explain what’s changing, starting at the beginning when someone is looking for a property to rent, mapping out the entire “customer journey” until either they decide to move on, or the landlord decides they want to terminate the agreement.

Tenants’ rights at a glance

Overview of rights and responsibilities in tenancy agreements
The aim of the Renters’ Rights Act
The viewing stage – new tenant rights
When signing up – new tenant rights
During a tenancy – new tenant rights
The end of a tenancy – new tenant rights
Rent Repayment Orders
When will tenants get all these new rights?

Overview of rights and responsibilities in tenancy agreements

The Renters’ Rights Act gives tenants a lot of new rights, to help “rebalance the relationship” and “level the playing field” with landlords.

But it’s not one way traffic. Tenants also have responsibilities. That’s part of signing a tenancy agreement – both the landlord and tenant have rights and responsibilities. The RRA introduces a few more responsibilities for tenants, and a lot more responsibilities for landlords.

But the tenancy agreement is mostly there for when things go wrong. What’s important is landlords and tenants having a positive relationship, where both hold up their side of the bargain, treat each other with respect, and communicate well.

>> Related Post: How to be a good landlord

>> Related Post: How to choose good tenants

The aim of the Renters’ Rights Act

According to the government guidance, the new tenancy system that the Act is introducing will “provide tenants with greater security and stability and empower them to challenge dangerous practice without fear of retaliatory eviction”.

The new rights arise even before they become tenants, at the viewing stage, as well as when signing up, during the tenancy and at the end, when tenants move on.

The viewing stage – new tenant rights

The Renters’ Rights Act gives prospective new tenants lots of rights before they sign on the dotted line, commit to a tenancy agreement and become tenants.

1. No rental bidding

Landlords must list properties with a “proposed rent”, and cannot later change the goal posts regarding rent.

Landlords won’t be able to accept a higher rent than the proposed rent, which means that prospective tenants will know that they won’t need to offer more than the proposed rent in order to secure the tenancy.

If landlords or letting agents ask or encourage tenants to bid over the proposed rent, the local council will be able to impose a civil penalty of up to £7,000.

2. Check out property and landlord on PRS Database

Landlords will have a legal obligation to have an active registration for both themselves and the property before they find new tenants.

This means that tenants will have the right to find out certain information about the landlord and the property. It’s not yet known exactly what that will be, but it’s likely to include copies of the most recent gas safety certificate, EICR (electrical installation condition report) and EPC.

This is likely to come into effect in 2027.

3. No discrimination if the tenant is a family or on benefits

The Act introduces new rules that prevent landlords and letting agents from discriminating against applicants based on their benefit status or because a child would be living there or visiting the applicant.

This means that “no DSS” adverts will be banned. However, the landlord/letting agent will be able to take into account the income (including benefits) of a prospective tenant when undertaking affordability checks before letting a property under a relevant tenancy.

For instance, a requirement to have income of 2.5x the rent means that for a monthly rent of £1,500, the household would need an income (including benefits) of at least £3,750 a month to be able to afford to rent the property.

Landlords and letting agents won’t be able to prevent someone from viewing the property or accessing information about it on the basis that a child would or live with or visit them there. The exception would be where it would be a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim For instance, a child renting a room in an adult HMO, or concerns about overcrowding

Discriminatory terms related to children (under 18) and benefits status of tenants will be null and void in all new insurance contracts and all existing and future mortgages

The local housing authority will be able to impose a civil penalty on landlords and agents up to £7,000 if they are satisfied on a balance of probability that the person breached the requirements.

4. No change to right to have pets before becoming a tenant

Although the Renters’ Rights Act introduce a new implied right for tenants to have pets, this does not extend to applicants.

This means that landlords will be able to advertise a property as “no pets”, but once the person moves in, that will no longer apply and they’ll have the right to have a pet unless the landlord has a good reason to turn them down.

5. Property must meet the Decent Homes Standard

The property will need to meet the Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector. The Secretary of state will have the power to say what it means, which will include the state of repair of the premises, the means of keeping the premises at a suitable temperature, things to be provided for “use by, or for the safety, security or comfort of, persons occupying the premises”. This is on top of the existing requirements for the property to have a valid GSC and EICR, and not to have hazards.

For landlords who fail to take reasonably practicable steps to keep their properties free of serious hazards, local councils will also have a new power to issue civil penalties of up to £7,000.

If the property fails to meet Decent Homes Standards requirements, the local council will have a range of enforcement mechanisms available. This includes, for example, issuing an improvement notice requiring the landlord to remedy the failure within a specified timescale.

