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Renters' Rights Act: 2026 Changes for Tenants

22 April 2026Updated Dwellio Team

This guide to the Renters' Rights Act covers private renting in England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own rules — see mygov.scot, GOV.WALES or nidirect if you rent there.

General information about the law in England, not legal advice. Check your own tenancy agreement, and get advice from Shelter or Citizens Advice if you're unsure.

What changed for renters on 1 May 2026

  • Rent rises: once a year, on Form 4A. Your landlord can't put the rent up in the first 52 weeks, has to give at least two months' notice on the official form, and you can ask a tribunal to check the new rent before it starts. Check your rent increase →
  • Leaving: two months' notice. You can end your tenancy whenever you choose with at least two months' notice in writing, ending with a rent period. Work out your leaving date →
  • Money up front: capped. No rent before you sign, then one month's rent at most — and the deposit caps haven't changed. Work out your move-in costs →
  • Section 21 has gone. A landlord now needs a legal reason, the minimum notice for that reason and, if you don't leave, a court order.
  • No more bidding. The advertised rent is the rent: landlords and agents can't ask for, encourage or accept more.
  • The information sheet. Landlords had to give existing tenants with a written agreement the government's Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet by 31 May 2026.
  • Pets: ask in writing. Your landlord has to answer within 28 days and can't refuse without a good reason. Get alerts for every home that fits, then ask →
  • No "No DSS", no "No children". Landlords and agents can't turn you away because you get benefits or have children.
  • No more fixed terms. Most private tenancies now roll on from one rent period to the next — there's no end date to wait for.
  • Still to come. Landlord registration starts rolling out in December 2026, and the landlord ombudsman is due in 2028.

The Act itself is the Renters' Rights Act 2025 — it became law on 27 October 2025 — but these changes for private renters started on 1 May 2026. Each is explained below, with its source on GOV.UK or legislation.gov.uk.

Rent increases: once a year, on Form 4A

To put the rent up, a private landlord now has to serve a notice on Form 4A — the "section 13 process" (Housing Act 1988, section 13). A rent review clause in your tenancy agreement can't raise the rent any more, even one agreed before May, and the notice can only be sent by email if your agreement allows that (GOV.UK). The new rent starts at the beginning of a rent period, and no earlier than:

  • two months after the notice is served — so a notice served on 2 November 2026, with rent due on the 1st, can't start a new rent before 1 February 2027;
  • 52 weeks after your tenancy began; and
  • 52 weeks after the last increase took effect, counting a rent set by a tribunal and a rise under a review clause before May (SI 2026/421, regulation 7). After a rise on Form 4A or one set by a tribunal it's now and then 53 weeks, so the date of a rise doesn't creep earlier each year (section 13).

If you think the new rent is above the going rate, you can ask the First-tier Tribunal to decide the open market rent for your home — but you have to apply before the date the new rent starts, even if you're still gathering evidence. It costs £47, online or on form MR1, and nothing if your notice is dated before 1 May 2026 (GOV.UK). You then pay the open market rent or the rent your landlord proposed, whichever is lower — so applying can't leave you paying more than your landlord asked for (section 14ZB). Nothing is backdated: if the decision comes after the proposed start date, the new rent starts with the first rent period beginning on or after the decision. Either way, if paying the new rent from that date would cause you undue hardship, the tribunal can set a later date, within two months of its decision.

So a landlord can propose any figure — it's the tribunal that holds it to the market rate. If a rise looks steep, compare it with what similar homes near you are advertised for, and apply before the start date.

Check your rent increase →

Leaving: two months' notice, ending with a rent period

You can end your tenancy at any time by giving your landlord at least two months' notice in writing (Protection from Eviction Act 1977, section 5), and your landlord can't insist on one way of sending it (section 5A). A letter, email or text all count and you don't need a reason, but you can't finish on just any day: the notice has to end with a rent period, which GOV.UK puts as a day when your rent is due or the day before (GOV.UK).

