The Renters’ Rights Act 2026:
What Every Landlord Must Know

The Renters’ Rights Act received Royal Assent in May 2025. By June 2025 the first wave of changes was live. By April 2026, every private landlord in England is operating under a fundamentally different legal framework. Many landlords are still catching up.

This is the biggest overhaul of the private rented sector in three decades. If you own buy-to-let property in England, what follows is not optional reading.

What Is the Renters’ Rights Act?

The Renters’ Rights Act (formerly the Renters’ Reform Bill) replaces the Housing Act 1988 framework that has governed private tenancies since Margaret Thatcher’s government. It applies to England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own separate legislation.

The headline change is the abolition of Section 21. But the Act goes much further than that. It restructures the entire relationship between landlord and tenant, from how tenancies are created to how rents are reviewed to how possession is regained.

The 8 Key Changes Every Landlord Must Understand

1. Section 21 is abolished

“No-fault” evictions are gone. You can no longer serve a Section 21 notice to end a tenancy without giving a specific legal reason. This applies to all tenancies, new and existing. Any Section 21 notice served after the commencement date is invalid.

What this means in practice: You must use Section 8 grounds for possession in all cases. If you want your property back, you need a valid legal reason.

2. All tenancies become periodic

Fixed-term tenancies no longer exist in the private rented sector. All new tenancies are periodic from day one (rolling month-to-month). All existing fixed-term tenancies converted to periodic when their current fixed term expired.

Tenants gain the right to give two months’ notice to end their tenancy at any point. There is no minimum term.

3. Strengthened Section 8 grounds for possession

To compensate for the removal of Section 21, the government strengthened and clarified the Section 8 grounds. Key grounds landlords can now rely on include:

• Ground 1: Landlord wants to move in (mandatory; 4 months’ notice required)
• Ground 1A: Landlord wants to sell (new; 4 months’ notice required; property must be sold and not re-let for 12 months)
• Ground 8: Rent arrears of 3+ months (mandatory ground)
• Ground 14: Anti-social behaviour (court discretion applies)

4. Rent increases limited to once per year

Rent can only be increased once every 12 months. The landlord must use the Section 13 process, which means serving formal notice on the prescribed form giving at least two months’ written notice. Informal agreements to increase rent outside this process are not enforceable.

5. Tenants can challenge rents at tribunal

When a landlord proposes a rent increase under Section 13, the tenant can refer it to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) for assessment. The tribunal will consider whether the proposed rent is above the open market rate, and can reduce it, hold it, or confirm it. Critically, the tribunal cannot increase the rent above the landlord’s proposed figure.

This creates an incentive for landlords to keep increases reasonable. Pushing well above market rate risks a tribunal reducing the increase, and a formal process that takes months.

6. Decent Homes Standard extended to the private rented sector

Private landlords must now meet the Decent Homes Standard, which was previously only mandatory for social housing. A property fails the standard if it:

• Contains a Category 1 hazard under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)
• Is in a state of disrepair
• Lacks modern facilities or thermal insulation

Local authorities have new enforcement powers to inspect properties and issue remediation notices.

7. Right to request a pet

Tenants now have the right to request permission to keep a pet. Landlords cannot unreasonably refuse. A refusal is only valid if there is a genuine reason, for example, the property is a high-rise flat where a large dog would be unsuitable, or the lease with a freeholder prohibits pets. Landlords can require pet insurance as a condition of consent.

8. New ombudsman and landlord register (incoming)

All private landlords in England will be required to join a new Private Rented Sector Ombudsman. A national landlord register is also being introduced (phased rollout). Failure to register will be a criminal offence. The register and ombudsman are expected to be fully operational by late 2026.

What Landlords Can Still Do

The Renters’ Rights Act is not a tenants’ charter that strips all landlord rights. You can still:

• Sell your property (using the new Ground 1A)
• Move into your property (using Ground 1)
• Evict for significant rent arrears (Ground 8, mandatory if arrears exceed three months)
• Evict for anti-social behaviour (Ground 14)
• Evict for repeated breach of tenancy obligations
• Raise rents in line with the market (via the Section 13 process)
• Retain deposits and claim against them for damage

The difference is that every possession action now requires a court process with a specific legal ground. There are no shortcuts.

What You Need to Do Right Now

• Audit your tenancy agreements. All existing ASTs have converted to periodic tenancies. Review what your agreements say about notice periods, rent review clauses and obligations. Some legacy clauses may now be unenforceable.
• Set up a Section 13 rent review process. You need a system for tracking when rent was last increased and when you’re next eligible to raise it. This needs to be date-managed per property.
• Document property condition. The Decent Homes Standard now applies to you. Maintain a written record of maintenance requests, inspections and repair work. This is your defence against enforcement action.
• Update your possession procedure. Remove any reference to Section 21 from your processes. All possession actions now start with a Section 8 notice on the correct prescribed form.
• Register for the ombudsman scheme once it opens. Non-registration will be a criminal offence.
• Review your portfolio insurance. Check your landlord insurance covers the new legal landscape, including longer void periods during possession proceedings.

How Property Management Software Helps

The Renters’ Rights Act creates an administrative burden that spreadsheets cannot handle safely. Here’s where software matters:

• Rent review tracking: Know exactly when each tenancy is eligible for a Section 13 notice. Miss the window and you reset the 12-month clock.
• Document vault: Store inspection reports, maintenance records and correspondence in one auditable place. If you face a tribunal or enforcement action, you need a paper trail.
• Portfolio overview: See all your properties, their compliance status and rent review dates in one dashboard.
• MTD compliance: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax runs alongside the Renters’ Rights Act. Both took effect in 2026. Both require systematic record-keeping. A compliant platform handles both simultaneously.
• Professional network: Access solicitors, accountants and compliance specialists directly through the platform. With possession law changing, having a specialist on speed-dial matters.

Proxera is built for exactly this operating environment. See what’s included from £14.95/month.

The Bottom Line

The Renters’ Rights Act is not the disaster some landlord groups predicted. It is a significant operational change. The landlords who will struggle are those who relied on Section 21 as a management shortcut, or who ran their portfolios informally without proper documentation.

The landlords who are well-positioned are those who already operated professionally: documented everything, maintained properties to a good standard, kept rents broadly in line with the market, and used systems rather than spreadsheets. The Act rewards that approach. If you’re not there yet, the window to get there is closing.