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This important new legislation has left many landlords (and tenants) with more questions than answers because when it originally received Royal Assent on 27th October 2025 we were left with a huge number of changes about to happen but no clear dates as to when.
We were told earlier that certain changes would be immediate from the day of Royal Assent but, in the event, this did not happen causing a lot of confusion. Government said at that time that they would publish a Road Map giving all the commencement dates and in November they published
Implementing the Renters’ Rights Act 2025: Our roadmap for reforming the private rented sector
Unfortunately many people are still unaware of that and are asking when is XYZ going to happen. I get a lot of feed back from my Facebook group where everyday landlords and tenants post questions or actually share inaccurate information because they have misunderstood what is happening.
The full Act is here
There are Five parts to this legislation
From Matthew Pennycook Minister of State for Housing and Planning:
“In the first phase of our reforms, we will implement the new tenancy regime. This will apply to both new and existing tenancies and will come into force on 1 May 2026.
The Act’s remaining provisions will be brought into force in two further phases. In the second phase from late 2026, we will introduce our innovative Database of PRS properties
Phase three will focus on raising standards through the extension of Awaab’s Law and a modernised Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector.”
THIS IS THE PUBLISHED TIMETABLE
Date Audience Milestone
27 October 2025 Tenants, landlords councils Royal Assent for the Renters
Rights Act 2025
November 2025 Landlords Landlord guidance for first
phase of measures goes live
November 2025 Local councils Enforcement guidance for local
councils goes live
November 2025 Landlords Communications campaign for
landlords commences
27 December 2025 Local councils New local council enforcement
measures and investigatory
powers (provided by the Act) for
local councils go live
April 2026 Tenants Communications campaign for
tenants commences
April 2026 Tenants Tenant guidance for first phase
of measures goes live
1 May 2026 Tenants, landlords & councils Implementation of first phase of
measures of the Renters’ Rights
Act 2025
From late 2026 Landlord & councils PRS Database and associated
guidance goes live for councils
& Landlords
2027 Tenants & landlords Reforms apply to the Social Rented
Sector
2028 Landlords Mandatory sign-up for landlords to
join the PRS Landlord Ombudsman
TBC consultation Tenants & landlords Implementation of Awaab’s Law for
The PRS
TBC consultation Tenants, landlords &councils
Implementation of Decent Homes
Standard for the PRS
27TH December is the first significant date
Investigatory powers guidance for Renters’ Rights Act 2025 – GOV.UK
“This act gives local housing authorities new powers to investigate whether a landlord or an agent letting out private rented housing has broken certain laws. These new powers will commence on 27 December 2025 – that is they can be used from that date.
The act and this guidance set out which legislation particular investigatory powers apply to. Care should be taken to ensure that the power can be exercised for the purpose a local housing authority intends.
For example, some of these investigatory powers can be used to support local housing authority investigations relating to illegal eviction, poor housing conditions and other housing legislation where they apply to relevant accommodation.
Please note that some of the legislative provisions listed in each section will not be in force when the guidance is issued or will be amended later. The provisions not in force are:
- Protection from Eviction Act 1977, sections 1A
- Renters’ Rights Act, chapter 3 of Part 1 and Part 2
As a local housing authority officer, authorised in writing by the local housing authority to exercise the investigatory powers, you may be able to use these powers if you suspect certain laws have been broken. These powers can support your investigations, and in certain situations, include the ability to:
- enter a business property to seize documents
- ask people or organisations for information
- enter a residential property if you are specially authorised
Some of these powers do not apply to enforcement action against Parliament or the Crown.”
The reference to Protection from Eviction Act above means
This guidance is for local authorities in England who are issuing civil penalties for relevant housing offences.
A civil penalty is a financial penalty imposed by a local authority on an individual or an organisation.
Status of the guidance
This statutory guidance is issued by the Secretary of State under:
- section 1A(4) of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977
- section 16I(9) and section 16K(5) of the Housing Act 1988
- schedule 13A to the Housing Act 2004 (see paragraph 12)
- section 23(10) of the Housing and Planning Act 2016
- section 40(8) and section 57(6) of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.
Local housing authorities must have regard to, that is, consider, this guidance when setting their civil penalty policies and imposing civil penalties.
County councils which are not local housing authorities may also impose civil penalties, and where applicable prosecute, for breaches and offences under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, Housing Act 1988, and Renters’ Rights Act 2025 covered by this guidance. It is expected that where county councils impose a civil penalty that they have regard to this guidance.
1St May 2026 is the next and probably the most significant date for landlord
All tenancy agreements will become monthly rolling contracts with no fixed term
In answer to the many landlords and tenants who have asked the following questions
- What will happen to existing contracts?
On 30th April 2026 all the existing contracts will become rolling monthly contracts and any fixed terms will disappear.
- Can a tenant give notice immediately after 1st May 2026
Yes from 1st May 2026 a tenant can end the tenancy by giving 2 months written notice. They cannot be charged past the end of that notice period nor penalised for early redemption
- What happens to any rent that was paid in advance?
If rent has already been paid in advance under the terms of an existing tenancy agreement this money can be kept and drawn down as it was before. Once the money runs out no more rent can be requested further in advance than one month
- If a tenant asks if they can pay in advance do I need to refuse?
As we know there are several tenant types who do want to pay in advance. Students want to pay when they receive their loans to enable them to budget. Those who would not pass affordability or who are from overseas with no tenant history/guarantor want to secure a rental or those from UK who know that they will not pass affordability ….