  • Your landlord can agree to a shorter notice period, but only in writing — and on a joint tenancy, every tenant has to agree to it.
  • One joint tenant can usually end the tenancy for everyone without the others agreeing, so talk to the people you live with before anyone gives notice.
  • Changed your mind? You can only stay if your landlord agrees in writing — and on a joint tenancy, the other tenants too.
  • A landlord can't ask you for more than two months' notice, and in many tenancies that started before 1 May 2026 a clause letting you give one month still works — GOV.UK explains which ones.

Work out your leaving date →

Money up front: no rent before you sign, then one month at most

A landlord can't ask for, encourage or accept any rent before you've signed the tenancy agreement (GOV.UK; Tenant Fees Act 2019, section 5A). After you sign, the only rent they can ask for before the tenancy starts is the first month's — or up to 28 days' rent if you pay weekly — and in a tenancy agreed on or after 1 May 2026, rent can't fall due before the period it pays for (Housing Act 1988, section 4B). So the old "six months up front" demands are gone: once the tenancy has started you can still choose to pay ahead, but a landlord can't make you (GOV.UK).

Deposits and fees work much as before (GOV.UK):

  • Holding deposit: up to one week's rent. Your landlord has 15 days to agree the tenancy with you, unless you agree a different deadline in writing, and has 7 days to give the deposit back when it's due. They can only keep it if you gave false or misleading information, pulled out, didn't take reasonable steps to agree the tenancy or failed a Right to Rent check — and they have to tell you why in writing within 7 days (Tenant Fees Act 2019, Schedule 2).
  • Tenancy deposit: up to five weeks' rent if the rent is under £50,000 a year, or six weeks if it's £50,000 or more (Tenant Fees Act 2019, Schedule 1). Your landlord has to protect it in a government-approved scheme within 30 days (GOV.UK). If they don't, or don't give you the scheme's details in writing, a court must order them to pay you between one and three times the deposit when you apply (Housing Act 2004, section 214). Until they've done both or given the deposit back, a court can't give them a possession order on most grounds (section 215).
  • Other payments: banned, apart from those the Tenant Fees Act allows — rent, the refundable deposits above, a fee of up to £50 to change the tenancy at your request (more only if their costs are higher), a payment if you leave without giving enough notice, damages if you break the tenancy agreement, council tax, and bills your agreement says you pay, such as utilities, phone and broadband or a TV licence. If your agreement says so, they can also charge interest on rent more than two weeks late (at most 3% above Bank Rate) and the cost of replacing a lost key (Schedule 1). A landlord can't make you take out insurance, sign up for a service with another company (utilities and phone or broadband aside) or lend anyone money as part of the tenancy (section 1).

Work out your move-in costs →

Section 21 has gone: what a landlord needs now

Landlords can't use section 21 "no-fault" evictions any more, even if your tenancy agreement says they can (GOV.UK). To end your tenancy, a landlord has to serve a section 8 notice on Form 3A, name a legal ground, give at least the notice that ground requires and, if you don't leave, get a court order (Housing Act 1988, section 8). The notice depends on the ground — for example:

  • Four months to sell (ground 1A) or for the landlord or close family to move in (ground 1). Neither can be used until the tenancy is a year old: the date the notice gives has to be at least a year after the tenancy began (Schedule 2). A landlord who uses either ground then can't re-let or advertise the home to let until 12 months after that date (section 16E and section 16M).
  • Four weeks for serious rent arrears (ground 8), which now needs at least three months' rent unpaid — 13 weeks' rent if you pay weekly or fortnightly — both when the notice is served and at the court hearing.
  • Two weeks for some breaches of the tenancy, such as damaging the home (grounds 12 and 13).
  • No notice period for anti-social behaviour, such as being a nuisance to neighbours (ground 14): the landlord can go to court straight away.

Other grounds have their own notice periods, up to four months. However long the notice, its running out doesn't end your tenancy: only a court order does, and the landlord has to start court proceedings within 12 months of serving the notice.

A section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026 could only be used if the landlord asked the court to issue a possession claim by 31 July 2026 at the latest — or sooner if the notice's own time limit ran out first, usually six months after it was served (Renters' Rights Act 2025, Schedule 6). That window has closed. If your landlord didn't apply in time, that notice can't be used to evict you; if they did, the case can carry on under the old rules until it ends.

If you get a notice from your landlord, get advice early from Shelter, Citizens Advice or your council.

