Renters' Rights Act 2025:  The next steps

What you need to know

• The Act will be implemented in stages.  The major tenancy reforms are expected to come into force on 1 May 2026

What you need to do

• The assured shorthold tenancy (AST) regime is effectively abolished. All assured tenancies will be periodic, i.e., without a fixed end date and on a rolling monthly (or shorter) basis.

Renters' Rights Act 2025: The next steps

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 (the Act) is being implemented in three phases, with major tenancy reforms coming into force on 1 May 2026. The full implementation of the Act is expected to continue until at least 2028, with some reforms such as the Decent Homes Standard not expected until 2035.

What are the key tenancy reforms?

The key tenancy reforms are due to come into force on 1 May 2026 according to the Government Implementation Road Map.  These include:

1. The abolition of the assured shorthold tenancy (AST). All new and existing assured tenancies will be periodic, i.e., without a fixed end date and on a rolling monthly (or shorter) basis.

2. Tenants will be able to end a tenancy by providing two months' notice. 

3. Section 21 no-fault evictions will be abolished. Instead, landlords will need to demonstrate that they have satisfied new and amended statutory grounds for possession.

4. The statutory possession grounds will be strengthened. Some grounds are mandatory while others are discretionary. In particular, landlords will be able to take possession when they wish to sell, move into, or redevelop the property, or in the case of anti-social behaviour or non-payment of rent. Each possession ground has its own minimum notice period.

Where the landlord relies on the ground that it wishes to sell or move in, there is a prohibition on advertising the property for re-letting, and on actively re-letting, for a period after possession

5. The landlord will not be able to increase rent more than once a year and it will no longer be possible to include contractual rent reviews in the tenancy. The landlord will only be able to review the rent by serving a section 13 notice. This is an existing mechanism under the Housing Act 1988, but it is rarely used at present because contractual rent increases are normally agreed when a fixed-term AST is granted.

Under the section 13 procedure, the landlord must give two months' notice of the proposed rent increase. If the tenant chooses to challenge the increase, the FTT will determine the new rent based on the open market rent. The FTT will not be able to order a rent higher than that proposed in the landlord’s notice, even if it below market rent.  Furthermore, the new rent will only take effect after the rent has been determined by the FTT and will not be backdated to the date of the landlord's notice.

6.  All tenants will have a legal right to request to keep a pet, which cannot be unreasonably refused. 

7. Rental bidding wars and requests for more than one month's rent in advance are banned.

8. Landlords will not be able to discriminate against tenants in receipt of benefits or with children.  Landlords can carry out reference checks to make sure that the tenant can afford the rent.  

9.  Landlords must provide a written statement of terms and other information about the tenancy to their tenants in writing. This can be included in the written tenancy agreement. This information can also include the notice of the landlord’s wish to rely on any of the statutory grounds for which advance notice is required. The exact information required will be set out in regulations which we expect to be published in January 2026 so that landlords have time to update their tenancy agreement templates.

Transitional provisions confirm that once the tenancy reforms are in force landlords must provide any existing tenants with a "written statement" which gives details of the changes made by the Act by 31 May 2026.  The form will be published online in March 2026, in time for the reforms coming into effect on 1 May 2026.

Further implementation stages of the Act 

In the second implementation phase from late 2026, the government will introduce the new PRS Database to bring together key information for landlords, tenants, and councils. The Database content will inform tenant choices when entering new tenancies; will help landlords understand their obligations and demonstrate compliance; and will support councils in targeting enforcement. In this phase a Landlord Ombudsman for the PRS will also be created to improve dispute resolution, settling issues between tenants and landlords without costly court proceedings. 

Phase three of the implementation of the Act will focus on raising standards through the extension of Awaab’s Law and a modernised Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector. The timescales for implementing these changes will be subject to consultation. 

Strengthening councils' enforcement powers

From 1 May 2026 local authorities will have increased enforcement powers.  Civil penalties will be expanded, and there will be a new requirement for local councils to report on enforcement activity. Rent repayment orders will be extended to superior landlords, the maximum penalty will be doubled, and repeat offenders required to pay the maximum amount.

Local councils will also benefit from new investigatory powers giving local councils a stronger ability to inspect properties, demand documents, and access third-party data to crack down on rogue landlords and enforce housing standards more effectively.  These new powers come into effect on 27 December 2025.

How does the Act apply to student accommodation?

The Government’s intention is that Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) will be exempt from the new regime. PBSA tenancies which are granted after the relevant provisions of the Act come into force will be common law tenancies. This allows the grant of a fixed term and recovery of possession outside of the confines of the new regime.  Qualifying PBSA providers can continue to offer fixed term tenancies for the academic year.

