Renters' Rights Act 2025: Complete Landlord Guide to Compliance in 2026

Average county court possession proceedings in England now take approximately 26 weeks from claim to order — a period during which the median UK asking rent of £1,295 per month (ONS, Q2 2026) is simply not arriving, court fees are accumulating, and the property cannot be re-let. That is the baseline operational risk for a post-Renters' Rights Act landlord facing a non-paying tenant, and it is materially higher than the pre-2025 position.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 is now fully in force for all private tenancies in England. Section 21 no-fault evictions no longer exist. All tenancies — created before or after the Act commenced — are periodic. Rent can only increase once per year via a Section 13 notice. Registration with the Landlord Ombudsman is mandatory. This guide covers every material change and what landlords must do to remain compliant entering Q4 2026.

What changed: the seven most important shifts

No single piece of legislation has changed the private rented sector as fundamentally as this Act since the Housing Act 1988. These are the seven changes landlords must understand:

• Section 21 abolished entirely. No-fault evictions no longer exist for any private tenancy in England. Any Section 21 notice that had not been fully executed before commencement is void. There is no transitional exception for existing tenancies.
• All tenancies are now periodic. No new fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies can be created in the private rented sector. All existing fixed-terms converted to periodic tenancies at commencement. Tenants can leave with two months' notice; landlords must use Section 8.
• Section 8 grounds reformed and expanded. The government added new grounds, including Ground 1A (intention to sell with vacant possession), and tightened notice periods. Several grounds now require four months' notice rather than two.
• Rent increases limited to once per year. A Section 13 notice on a prescribed form is now the only lawful mechanism for increasing rent. Two months' notice is required; only one increase is permitted in any 12-month period.
• Landlord Ombudsman registration mandatory. All private residential landlords in England must register with an approved scheme. Failure is a civil offence, subject to a fixed-penalty notice of up to £5,000.
• Decent Homes Standard extended to the PRS. The Decent Homes Standard, previously confined to social housing, now applies to all privately rented homes in England. Local housing authorities have enforcement powers.
• Pets: landlords cannot unreasonably refuse. Tenants may request permission to keep a pet in writing. Landlords must have reasonable grounds to refuse and may require pet insurance. The boundary of "reasonable" has not yet been extensively litigated.

Section 21 is gone: the operational consequences

Section 21 gave landlords a relatively low-friction exit route: serve two months' notice on the prescribed form, obtain an accelerated possession order if the tenant did not leave, and regain the property without establishing fault. The process was imperfect, but it was fast compared with contested Section 8 proceedings.

That route is closed. The consequence is a materially higher time and cost for recovering possession from a non-compliant or non-paying tenant. Ministry of Justice data for H1 2026 shows county court possession proceedings averaging approximately 26 weeks from claim to order, up from around 22 weeks before the Act. At the median UK asking rent of £1,295 per month, six months of lost income plus court and legal fees represents a direct loss of £9,000 to £13,000 depending on property type, region and whether the case is defended.

"Landlord possession claims in the county courts increased by approximately 12% in H1 2026 compared with H1 2025, as landlords adjusted from the no-fault Section 21 route to mandatory use of Section 8 grounds." (Ministry of Justice, Mortgage and Landlord Possession Statistics, H1 2026)

The practical implication for deal modelling is direct: void provisions at 2–4 weeks per year are underweight for a post-Act portfolio. A prudent buffer for a portfolio of one to five properties should assume at least 6–8 weeks of effective void per property per year, with one in ten acquisitions potentially requiring full possession proceedings over a ten-year hold. Run that scenario before accepting a deal at a margin that cannot absorb it.

Section 8 grounds: the ones you will actually use

There are over 20 grounds under Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988, as amended. These are the grounds relevant to the majority of private landlords:

Ground 1A is the significant new addition for investors who plan an eventual sale. The 12-month exclusion window and four-month notice requirement mean that recovering vacant possession for a sale now takes considerably longer than it did under Section 21. Any acquisition underwriting that assumed a quick exit via Section 21 needs to be rebuilt around the Ground 1A timeline.

