Understand the rental reforms affecting your properties, your responsibilities and the steps you need to take. This page covers the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and the forthcoming Private Rented Sector registration service.
Applies to: England | Last reviewed: 1 October 2026
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Status: Main tenancy reforms in force from 1 May 2026
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 changes how landlords establish and manage tenancies, increase rent and recover possession. Its requirements also affect letting agents acting on landlords’ behalf.
Most existing and new private assured tenancies are now periodic, continuing without a fixed end date. Landlords can no longer serve new Section 21 notices. To recover possession, they must use an applicable legal ground and follow the required notice and court procedures.
Landlord action: Review tenancy documents and use the current possession guidance before serving notice.
Rent increases are limited to once a year through the prescribed process, with at least two months’ notice. Written advertisements must state an asking rent; landlords and agents cannot encourage or accept higher bids. Restrictions also apply to taking rent before signing and requiring rent in advance.
Landlord action: Check advertising, payment collection and rent-review procedures.
Landlords must comply with protections for applicants with children or receiving benefits. Tenant requests to keep pets must be considered and answered within the applicable timeframe, with valid reasons for refusal.
Requirements differ for existing and new tenancies. Check that tenants have received the information required for their circumstances.
Read the detailed rules: Official guidance for private landlords.
Status: Future implementation
The planned PRS Landlord Ombudsman will provide an independent route for resolving complaints about landlords. Mandatory membership is expected in 2028. The service is intended to require appropriate remedies, including compensation where justified; landlords should await final scheme rules before relying on a specific compensation limit.
The Act also provides for extending Awaab’s Law and the Decent Homes Standard to private renting. These measures have separate implementation arrangements and should not be treated as already operating simply because the Act has passed.
Landlord action: Keep complaint records, document repairs and check implementation updates.
Sources: Government implementation roadmap · Government explanation of the reforms.
Status: Rollout announced from 15 December 2026
“Register your rental property” is the government’s forthcoming registration service for landlords and rental properties in England. It forms part of the Renters’ Rights Act reforms and will help councils identify and address non-compliance.
The published guidance covers landlords of assured or regulated tenancies, with an exemption for specified supported exempt accommodation. Initial rollout concerns properties already let or becoming let during rollout. Requirements for vacant properties before marketing will follow separately.
Registration begins in the West Midlands on 15 December 2026. Deadlines depend on the property’s location, with three-month regional registration windows and a final regional deadline of 14 November 2027.
The announced annual fee is £65 per property, with adjustments during rollout.
Gather landlord contact details, property and occupancy information, licensing details, rent information and applicable gas, electrical and energy performance documentation.
Landlords must start the registration process themselves. Agents may assist with specified information, but responsibility remains with the landlord.
Check your deadline and document requirements: Official registration guidance.
Status: Draft regulatory detail—check before commencement
The published draft regulations provide for annual renewal and require information or documents to be updated within 28 days of becoming out of date. They also set deadlines for supplying certain tenancy and compliance information.
Landlord action: Establish a process for recording changes and tracking renewals. Check the final regulations and service guidance before registration begins.
The Act’s database enforcement framework provides for civil penalties of up to £7,000 for initial breaches, and up to £40,000 or prosecution for serious or repeated offences. These are maximum penalties, not automatic charges.
Non-compliance can also restrict a landlord’s ability to obtain possession, subject to statutory exceptions. The relevant duties and consequences must be read alongside their commencement dates.
Landlord action: Register within the applicable window, maintain accurate records and resolve missing information promptly.
The Renters’ Rights Act will remove fixed-term assured tenancies. Fixed-term tenancies mean renters are obliged to pay rent regardless of whether a property is up-to-standard, and they reduce flexibility to move in response to changing circumstances, for example after relationship breakdown, to take up a new job or when buying a first home.
Instead, all tenancies will be periodic, with tenants able to stay in their home until they decide to end the tenancy by giving two months’ notice. This will end the injustice of tenants being trapped paying rent for substandard properties and offer more flexibility to both parties to respond to changing circumstances, for example, after a relationship breakdown, to take up a new job or when buying a first home.
All leases with a fixed term of more than 21 years will be removed from the assured tenancy system. This will mean that long leasehold agreements and Shared Ownership leases will not be part of the assured tenancy system in future.
Source: Government website
The Renters’ Rights Act will end the unfair practice of pitting renters against each other in bidding wars. By outlawing rental bidding, we will level the playing field for renters and crack down on the minority of unscrupulous landlords who make the most of the housing crisis by forcing tenants to bid for their properties.
Once enacted, the Renters’ Rights Act will require landlords and letting agents to publish an asking rent for their property. It will also prohibit them from asking for, encouraging, or accepting any bids above this price.
By directly tackling rental bidding, the Renters’ Rights Act will improve the experiences of prospective tenants across England and ensure that the exploitative approach currently taken by a minority of unscrupulous landlords is ended for good.
Source: Government website