The Act anticipates that tenancies will be exempt if:

• they are granted to full-time students at "specified educational institutions", (SEIs), and
• the landlord or its manager is subject to approved codes of practice (e.g the ANUK/Unipol National Codes).

The regulations are expected to set out that tenancies in certain classes of building will be automatically exempt if the provider has signed up to a government approved code , reducing the administrative burden for providers.

A different regime applies to existing student ASTs granted for the 2025/2026 academic year – these will automatically convert to assured periodic tenancies, but with temporary arrangements for existing "specified student tenancies".  A modified Ground 4A will apply to all "specified student tenancies" during a transitional phase, even if the property is not an HMO.

How does the Act affect build to rent (BTR)?

The policy behind these changes has been welcomed by the BTR sector for the most part. The objective of improving management and reducing uncertainty for renters in the private sector is very welcome to BTR landlords, which already provide security to tenants that isn't always available in the traditional private rented sector.

Despite this, landlords will be exposed to new risks, in particular:

• The potential for very short tenancies lasting for only two months, as there is no prescribed period at the start of the tenancy during which the tenant cannot serve a notice to quit.
• A prolonged process via the FTT to settle rent reviews if tenants challenge rent increases, leading to cost and delay.

BTR landlords who are subject to section 106 obligations to provide tenancies for a minimum fixed term should also consider whether such obligations will conflict with the new regime. This point needs clarifying, but arguably if the tenant can control the duration of the term under the new regime there may be scope for conflict between new periodic tenancies and BTR section 106 obligations.

Local authorities will also need to consider existing BTR planning policies to ensure that the reforms will not prevent new developments satisfying the BTR criteria for a viable scheme.

What are the implications for long leases?

Provisions of the Act which come into force on 27 December 2025 provide that a fixed term tenancy of more than 21 years cannot be an assured tenancy.   This applies to both new and existing leases.  This will cover shared ownership leases and long leases with escalating ground rents. It means that no matter how high the ground rent is, the long lease cannot acquire assured status. As a result, the usual forfeiture rules will apply, and landlords will not be able to make use of the mandatory possession grounds under the Housing Act 1988.

There is a separate provision confirming that existing residential fixed term tenancies with an original term of between 7 and 21 years granted before the Act came into force on the 27 October 2025 or during the period from 27 October 2025 to 26 December 2025, or pursuant to a contract entered into before the end of that period are also excluded from the definition of assured tenancy.

Where do we go from here?

The proposed compulsory use of the section 13 rent review procedure means uncertainty for both parties and is likely to be time consuming if the tenant chooses to challenge the landlord's proposal. 

To alleviate this uncertainty the Act does give the Secretary of State power to make regulations allowing for increases to be backdated, which the government said it would consider doing if the FTT becomes overwhelmed with cases, as is widely predicted.   In the longer term, the government intends to establish an alternative body or mechanism to the First-tier Tribunal to make initial rent determinations, subject to a final viability assessment.

Once the tenancy reforms are in force, claims will inevitably increase as landlords try to recover properties when they need to. The court system is already struggling, and significant improvements are needed quickly for it to cope with the inevitable increase in claims.  The Government has indicated that the justice system will be supported with funding to ensure that the courts and tribunals have the resources and capacity they need to handle the additional workload these reforms will generate. This includes further funding for a new digital end-to-end possession service in the county courts.

We will need to see how local authorities use their new enforcement powers.  Local authorities are already over-stretched, and there is a danger that in trying to meet tenant expectations local authorities will open investigations into landlords with little scrutiny of the complaint, and that the investigations will then take a long time to resolve. It is in no-one's interests for the private rental sector to be weighed down with lengthy investigations.

Given the sweeping nature of the reforms, there are transitional rules that will apply in certain circumstances. For example, any section 21 notice or section 8 notice served, and any possession proceedings begun before 1 May 2026, will remain valid but strict deadlines will apply and any court proceedings must be commenced before 21 July 2026. 

While many of the changes to the PRS are contained in the Act itself, the government will need to make secondary legislation to add further detail to some provisions and to bring the Act’s measures into force. For example, the government will need to make further regulations to support the full implementation of Phase 1 in Spring 2026. These will include more substantive regulations which will, for example, exempt PBSA from the assured tenancy regime. 

The pace of change will be fast over the next few years and landlords, the courts, local authorities will need to adapt quickly so that this sector can continue to flourish.