The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 gave tenants new and extended rights from 1st May 2026, further outlining new rules for private landlords. As we are now in the era of the implementation of the Act, this blog sets out a high-level summary of some of the key provisions that a landlord will now need to understand.

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The Government have published a new fact sheet that is readily available for review: The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 (which landlords are required to give to any existing tenants who had a Assured Periodic Tenancy before 1st May 2026).

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Tenancy agreements

From the 1^st May 2026, assured tenancies will not have a fixed end date – instead, each agreement shall now be a rolling tenancy. A rolling tenancy, otherwise referred to as a periodic tenancy, continues automatically. If the rent is paid monthly, the tenancy renews for monthly periods for example.

The tenancy will now stay in place until either:

-         The tenant decides to end the tenancy;

-         The landlord and the tenant decide to end the tenancy together; or

-         If the landlord decides to end it, with legal reason.

Legal reasons for ending the tenancy now include, but are not limited to, the following:

-         Landlord wants to sell the property;

-         Redevelopment or major works are proposed to the property;

-         There is a breach of the tenancy agreement by the tenant; or

-         Persistent late payment of the rent by the tenant.

There are no longer ‘no fault evictions’. Landlords must have a valid reason for seeking to evict a tenant from their property.

Any tenancies that were referred to as Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) will now be called Assured Periodic Tenancies instead. This does not mean that an AST will end because of this change.

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Rent

From 1^st May 2026, rent review clauses cannot be included within tenancy agreements. If there are such clauses in existing agreements, this will not apply after 1^st May.

Landlords are now only permitted to increase rent for their residential tenants once per annum in accordance with section 13 of the Housing Act 1988.

If a landlord wants to increase rent in accordance with this section, they would need to serve, on the residential tenant, at least two months’ notice of their intention to increase the rent (this is referred to as a section 13 notice). This notice outlines the following:

-         What the current and proposed new rent is

-         The start date for this new increased rent

-         What the tenant can do if they disagree with the increase

Such a rent increase cannot usually start until after the first year of the tenancy, and a year after the last rent increase.

A landlord is further no longer allowed to ask for any more than one months’ rent up front from a tenant.

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‍Students

If the landlord has students letting a property and they wish to evict said students by the end of the academic year, then they must provide four months’ notice citing Ground 4A ending between 1^st June and 30^th September.

This is a tighter provision in that the landlord must have previously provided notice to the students residing at their property, outlining that they intend to evict them at the end of the academic year (this is the new ground4A), and to rely on this ground, the landlord must intend to continue letting the property to full-time students in the future.

Tenants with children and/or in receipt of benefits

A landlord is not permitted to deny a prospective tenant from renting their property solely due to said tenant either having children or being in receipt of housing benefit. Landlords are now under a duty to not make such tenants less likely to rent a property which includes not withholding information, preventing viewings or refusing to grant tenancies.

Please note that the contents of this blog are intended as general information only, and do not constitute legal advice. If you are looking for legal advice on this subject, please contact one of our team.

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