Posted Wednesday 5th November 2025
The new Renters’ Rights Act (“Act”) gained Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, marking one of the biggest overhauls of the private rental sector in decades. The Act aims to provide residential tenants with more security and transparency within the rental market. But what does this mean for landlords?
Many of the changes require additional regulations before being implemented and the Government have not yet released any implementation timelines. Whilst timings remain unclear, we have highlighted below some of the key changes that will impact landlords.
The Act abolishes ASTs and landlords will no longer be able to grant a tenancy for a fixed term. This will be implemented retrospectively, so both new tenancies and existing ASTs will become rolling periodic tenancies. Those tenancies will continue until such time as they are terminated under one or more of the amended grounds in section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (“the 1988 Act”).
Within the first 12 months of a tenancy, a landlord cannot evict a tenant if they want to move into or sell a property, although there are other grounds by which it will be possible to gain possession within the first 12 months.
Purpose Built Student Accommodation (“PBSA”) tenancies
PBSA tenancies, that are granted after the Act comes into force, will be exempt from the change to periodic tenancies. This will allow landlords to grant new fixed term tenancies and regain possession outside the new regime. In order for PBSA providers to be eligible for this exemption, the landlord or its managing agents must be a member of a government approved code of practice.
The exemption does not apply to all student lettings and specific advice should therefore be sought.
Abolishing evictions under the Section 21 route
The Act abolishes no-fault evictions under section 21 of the 1988 Act.
Landlords should be aware that there is likely to be a transitional period whereby section 21 notices will be valid up until a certain point. However, that period is not yet known.
Given the uncertainty, if you are a landlord and you are considering taking back possession of your property, you may want to serve a section 21 notice sooner rather than later (assuming that you are able to do so). Possession proceedings can still be issued for section 21 notices served prior to the commencement date of the relevant provisions in the Act (whenever that may be).
Changes to the section 8 grounds
Landlords will be unable to regain possession of a property unless one or more of the grounds in section 8 of the 1988 Act apply. The Act has broadened the grounds for possession under section 8 and include where there are rent arrears, breaches of tenancy obligations or an intention to move into or to sell a property.
The threshold for rent arrears before a section 8 notice can be served has been raised from two months to three months, and the notice period has increased from two weeks to four weeks.
Tenant’s ability to end tenancy with 2 months’ notice
The Act will give tenants the ability to end tenancies by giving 2 months’ notice.
The Act will enable landlords to increase the rent once per year in line with market rates. In order to increase the rent, landlords will need to serve a notice pursuant to section 13 of the 1988 Act setting out the new rent giving at least two months’ notice.
A tenant can challenge a rent increase at the First-tier Tribunal and the Tribunal will then determine what the market rent should be. This means that any other form of rent increase, such as contractual review provisions, will not be permitted.
Landlord cannot require tenants to pay multiple months’ rent in advance. The Act will enable the landlord to request a tenant to pay a maximum of one month’s rent in advance once a tenancy has been granted. Existing tenancy agreements will not be affected by this prohibition.
The Decent Homes Standard (“the DHS”) and Awaab’s law, which was historically applicable only to social housing, will be applied to the private rental sector. The DHS incorporates criteria to be met at all properties. Awaab’s law requires landlords to deal with complaints regarding hazards, such as damp and mould, within strict timeframes. This includes investigating the complaint within 10 working days (unless in an emergency, when this is shortened to 24 hours).
Landlords will be legally required to register themselves and their properties on the new database. Landlords who do not do so could potentially be subject to penalties.
It is not yet clear when (a) the database will go live and (b) the deadline for registration will be. Landlords will need to ensure that they act quickly once further regulations come into force to ensure compliance.
New Private Rented Sector Ombudsman service
A new Private Rented Ombudsman service will be introduced, which landlords will be required to join. This service is aimed at providing a means of resolving tenant complaints and the Ombudsman will have the authority to offer fair, impartial and binding resolutions for tenants, as well as to compel landlords to issue an apology, provide information, take remedial action and/or pay compensation.
No rental bidding
Further reforms will be introduced that will prohibit bidding wars.
New anti-discrimination provisions
The Act will ban landlords and agents from refusing tenants because they have children or they are receiving benefits.
Tenant’s right to have a pet
The Act will prohibit landlords from unreasonably withholding consent when a tenant requests permission to keep a pet (subject to certain conditions).
Conclusion
There are already significant delays in the court system and the changes introduced by the Act are a real concern for landlords. At this stage, the implementation timelines are still unknown, but landlords should consider serving section 21 notices now if they want to regain possession of their properties before the Act comes into force. Landlords should also take time to familiarise themselves with the changes, including the DHS and Awaab’s law, to ensure that they do not fall foul of the new legislation.
The Government is expected to provide further clarity on the proposed timelines in the coming weeks.
If you would like to discuss these changes with us, you should not hesitate to contact the Property Litigation team.
This article is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Specific legal advice about your specific circumstances should always be sought separately before taking or deciding not to take any action.
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