Rent increases: the Section 13 process in practice

Before the Act, landlords could increase rent during a periodic tenancy by serving notice at any time, subject to a minimum notice period. Some landlords increased rent mid-tenancy more than once per year, particularly as inflation rose sharply in 2022–2023. The Act ends that flexibility:

• Only one rent increase is permitted in any 12-month period
• The increase must be served on a prescribed Section 13 notice
• Minimum two months' notice before the new rent takes effect
• Tenants can challenge the proposed figure at the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)
• The Tribunal sets the market rent — it cannot refuse an increase, but it can reduce it below the landlord's proposed figure
• Missing the 12-month window does not entitle landlords to two increases in the following year

"Asking rents on new lets in England rose approximately 5.1% in the year to Q2 2026, with the largest increases in Manchester, Leeds and Bristol city centres, driven by a structural supply shortage as smaller landlords continue to exit the market." (ONS Private Rental Market Summary Statistics, England, Q2 2026)

Landlord Ombudsman: what registration requires

Mandatory registration with a government-approved Landlord Ombudsman scheme was the provision that caught many small landlords off guard. The registration deadline for existing landlords was April 2026. New landlords must register before marketing any property for let.

• Registration is via the MHCLG digital portal; the annual fee is £35 per property
• Non-registration is a civil offence; local housing authorities can issue fixed-penalty notices up to £5,000
• Tenants may escalate unresolved complaints to the Ombudsman after the landlord has had eight weeks to respond
• The Ombudsman can award compensation to tenants of up to £25,000 and require landlords to remedy conditions
• Letting agents must verify their client is registered before taking a property to market

If you have not yet registered, do so immediately. The portal is straightforward. The risk of operating unregistered is not just the fine — it is that an unregistered landlord cannot rely on the Ombudsman process to resolve disputes before they escalate to the courts, removing an important and relatively low-cost dispute-resolution route.

What the data shows: market impact 18 months in

Eighteen months after commencement, the rental market effects of the Act are visible in the data. RICS Q3 2026 survey figures show new landlord instructions — the primary proxy for rental supply — running 18% below the equivalent period in 2025. The exit is disproportionately concentrated among landlords with one to three properties, many of whom cite the extended possession timeline, increased regulatory burden and Ombudsman compliance costs as reasons for selling.

For landlords who remain, the conditions are broadly favourable. Void periods in the North West and Yorkshire are at five-year lows. Average asking rents on new lets are rising at 5.1% annually. Tenant demand in major city markets is high. The regulatory environment is harder to navigate, but the income environment for well-managed, compliant stock is the strongest since before the Section 24 mortgage interest relief restriction took effect.

Five-point compliance checklist for Q4 2026

1. Register with the Landlord Ombudsman if not already done. Log in to the MHCLG registration portal and register every privately rented property. The £35 annual fee per property prevents a potential £5,000 fixed-penalty notice.
2. Replace any fixed-term AST templates. All tenancies are periodic. If you are using an older tenancy agreement template that creates a fixed term, replace it with a compliant periodic tenancy template. The NRLA and specialist landlord solicitors publish compliant versions.
3. Calendar Section 13 rent review notices. Identify the anniversary month for every tenancy and set a reminder 3 months in advance. The notice requires 2 months' lead time; acting 3 months ahead leaves a margin for administrative error.
4. Verify tenancy deposit compliance. Each deposit must be held in an approved scheme (DPS, MyDeposits or TDS) and the prescribed information served within 30 days of receipt. The Act did not change deposit rules, but non-compliance now interacts more acutely with possession proceedings.
5. Audit properties against the Decent Homes Standard. Properties must be free from Category 1 HHSRS hazards, in reasonable repair, with reasonably modern facilities and adequate thermal comfort. A Decent Homes survey for each property is the most defensible evidence of compliance if a council inspection occurs.

Frequently asked questions

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