The bidding ban: the advertised price is the price

A landlord or letting agent can't advertise a home without stating one specific rent, and they can't invite or encourage anyone to offer more than that rent, or accept an offer above it (Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 56). A price range isn't allowed either (GOV.UK). The council can fine them up to £7,000 (section 57).

Screenshot the advert and keep messages in writing. An agent who says the advertised rent "is a guide" and asks for your best offer is inviting exactly the bid the law bans, so report it to your council.

With price off the table, the renter who gets the home is usually the one who saw it first and was ready to go. Our guide to being first to view a rental covers how.

The information sheet: did your landlord have to give you one?

If your tenancy started before 1 May 2026 and your agreement is in writing, even partly, your landlord had to give you the government's Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 by 31 May 2026 — one for every tenant named on the agreement (Renters' Rights Act 2025, Schedule 6, paragraph 7). It had to be the exact GOV.UK PDF, printed or sent as an attachment: GOV.UK says emailing or texting a link to it doesn't count. The council can fine a landlord who didn't give it up to £7,000 (paragraph 7, applying Housing Act 1988, section 16I).

Two cases were different:

  • If your landlord had served a section 21 or section 8 notice that was still running on 1 May, they had a month from when that notice lapsed or the court case ended.
  • If your tenancy was agreed only by word of mouth, you should have had written information about its key terms by 31 May 2026 instead.

The new rules apply to your tenancy automatically — the sheet itself says so — so not getting it doesn't take them away. You can read the sheet on GOV.UK, and if your landlord never gave it to you, you can tell your council, which enforces the rule (GOV.UK).

A tenancy agreed on or after 1 May 2026 doesn't come with the sheet. Instead, your landlord has to give you written information about its key terms before you agree it (Housing Act 1988, section 16D).

Pets: ask in writing, get an answer within 28 days

You can ask your landlord for consent to keep a pet: the request has to be in writing and describe the pet (Housing Act 1988, section 16B). Your landlord has to give or refuse consent in writing within 28 days — longer only if they ask you for more information within those 28 days (they then have until day 28 or 7 days after you provide it, whichever is later), need their own landlord's consent, or you agree a later date (section 16A). They can't unreasonably refuse: GOV.UK's examples of fair reasons are someone you live with having an allergy, a home too small for a large pet or several pets, a freeholder who doesn't allow pets, or a pet that's illegal to own, while not liking pets or worrying about damage in general usually isn't enough (GOV.UK). Nor can they make you buy pet insurance or take a pet deposit that lifts your deposit over the cap (Tenant Fees Act 2019, section 1 and Schedule 1) — and if they ignore your request, a court can order them to deal with it (section 16B).

Renters search differently now, too: Rightmove said in July 2026 that searches for rental homes that specifically allow pets fell 54% year on year in May and 52% in June, and suggested renters now feel able to ask about a pet on a wider range of homes — though those searches were already down 28% to 36% in the first four months of the year (Rightmove). Either way, filtering for "pet-friendly" hides homes you could ask about — get alerts for every home that fits, then ask.

Benefits and children: blanket bans are unlawful

A landlord or letting agent can't stop you enquiring about, viewing or renting a home because you have children — or a child would live with or visit you — or because you get benefits, and they can't use a rule designed to put you off (Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 33 and section 34). So a "No DSS" or "No children" policy is out. A clause in your landlord's mortgage that bans letting to families or benefit claimants no longer has any effect (section 37), and nor, apart from narrow exceptions, does one in a tenancy agreement (section 35). A landlord can still look at your income to check you can afford the rent (section 41), and can turn down a family only where that's a proportionate way of meeting a legitimate aim or, in narrow cases, where their insurance requires it. The council can fine up to £7,000 (section 40).

Periodic tenancies: no more fixed terms

Most existing assured shorthold tenancies became assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026, and a new tenancy agreed with a private landlord is periodic from the start: an end date in the agreement no longer applies (GOV.UK; Housing Act 1988, section 4A). Your tenancy rolls on from one rent period to the next — a month, or 28 days or less — until you give notice, you and your landlord agree to end it, or a court ends it. You don't need to sign a new agreement: the new rules apply even if your agreement still says otherwise.

