The Renters’ Rights Act received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. When the Act’s main
reforms come into force on 1 May 2026, it will mark the biggest change to letting legislation
in decades. We provide a summary of the Act’s key points and their impact on landlords.
The main reform from the Renters’ Rights Act will take effect on 1st May 2026, and will abolish the Section 21 Notice. Currently, the Section 21 Notice is the simplest and most used Notice for landlords to regain possession of their property. By banning the no-fault S21 Notice from 1st May 2026, landlords will be forced to rely on Section 8 Notices once the Act comes into force. Landlords may therefore wish to use the Section 21 route whilst they still can. With the new Act expected to create a backlog in the Courts, we would advise landlords who wish to recover possession of their property to serve a Section 21 Notice promptly to avoid unnecessary delays. The Act also bans Court Proceedings in reliance on a Section 21 Notice from 31st July 2026, and therefore there is a limited window for both the Notice expiry, and the issuing of Court Proceedings.
The Act will abolish ASTs and convert all current AST tenancies to periodic tenancies. This will provide tenants with an indefinite right to reside in the property under the agreement until either the landlord recovers possession through the Section 8 route, or the tenant voluntarily vacates. This will apply to all current and future tenancies from 1 May 2026. Landlords won’t need to change or reissue any existing tenancy agreement, instead, they will need to provide tenants with a copy of a government-produced information sheet explaining the effect of the reforms on their tenancy. This information sheet has not yet been published. New tenancies commencing after 1st May 2026 will, however, need to reflect the legislative changes. Porter Dodson will be providing precedent documents nearer the implementation date.
The headline changes to the Section 8 Grounds include: increasing the mandatory level of rent arrears from 2 months to 3 months, and doubling the Notice period from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. This will leave landlords in a worse financial position before they can issue Notice. Landlords with tenants in rent arrears may therefore choose to act now, before the Act comes into force.
The Act introduces new grounds for landlords to rely upon to recover possession of their property under Section 8 Notices. These grounds allow for eviction if the landlord wants to sell the property or move into the property (or have a family member or qualifying person move into the property). The Notice periods for either of these grounds will be 4 months, and the Notice cannot expire until the end of the first 12 months of the tenancy. If a landlord is currently contemplating selling their property, then they may prefer to serve a Section 21 Notice whilst they still can, so as to benefit from the shorter 2-month notice period.
The service will provide landlords with support and guidance to aid them in improving their response to any complaints and will provide a fair and impartial binding resolution for tenant complaints about their landlord. All private landlords with assured or regulated tenancies will be required to join the Service. This is expected to be mandatory for landlords to join from late 2026, but it is still unclear as to exactly when.
The aim of this database is to help landlords understand their legal obligations and prevent rogue landlords from continuing to let property by assisting local authorities with their enforcement action. All private landlords with assured or regulated tenancies will be required by law to register themselves and their properties on the database. As above, this is expected by late 2026.
The Act looks to increase the living standard of properties being let to private tenants. It will require landlords to address hazards, such as damp and mould, within a specified period of time. If landlords do not comply, they may face enforcement action against them. Local councils will have increased powers to issue civil penalties against landlords for failure to comply. At the moment, some of the provisions will only apply to social housing. It is therefore important to get legal advice to determine how this will effect individual landlords on a case by case basis.
Landlords and Agents will be required to publish the asking rental price for the property at the time of listing it, and will be prohibited from accepting a rent higher than that advertised. The Act also sets out that rent increases will be dealt with by Section 13 Notices. The landlord will need to serve one on the tenant and, if agreed, the tenant will start paying the new sum. If the tenant disagrees with the increase, they can refer the increase to the First-tier Tribunal. Now that the Act has an implementation date of 1 May 2026, landlords will need specialist legal advice to navigate the new legislation and the possession procedure.
Porter Dodson’s specialist Property Litigation Department will be happy to help.