The Renters' Rights Act five months in: what landlords should be looking at

Since 1 May, private renting in England has worked under a new set of rules. The Act received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 and its main reforms took effect on 1 May 2026. The first wave of questions was about compliance. The harder ones now are about strategy: when to sell, how to handle rent, and what the next phases will ask of landlords.

What changed on 1 May

Section 21 has gone. Landlords now need a statutory ground under Section 8 to recover possession, and they have to prove it. Almost every existing assured shorthold tenancy became a periodic assured tenancy on the same day, with no end date. A tenant can leave with two months' notice whenever they choose. A landlord needs a reason.

Rent rules have changed as well. Rent can go up once a year, by Section 13 notice with two months' warning, and rent review clauses in older agreements no longer work. When a property is advertised, the asking rent has to be stated, and landlords and agents can't encourage or accept offers above it.

Selling a tenanted property

For investors, the biggest shift is in how a property is taken back. Tenants now have a 12-month protected period at the start of a tenancy, during which a landlord can't evict them to sell or move in, and using those grounds requires four months' notice. After using either ground, the property can't be marketed or re-let for 12 months.

So if a landlord recovers possession to sell and the sale falls through, the property could sit empty for a year with the mortgage and bills still running. Anyone who might sell in the next couple of years needs to make that decision earlier than they once would have. Selling with the tenant in place is also worth a proper look. It avoids the possession process altogether, and some investor buyers prefer a let property.

What's still to come

The PRS database is due to start from 15 December 2026, region by region, with registration becoming compulsory at different points through 2027. A landlord ombudsman is also on the way, and a later phase brings in Awaab's Law and a revised Decent Homes Standard for private rented homes.

Where to start

Most tenancy agreements in circulation were written for the old system, so they need checking. It also helps to set up a simple annual process for rent reviews, since there is now only one way to do them. And with the new standards coming, it makes sense to look at the condition of each property now, while there is time to plan any work.

Open-ended tenancies make good tenants more valuable than they used to be. Landlords who keep their properties well and price them fairly will find the new system much easier to live with.

If you'd like help reviewing your portfolio or tenancies under the new rules, get in touch.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice. For specific situations, please speak to a solicitor.