Renters' Rights Act 2025

The Act received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 with phased commencement. Section 21 abolition and periodic tenancy conversion took effect on the single appointed day of 1 May 2026. The Private Rented Sector Database opens from late 2026, and the landlord ombudsman is planned for 2028. Awaab's Law extension to the private rented sector has not yet commenced. Existing fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies converted automatically on 1 May 2026. Landlords face civil penalties for non-compliance and Rent Repayment Orders if unregistered.

In practice, the change most tenants feel is the end of the fixed term. Since 1 May 2026 every assured tenancy is periodic, so you can leave by giving two months' notice at any point, and your landlord can only end the tenancy by proving one of the statutory grounds in court. That reverses the old dynamic in which a tenant who complained about disrepair could simply be given two months' notice with no reason at all.

Worked example: Dan rents a flat and reports a persistent leak. Under the old regime his landlord would have served a Section 21 notice and Dan would have had no defence. Now the landlord must rely on a Section 8 ground. If the landlord claims to be selling, that ground carries its own notice period, cannot be used in the first twelve months of the tenancy, and — if the property is then re-let rather than sold — exposes the landlord to penalties. Dan meanwhile challenges a mid-year rent increase by referring the section 13 notice to the First-tier Tribunal, which can determine the market rent and cannot set it above what the landlord asked for.

The pitfalls and misconceptions are worth flagging. Abolition of no-fault eviction does not mean you cannot be evicted — the Section 8 grounds were broadened at the same time, including for serious arrears and antisocial behaviour. Rent can still rise, but only once a year and only by the statutory notice route, so any contractual rent-review clause in an older agreement no longer bites. Bidding wars are banned, so a landlord or agent must advertise a price and cannot accept more. And the reforms arrived in phases: database registration and the landlord ombudsman follow later, and Awaab's Law has not yet been extended to private lets.

The Act removed Section 21, made Section 8 the only route to possession, converted every assured shorthold tenancy into a periodic assured tenancy, and will eventually extend Awaab's Law to private landlords. Read our guides to the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and its implementation timeline to see what is already in force.