Under the RR Act we can accept rent in advance if its offered by the tenant but we cannot require them to pay rent in advance in order to secure the tenancy. We cannot accept the payment of rent in advance before the contract is signed and, of course, if the tenant changes their mind we cannot take any action. We will need to keep very careful records where a tenants offers rent in advance to ensure that if ”they change their minds” having secured the tenancy we don’t find ourselves facing penalties for breaking the law
- What happens when a tenant pays in advance then gives 2 months notice to end the tenancy before the advance rent is used up?
We must refund their money. Payment in advance does not compel a tenant to remain in the property longer than they want to, they can still give two months notice to end the tenancy at any time. Advance rent cannot be used like a damages deposit
A Section 21 served after 30th April 2026 will automatically be rejected
- If a valid section 21 has already been served can it go ahead?
If the landlord has proof of service of a valid section 21 up to six months before 30th April it will remain valid. If it was served more than 6 months before 30th April it will have expired. If during the process the section 21 fails it cannot be served again.
- How can I get my property back if I can’t use section 21?
Section 8, with grounds and a court hearing is the only legal option. We have been given extra grounds to cover some of the times when the tenant has done nothing wrong but we need our properties back and some of the details of existing grounds have changes notably a ground 8 (rent arrears) can only be served when there are three month arrears not the current two months. It’s important to note that the arrears must be three months at the time of service of the section 8 and also on the day it goes to court under ground 8. Its important to also use none mandatory grounds as a backup:
Ground 10: Rent arrears
The court can order possession on ground 10 if it is satisfied some rent was lawfully due from the tenant at the date the notice was served and when the possession proceedings were issued.
and Ground 11: Persistent delay in paying rent
The court can order possession on ground 11 if the tenant has persistently paid their rent late.
The court can order possession if there are no arrears on the day of the court hearing.
If the tenant reduces the arrears below three months before the hearing the case will still be heard, despite not having mandatory grounds for possession, and the judge will decide whether to grant possession or not.
I covered the important changes of grounds for private landlords is my last article and gave details of notice periods too.
Renters Right Act 2025 – Landlord insider
- Will landlords need to prove that they have served all the qualifying documents under section 21 when we are serving a section 8 in future?
This is an interesting question because many section 21’s failed because the landlord has not served the qualifying documents on the tenant. The qualifying documents are all important for the tenant and I cannot see government missing an opportunity to continue to ensure that most landlords do give them to our tenants. Having said that, it would be a major change and a gross infringement of our legal rights if we were unable to regain possession at all and I believe that government intend to rely on the Landlords database to force compliance – I certainly hope so.
- What are the section 21 qualifying document?
- Gas safety certificates
- Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
- Government How to Rent Guide (look out for the a new edition any time now)
- Deposit Protection certificate and prescribed information for tenants or deposit has been returned in full
- No unlawful charges have been made under Tenants Fees Act
This would also be the opportunity to include the Electric Installation Condition Report (EICR) which surprisingly has not been included to date
Its important that we continue to be compliant because there are so many ways in which we can be penalised if we are not and once the Decent Homes Standard is introduced it will be more important than ever to show that we are the good guys.
- What will be included on the Landlords Data base which we will all need to sign up to?
This database is causing a lot of privacy concerns for landlords because none of us want to advertise details of our portfolio for many reasons and it feels very intrusive. We will not know the full details of the database until late 2026 when government guidance is published. I am taking some comfort from the fact that the target audience is Councils and landlords – not that I am any more keen than you are for local authority officers to know what I am worth – but I hope that this indicates that it will not be in the public domain. Here is an idea – if all local authority officers were put on a similar database showing their assets and income that would be a level playing field. What is very interesting is that I know of many local authority officers who are also landlords, often on their own patch!!
What we do know is that any action taken against us will be recorded on that data base and all the documents listed above for compliance with section 21 will be recorded there too – presumably we will need to keep them updated and that might satisfy the need to ensure that we remain compliant – lets hope
- What does it mean that we have to sign up to an Ombudsman?
There are some aspects of the RR Act that I am not keen on but actually I like this one. During over 50 years as a landlord I have always tried to show that I am one of the good guys, I want my prospective tenants to feel that they can trust me and I do not want to be classed with some of our colleagues who have no respect for their tenants nor do they keep their properties in good order. We need to show that we are doing a good job. Local authorities have not shown themselves to be able to protect tenants from bad landlords and there is no funding to give them more staff therefore the only logical option is for landlords to join a scheme where tenants can complain and where arbiters can decide when a landlord is not being compliant. This works well with letting agents who by law must join a scheme. In my Facebook group the answer to many issues raised against agents is “ask them for their complaints procedure. Put in a formal complaint and if they don’t sort it out complain to their property redress scheme.” It is often reported that once a tenant asks for details of their redress scheme the agent changes their behaviour and the issue is resolved without need for a third party. In my opinion that shows that the scheme works because no one really wants to take an agent through a complaint they just want to live in peace. This is what all tenants want and now landlords will need to moderate our behaviour if it isn’t working for our customers.
The final two items have no dates yet
- Implementation of Decent Homes Standards and Awaabs Law
Both these are already active in the social sector and both are about property standards. We are just into the damp and mould season now and in my group I often read the standard answer “its lifestyle, drying washing and not opening windows” Once the law changes we had better be able to prove that because if it turns out to be a property defect there will be heavy penalties to pay.