Landlords who fail to comply with enforcement action can be subject to a civil penalty or criminal prosecution. If an offence is committed, the tenant or local council can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order.

Government guidance says that the Decent Homes Standard will “incentivise all landlords to proactively manage and maintain the safety and decency of their properties”.

The government’s July 2025 Consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes proposed that the Decent Homes Standard would come into effect in 2035 or 2037.

6. Landlord must provide a written statement of the tenancy terms

Landlords will need to provide future tenants with a written statement of “such terms of the tenancy as are specified in regulations” before they sign. It’s likely this will be included in the tenancy agreement.

When signing up – new tenant rights

Here is an explanation of the new rights that tenants will have when it comes to signing a tenancy agreement.

1. Change of tenancy type

The Renters’ Rights Act will abolish Assured Shorthold Tenancies from the commencement date of the Act. Instead, all existing Assured Shorthold Tenancies will become Assured Periodic Tenancies.

Landlords also won’t be able to grant new Assured Shorthold Tenancies from 1 May 2026, and will have to grant Assured Periodic Tenancies.

>> Related Post: What exactly is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy?

2. Periodic tenancies with no fixed term

With effect from 1 May 2026, all Assured Shorthold Tenancies will become Assured Periodic Tenancies (APTs) automatically. As the name suggests, they will be periodic, without a fixed term, minimum period or end date.

All new tenancies entered into from 1 May will also be APTs, and it will not be possible for a landlord or letting agent to grant a new tenancy with a fixed term.

Any terms in a tenancy agreement that try to create a fixed term will have no legal effect. If a landlord or letting attempts to let for a fixed term, the local council can impose a civil penalty of up to £7,000.

Tenants will be able to leave at any time by serving two months’ notice to quit in writing, to expire at the end of a rental period.

For instance, if a new rental period starts on the 2nd of the month, the rental period will expire on the 1st of the following month. If a tenant gives notice on 15 July, the two months’ notice to quit will expire on 1st of October, and not 14th September, because that’s when the relevant rental period will end.

3. Rental period of no more than one month

The rent periods will be no more than one calendar month.

This means, for instance, that landlords will not be able to require tenants to pay (for instance) quarterly, each academic term or yearly for new tenancies entered into from 1 May 2026.

4. Rent in advance

Landlords will not be able to receive any rent before the tenancy is entered into. Also, any terms in new tenancies that require rent to be paid before the first day of a rent period will be null and void.

There is an exception for the initial rent payment which can be due between when the tenancy is entered into and when it starts.

During a tenancy – new tenant rights

1. Changes to rent increases

The only way that landlords will be able to increase rent once the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force will be by using the Section 13 notice procedure, on a new Form 4A.

This means that rent review clauses will be null and void. Landlords also won’t be able to change the rent by addendum, unless they have first served a Section 13 notice.

Consequently, if a landlord tries to increase the rent without serving Form 4A, the rent increase will not be legally enforceable.

2. Increased rights to appeal against rent increases

Tenants will have two months to appeal against rent increases at the First-tier Tribunal. The FTT will be able to reduce the rent if they decide that the market rent for a similar property in that location is lower than the rent in the notice.

If tenants do exercise their right to appeal against a Section 13 rent increase notice, this will delay the increase until the first rent payment date after the decision by the FTT.

3. Implied right for tenants to have a pet

From 1 May 2026, tenants will have an implied right to have a pet. In order to exercise their right, the tenant will need to ask in writing, and include a description of the pet.

Landlords will have 28 days to reply with a decision, and can turn down the request if they have a good reason. This includes where the lease or the freeholder prohibits pets, or the pet is unsuitable for the property.

The government will issue guidance.

>> Useful resource: Model pet policy for landlords

4. Awaab’s Law

Awaab’s Law is the name given to Section 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. It introduces an implied term into social housing tenancy agreements so that social landlords are required to “take action, in relation to prescribed hazards which affect or may affect the leased dwelling, within the period or periods specified in the regulations”. These hazards include damp and mould.

The Renters’ Rights Act will extend this to the private rented sector. The details are yet to be confirmed and it will go out to consultation.

If landlords don’t comply, tenants will be able to challenge them through the court for breach of contract. If the court finds the landlord in breach, they will be able to order the landlord to take appropriate action and/or pay compensation.

5. PRS Landlord Ombudsman

Tenants will have the right to take complaints to the new PRS Landlord Ombudsman for “provide “quick, fair, impartial and binding resolution for tenants’ complaints about their landlord”. It is likely that the ombudsman will be the Housing Ombudsman, which already regulates social housing.

