Renters Rights Act – An Agent’s View

Unless you have been hiding under a rock or camping in the Outer Hebrides for the last two years, it would be impossible to have missed the news surrounding the largest change to Lettings Legislation since the Housing Act 1988.

After much debate in the Houses of Parliament, the Act passed and received Royal Assent at the end of October 2025. Since then, the Government have produced their “road map” to implementation of the changes brought by the Act, with the key date of the 1^st May 2026 for the bulk of the changes, but with other provisions due to come in later in 2026 and beyond (exact dates still to be confirmed).

The largest change is the removal of Assured Shorthold Tenancies, and Section 21 “no fault” evictions. As of 1^st May 2026, all private tenancies in England will become Assured Tenancies, which will differ significantly in two major areas.

The first is that these Assured tenancies will be “periodic”, meaning there is no fixed period, tenants will need to give two months’ notice that they wish to vacate. The second being that a landlord must give notice using specific grounds should they wish for possession of the property back.

The grounds cover a multitude of different circumstances, however the main grounds which will be relied on will be those which allow a landlord to gain possession because they wish to either sell the property or they or a close family member wish to move back into the property. Both will require four months’ notice to be given (so double the current two months under Section 21) but also have the caveat attached that the property cannot be put back on the rental market for 12 months after the tenant vacates – to close an obvious loophole.

Whilst the intentions here are good, I do wonder if some will become stuck with an empty property where a sale has been agreed but has then fallen through. The other issue which is yet to be clarified is what the burden of proof on the landlord’s side will be. How much will the courts expect a landlord to provide to satisfy them that a family member is indeed moving in or a property is going to be put on the market? This will come out in due course, but it may be that we must wait for a few “test” cases to go through following the implementation of the new legislation.

There are several other grounds, including breach of tenancy on the tenant’s part, obtaining a tenancy with a false reference or falsified information (rare but it does happen) and being in serious rental arrears. The threshold for the latter has been changed from the current two months in arrears to three months of arrears.

Whilst the above may seem daunting, in practice, as I have said before, a good landlord is only likely to wish to serve notice with a valid reason anyway, even now without the new law being in place. I do envisage, and we are starting to see evidence of this now, that landlords will be more particular when choosing a tenant and less likely to take a chance on someone with a poor record or less conventional circumstances going forwards.

The act also gives tenants the right to request permission to keep pets, which the landlord must consider and respond to within 28 days, either giving permission for the pet(s), or giving clear reasons as to why a pet is not suitable for the property if that is indeed the case. It does not give the tenant an automatic right to keep pets as some headlines have suggested.

Some of the other changes in the act include the removal of the right for a landlord insist on rent being paid in advance for a tenancy, limit rent increases to once per year using a Section 13 notice (something Hazells have been doing for a long time now anyway) and preventing “bidding wars” by not allowing tenants to offer more rent than is advertised in order to secure a property.

Overall, it is going to be an interesting few months planning for and then seeing through the implementation of the Act. It may be that the changes brought in do mean some landlords exit the market, but this will only decrease the supply of rental properties, meaning that those with good quality rental homes will find it easier to find a good tenant willing to pay market rent.

The penalties for breach of the rules put in place are severe (in some cases a tenant can apply for a rent repayment order of up to two years rent), and the councils enforcement powers have also been increased. I therefore suspect that we will see a larger number of landlords using the services of a professional agent (such as Hazells) to manage their properties leading up to and following on from the 1^st May 2026.

As always please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, and for any specific advice regarding how the Renters Rights Act may affect you and your plans, weather you are a tenant of ours, existing client or are considering using an agent for your rental properties!

Don’t hesitate in contacting us for more information on what Hazells has to offer – 01284 702 626.