The Renters Reform Bill Is Now the Renters’ Rights Act: What Landlords Need to Know

The Renters Reform Bill never became law. It fell when the 2024 general election was called, and its successor, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, now governs every assured tenancy in England. The main reforms took effect on 1 May 2026, and they changed the ground rules of renting more than anything else in the last three decades.

If you last read up on rental reform when it was still called the Renters Reform Bill, this guide brings you up to date. It covers what actually passed, what changed on 1 May 2026, the transitional deadlines that have already come and gone, and the parts of the Act that are still being phased in.

This guide describes the rules in force in England as at 6 August 2026. It is general information for landlords, not legal advice.

From the Renters Reform Bill to the Renters’ Rights Act

The Renters Reform Bill was introduced in May 2023, built on the 2022 white paper A Fairer Private Rented Sector. It promised to abolish Section 21, end fixed terms and professionalise the sector, and for a year it dominated every landlord conversation in England.

It ran out of time. When the 2024 general election was called, the Bill was dropped in the final parliamentary wash up and never received Royal Assent.

The new government introduced its own version, the Renters’ Rights Bill, on 11 September 2024. It kept the broad shape of the earlier Bill and strengthened it in several places. It received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 as the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, and the government brought the main tenancy reforms into force on 1 May 2026.

One point matters for anyone with property outside England: the tenancy reforms apply to England only. Wales keeps its own system under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 and Rent Smart Wales, and Scotland has its own tenancy regime. The main exception is the new ban on blanket refusals of families and benefit claimants, which reaches beyond England.

The government publishes a plain English guide to the Renters’ Rights Act, which is worth bookmarking alongside this article.

Section 21 Ended on 1 May 2026

The change everyone talked about for years finally happened. Section 21, the no fault route that let landlords end a tenancy without giving a reason, was abolished in England on 1 May 2026. It went for existing tenancies as well as new ones.

The transition is also complete. A Section 21 notice validly served before 1 May 2026 stayed usable for a short period, but only if court proceedings were issued by the earlier of the notice’s six month validity window or 31 July 2026. That deadline has passed. Since 1 August 2026 there has been no route back to a no fault possession claim.

Possession now always requires a legal ground and the evidence to prove it in court if the tenant does not leave. That single shift rewrites how a tenancy needs to be run day to day. Records of rent, communication, inspections and repairs are no longer good practice paperwork. They are the difference between recovering a property and not.

Every Tenancy Is Now Periodic

On 1 May 2026 every assured shorthold tenancy in England converted automatically into a rolling periodic assured tenancy. Fixed terms are gone, and new ones cannot be created. There is no such thing as a renewal date any more.

Tenants can end their tenancy with two months’ written notice at any point, from the first day, with the notice ending at the end of a rental period. A small number of older agreements that gave the tenant a shorter contractual notice period keep that shorter period after conversion.

For tenants this means flexibility. For landlords it means income planning has changed. You can no longer count on a fixed term to guarantee occupancy, so void risk is managed through pricing, property condition and tenant relationships rather than contract length. Good management, fair pricing and quick maintenance are now the occupancy strategy.

The Possession Grounds That Replaced Section 21

The Act rebuilt the Section 8 grounds so landlords with a genuine reason can still recover their property. Three families of ground matter most in practice.

Selling Up or Moving In

If you intend to sell the property, or you or a close family member need to move into it, you can seek possession on the new selling and moving in grounds. The conditions are strict. Neither ground can be used during the first twelve months of a tenancy, and the notice period is four months.

There is also a firm rule against misuse. Once you serve notice on the selling or moving in ground, you cannot market or let the property again during a restricted period that runs until twelve months after the earliest possession date stated in the notice. In practice that keeps the property out of the rental market for around sixteen months from the day the notice is served. Councils can fine breaches up to £7,000, rising to £40,000 for serious or repeat cases, and tenants can claim back up to two years of rent through a rent repayment order. These grounds are for genuine intentions only.

Rent Arrears

The mandatory arrears ground now requires three months of unpaid rent, or thirteen weeks where rent is paid weekly, both at the point the notice is served and again at the court hearing. The notice period is four weeks. The discretionary grounds for repeated late payment remain available.

The practical lesson is to act early and document everything. A tenant who slips into arrears needs contact, a payment plan and a clear written trail from the first missed payment, because the threshold is higher than it used to be and the court will expect evidence.

Antisocial Behaviour, Serious Breaches and Student Lets

Grounds remain for antisocial behaviour, serious breaches of the tenancy agreement and other specific situations. Student landlords have a dedicated ground for houses let wholly to three or more full time students, designed so possession lines up with the June to September changeover between academic years, with four months’ notice. Purpose built student accommodation run under an approved code sits outside the assured tenancy system entirely.

The New Rent Rules

One Increase a Year, With Two Months’ Notice

Rent on a periodic tenancy can now only be raised through a statutory Section 13 notice, once every twelve months, with at least two months’ notice. Rent review clauses in older agreements no longer operate.