If tenants use letting agents, they may also be able to take some complaints to the letting agents’ redress scheme.

It is likely that the PRS Landlord Ombudsman will be launched in 2028.

The end of a tenancy – new tenant rights

1. Landlord cannot use Section 21 no fault eviction notice

Landlords will no longer have the right to terminate a tenancy with two months’ notice under Section 21.

If landlords try to terminate with a notice to quit after 30 April 2026, the local authority can issue a civil penalty of up to £7,000.

2. Landlord must use a Section 8 ground for possession to terminate a tenancy

Tenants will have the right to remain in a property until the court issues the landlord an order for possession based on one of the grounds under Section 8 Housing Act 1988.

The grounds will include where the landlord wishes to sell up, the landlord or their family wishes to move in, rent arrears, anti-social behaviour and breach of tenancy.

Rent Repayment Orders

Tenants have the right to take a landlord to the First-tier Tribunal if their landlord has committed specific offences.

The Renters’ Rights Act increases the number of offences and doubles the maximum amount to two years’ rent.

When will tenants get all these new rights?

The tenancy reforms in the Renters’ Rights Act will come into force on 1 May 2026.

The PRS Database is likely to be fully launched in 2027, the PRS Landlord Ombudsman in 2028, and the Decent Homes Standard from 2035.

>> Related Post: Renters’ Rights Act implementation guide

Henry S

13 December 2024 at 12:39 pm

So lovely to see the written version, not that there is anything at all wrong with the videos. Perhaps me just showing my age as I assimilate the great content more easily. Hopefully I can print this page for my record (and my not great memory).

I see in the Introduction mention of Tenants getting some more responsibilities under the Bill/Act; so its not just landlords getting lots more. And the blog usefully points out that tenants will have to give 2 months notice.
I’m obviously missing some things: what any other new tenant responsibilities are?

Lastly, I see ‘our’ version of Awaab’s Law concerning hazards including damp and mould.
I am also aware of the “tragic” (Housing Ombudsman) case of Mark Pearce, 53 who made 22 complaints to Clarion before taking his own life. These concerned noise and movement transmission from the young family in the flat above in a converted property. I don’t know if noise and vibration would count as a ‘hazard’. In the good conversion I rent out I wouldn’t let to a young family in such a situation; where I’d know the tenant below already. (Noise and vibration is very hard to eliminate – I know as I once rented in a purpose built flat with a concrete floor. Even quiet me caused disturbance, just by moving around.)
But the Bill prohibits not letting to children living or visiting, unless it would be classed as a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim” mentioned in the post. So that would make good management difficult.

And the loss of s21 would make the situation, if it did arise, very hard to deal with by management. In all scenarios, as I see them (making upstairs tenants move out while floor is taken up to be insulated and isolated, though not perfect; making the noise producers move; making the affected downstairs tenant move even though not their fault) would not be certain to effect unless s21 is available, at least as a fall-back threat.
Some quandary: possibly break the new law, or risk self-harm to the existing tenant. At least with the average of 21 tenants chasing each new rental (we hear about, including from NRLA) one could ‘decide to not choose’ a new tenants either with children, or young enough to have them. Discrimination might thus be hard to prove.
I am alive to such concerns as I had a tenant care home worker during the pandemic, having an emotionally tough time, living on her own (with the isolation as applied at the time); seeing many people die, and wanting complete peace and quiet when she got home. Which she got. Knowing her situation I kept in close contact via e-mail, and some very socially-distanced conversations.

Section 21 allows for good management in all sorts of circumstances (including my tenant who got dementia, and I had a duty of care both to her and to the tenant upstairs, e.g. avoiding potential death/s in a fire).
The expanded Section 8 doesn’t cover these.
Nor I think would it preclude un-neighbourly behaviour, which I understand at best would be a discretionary ground. Like many, I wouldn’t want the hassle and cost of a discretionary ground. Particularly as I understand in some cases tenants can now get free legal assistance at court.

While we have s21, I’d better take your previous good advice about sorting issues now before the Act comes in. Like getting one tenant -for once- weeding the small parts of gardens they are responsible for, or increasing rent to pay someone to do it (as if me, I’d have to do it for free). Before they have the new powers to challenge rent increases. Small problem compared to those above, but annoying. E.g. bind weed growing into next door isn’t good, neither is mares tail and sedge grass going rampant. Last time it took me days to un-sedge.

What new rights will tenants get in Renters’ Rights Act?