Still to come

  • Landlord register. Landlords have to sign up to a new government registration service — the first step towards a database of private rented homes. It opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands and reaches other areas over 12 months, and every landlord letting a home has to be registered by 14 November 2027 (GOV.UK).
  • Landlord ombudsman. Landlords have to join the new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman once membership becomes compulsory, which the government expects in 2028 (GOV.UK).
  • Decent Homes Standard. The new standard applies to private rented homes from 2035 (GOV.UK).
  • Awaab's Law. Deadlines for landlords to deal with hazards such as damp and mould have no start date in private renting yet — the government is consulting until 18 December 2026 (GOV.UK).

What it means when you're looking for your next place

You can't win a rental by offering more, and you can't be asked for six months up front. What's left is speed and being ready. Dwellio checks six property sites and emails you when a home that matches your search is listed, so you hear about it early and can ask straight away — about a pet too. See what homes cost where you're looking on our city pages, for example London, Manchester or Leeds (how we measure asking rents), then set up an alert below or see how Dwellio works.

Letting rather than renting? Our Renters' Rights Act guide for landlords covers the same changes from the other side.

Sources

We rewrote this guide in October 2026 and checked every rule against these sources on 19 October 2026. The rewrite corrected two mistakes in the April version: a landlord can propose any rent — it's the tribunal that holds it to the market rate — and a landlord can't require pet insurance.

Legislation (legislation.gov.uk)

GOV.UK

Frequently Asked Questions

What changed for renters in 2026?

On 1 May 2026 the main changes in the Renters' Rights Act 2025 started for private renters in England. Section 21 no-fault evictions ended, most assured shorthold tenancies became rolling assured periodic tenancies, rent can go up only once a year using Form 4A, you can leave with two months' written notice, landlords can't take rent before you sign or more than a month's rent before the tenancy starts, bidding above the advertised rent is banned, a landlord can't unreasonably refuse a pet, and landlords and agents can't turn you away because you have children or get benefits.

Did my landlord have to give me the Renters' Rights Act information sheet?

Yes, if your tenancy started before 1 May 2026 and your agreement is at least partly in writing. Your landlord had to give every tenant named on the agreement the government's Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 by 31 May 2026, as the exact GOV.UK PDF rather than a link, and the council can fine a landlord who didn't up to £7,000. The new rules apply to your tenancy automatically, whether or not you got it.

How much notice do I have to give my landlord now?

At least two months, in writing, timed so your tenancy ends on a day your rent is due or the day before. Your landlord can agree to a shorter notice period in writing, but can't ask you for more than two months. If you rent jointly, one tenant's notice can usually end the tenancy for everyone.

Do I need a new tenancy agreement in 2026?

No. Most existing assured shorthold tenancies became assured periodic tenancies automatically on 1 May 2026, and the new rules apply even if your agreement still says otherwise. A tenancy agreed on or after that date is periodic from day one, and your landlord has to give you written information about its key terms before you agree it.

Can my landlord refuse a pet under the Renters' Rights Act?

Only with a good reason. You ask in writing and describe the pet, and your landlord has to answer in writing within 28 days, unless they ask you for more information, need their own landlord's consent or you agree a later date. They can't unreasonably refuse, can't make you buy pet insurance, and can't take a pet deposit that pushes your deposit over the normal cap.

How much rent can a landlord ask for up front?

Nothing before you sign the tenancy agreement. After you sign, they can ask for the first month's rent before the tenancy starts, or up to 28 days' rent if you pay weekly. Holding deposits are still capped at one week's rent, and tenancy deposits at five weeks' rent, or six weeks if the rent is £50,000 a year or more.

Can my landlord still evict me?

Only with a legal reason. Section 21 no-fault evictions have gone, so your landlord has to serve a section 8 notice on Form 3A naming a ground, such as selling, moving in or serious rent arrears, give at least the notice that ground requires, and get a court order if you don't leave. A notice running out does not end your tenancy on its own.

Does the Renters' Rights Act apply in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?

Not the tenancy changes in this guide, which apply in England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own renting laws, explained on mygov.scot, GOV.WALES and nidirect. The Act also makes it an offence in Wales and Scotland to turn renters away because they have children or get benefits.

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