Tenants can challenge a proposed increase at the First-tier Tribunal free of charge before it takes effect. The tribunal assesses the open market rent, cannot set a figure higher than the landlord proposed, and any increase runs from the decision date rather than being backdated. It can also delay an increase by up to two months in cases of hardship.

None of this stops rents reflecting the market. It does mean an increase needs evidence behind it: local comparables, property condition, demand. A fair, well evidenced notice rarely gets challenged. A speculative one now has a formal place to fail.

Rent in Advance Is Capped

Since 1 May 2026 a landlord cannot require or accept more than one rental period of rent in advance, which means one month for a typical monthly tenancy, and cannot take any rent before the tenancy agreement is signed. Deposit rules are unchanged: five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, six weeks above that, and a holding deposit of up to one week.

Bidding Wars Are Banned

Properties must be advertised at a fixed asking rent, and landlords and agents cannot invite, encourage or accept offers above it. Pricing correctly at the point of advertising is now the whole game, which rewards landlords who know their local market data well.

Pets, Children and Benefit Claimants

Pet Requests

Tenants now have a legal right to ask to keep a pet. A landlord cannot unreasonably refuse, must normally respond within 28 days, and can only say no with a proper reason, such as a property that is genuinely unsuitable or a superior lease that prohibits pets.

One widely reported detail did not survive into the final Act: the power to require pet insurance was removed before Royal Assent, and a proposed extra pet deposit was rejected too. A landlord cannot demand either. The standard tenancy deposit is the only security available for pet damage, which makes sensible vetting and clear written conditions all the more important.

No More Blanket Bans

It is now unlawful to operate a blanket ban on letting to families with children or to people receiving benefits, whether in an advert, through an agent or in practice. Every application has to be considered on its own facts. Normal affordability and referencing checks are still allowed. This part of the Act also reaches Wales and Scotland.

Still to Come: the Database, the Ombudsman and Property Standards

The Act is arriving in phases. The tenancy reforms above are in force now. Three large pieces are still on the way, on dates the government itself describes as planning assumptions in its implementation roadmap, so treat the years below as expectations rather than fixed dates.

• The private landlord database. Officially the Register your rental property service, this is in testing now and is expected to open region by region from late 2026. Once it is live in your area, you will need to be registered to advertise a property and to use most possession grounds, with penalties up to £40,000 for letting while unregistered.
• The landlord ombudsman. A single redress scheme that every private landlord in England will have to join. It is not yet running, and membership is currently expected to become mandatory around 2028.
• Property standards. A Decent Homes Standard for private rentals is being worked towards 2035 under current plans, and the Act allows Awaab’s Law repair deadlines, already phasing in across social housing, to be extended to private tenancies after consultation. No date has been set for that extension.

One deadline has already passed quietly. Landlords with tenancies in place on 1 May 2026 had to give every tenant the official government information sheet about the new rules by 31 May 2026, with fines of up to £7,000. Letting agents had to serve it as well. If you are not certain yours went out, check now and take advice.

What the Act Means for Landlords Day to Day

Step back from the individual rules and the pattern is clear. Renting in England is now a regulated, evidence led activity with statutory deadlines at every turn. Three shifts stand out.

• Compliance became continuous. Notices, response windows, annual rent cycles and, soon, registration. Missing a step no longer just delays some paperwork. It can block possession or trigger a fine.
• Possession became evidence led. Every route to recovering a property now runs through a ground you must prove. The tenancy file you keep from day one decides how that ends.
• Margins reward professionalism. One rent review a year, priced with real market data. Arrears caught in week one, not month three. Maintenance handled fast enough to keep good tenants. The landlords who do these things well are the ones the new system favours.

That is why more owners have moved to professional management since the Act commenced, and why some have looked at different models altogether. Short lets, where local rules allow them, sit outside the assured tenancy system and suit some properties, though they bring their own regulation and workload. Our Airbnb management in Bristol team can tell you honestly whether your property is a good fit. For most landlords, though, the answer is not to leave long term letting. It is to run it properly, or have it run for you, which is exactly what our long term rental management in Bristol service is for.

Need Advice on the Renters’ Rights Act? Speak to UpgradedPM

The Renters’ Rights Act rewrote the rules, the deadlines and the risks of letting property in England. Most landlords do not have time to become housing lawyers on the side, and with Section 21 gone the cost of getting a process wrong is higher than it used to be.

We help landlords run compliant, profitable tenancies under the new system. Whether you own a single rental or a growing portfolio, our team can give you straight answers on:

• Long term rental strategy under the Renters’ Rights Act
• Compliance, notices and record keeping
• Rent reviews backed by local market data
• Arrears prevention and tenant communication
• Airbnb and short let management
• Portfolio performance and maintenance

As a tech driven property management company, we combine hands on expertise with systems built for exactly this kind of regulation, so nothing slips.

If you would like clear guidance on what the Renters’ Rights Act means for your property, get in touch with UpgradedPM today. We will help you make informed decisions and keep your property performing in a fully regulated market.