Renters' Rights Act 2025: What Buy-to-Let Landlords Must Do Right Now

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026 — and it represents the biggest overhaul of private rented sector legislation in more than 30 years. If you own buy-to-let property in England and haven't yet updated your processes, you are already operating outside the new rules.

This is not a "changes coming soon" guide. This is what is already law, what the fines are, and what you need to do today.

What Changed on 1 May 2026

The following changes took effect immediately and apply to all existing and new tenancies:

• Section 21 abolished — no-fault evictions are gone. Permanently.
• Assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) ended — all tenancies are now Assured Periodic Tenancies (APTs) rolling monthly from the outset
• Section 13 is the only route to raise rent — rent review clauses in tenancy agreements are now void
• Rent increases limited to once per year — with two months' notice using the new Form 4A
• Tenants have a right to request a pet — you cannot unreasonably refuse
• No more advance rent — landlords and agents cannot request more than one month's rent in advance
• Rental discrimination banned — refusing tenants because they have children or receive benefits is now unlawful
• Rental bidding wars banned — you cannot accept offers above your advertised rent

The Information Sheet deadline (31 May 2026) has now also passed. If you have not served the government's Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet on your existing tenants, you are exposed to a fine of up to £7,000.

Section 21 Is Gone — What That Means in Practice

Section 21 gave landlords the right to recover their property at the end of a fixed term without giving a reason. It was the most commonly used possession route in England for over 35 years.

It is now abolished. Any Section 21 notice served on or after 1 May 2026 is unlawful. Attempting to serve one can itself result in a civil penalty from your local authority.

What this means for you:

Every possession action now requires a Section 8 notice citing one or more legally valid grounds. You must have evidence to support your grounds. If a tenant refuses to leave, you must apply for a possession order through the courts — and a hearing will be required in almost all cases.

Landlords who have not kept thorough records of their tenancies — rent payment history, maintenance requests, inspection logs, compliance certificates — will find this significantly harder than it was before.

The New Section 8 Grounds: What You Need to Know

The Renters' Rights Act has expanded the Section 8 possession grounds significantly. There are now both mandatory grounds (where the court must grant possession if the ground is proven) and discretionary grounds (where the court weighs up the circumstances).

Key mandatory grounds:

Important: Ground 8 (rent arrears) remains the most frequently used mandatory ground. At least two months' rent must be outstanding both at the date of the Section 8 notice and at the court hearing. If the tenant clears arrears before the hearing, the mandatory ground falls away.

For selling your property: You can now use Ground 1A if you want to sell — but you must give four months' notice, and it cannot be served in the first 12 months of a new tenancy. Have a solicitor's letter or evidence of the intention to sell ready, as courts will scrutinise this.

Using the wrong form is fatal to your case. You must use the updated Section 8 form (Form 3A), downloadable from GOV.UK. Old forms will be rejected by the court.

Rent Increases: The New Rules

From 1 May 2026, the only lawful way to increase rent on an assured periodic tenancy is via a Section 13 notice using the new Form 4A.

Key rules:

• Rent can only be increased once every 12 months
• You must give at least two months' notice
• Any rent review clauses in existing tenancy agreements are now null and void
• Informal rent increase agreements with tenants are not enforceable
• Tenants can challenge the increase at the First-Tier Tribunal if they believe it is above market rate
• If a tenant challenges, the tribunal cannot backdate the increase before the hearing date — and cannot set rent higher than the figure you proposed

Practical implication: If you have been relying on rent review clauses or informal annual uplifts, you need to change your process immediately. All increases must go through Form 4A with proper notice.

The Information Sheet: What If You Missed the Deadline?

Landlords were required to serve the government's official Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 on all existing tenants with a written tenancy agreement by 31 May 2026.

If you missed this deadline:

• You face a potential fine of up to £7,000 from your local authority
• Serve the Information Sheet to your tenants immediately — late compliance is better than non-compliance
• The sheet is only valid as the exact PDF downloaded from GOV.UK; you cannot paraphrase or reformat it
• Every tenant named on the tenancy agreement must receive their own copy
• Where a letting agent manages the property, the agent must also serve it independently

If your tenancy was verbal (no written agreement), you do not serve the Information Sheet — you are required to provide a Written Statement instead.

Pets: The New Tenant Right

From 1 May 2026, tenants have a statutory right to request permission to keep a pet. You cannot apply a blanket no-pets policy once a tenancy has started.

The rules:

• You must respond to a pet request within 28 days
• Refusal must be based on specific, reasonable justification — not a general preference
• You can require the tenant to take out pet damage insurance as a condition of consent
• This right applies to existing tenants — you can still advertise properties as "no pets" to prospective tenants
• Tenants who are refused can ultimately challenge via the courts (and in future, the PRS Ombudsman once it launches in 2028)

Practical step: Update your tenancy management process to include a formal pet request procedure with a 28-day response log.

What's Still Coming: Phase 2 and Beyond

Phase 1 (May 2026) is not the end. Further changes are scheduled:

Late 2026 — Private Rented Sector Database All landlords of assured and regulated tenancies will be required to register themselves and their properties on a new public database, including compliance information (safety certificates, EPC ratings etc.). The rollout will be phased by region. Critically, some Section 8 possession grounds will only be available to landlords who are registered on the database. Get ahead of this now by ensuring your compliance paperwork is complete.

2028 — PRS Landlord Ombudsman Mandatory membership of the Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman comes into effect. This will handle disputes between landlords and tenants without requiring court proceedings. Begin thinking about complaint handling processes now.

Coming date TBC — Decent Homes Standard For the first time, private rented sector properties will be subject to minimum quality standards. Awaab's Law (requiring landlords to address hazards like damp and mould within defined timeframes) will extend to the private sector. Properties in poor condition will face enforcement.

Your Compliance Checklist — Right Now

Work through this list for every property in your portfolio:

Immediate actions:

• Serve the Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet to all existing tenants (if not already done)
• Confirm you have not served any Section 21 notices on or after 1 May 2026
• Download updated Section 8 Form 3A from GOV.UK
• Download new rent increase Form 4A from GOV.UK
• Remove all rent review clauses from any tenancy agreement template you use
• Update your process: rent increases now require Form 4A with 2 months' notice

Records and documentation:

• Ensure rent payment history is fully documented for all tenancies
• Gas Safety Certificate in date (annual)
• EICR in date (every 5 years)
• EPC rating E or above (C required by 2030)
• Deposit in a government-approved scheme with prescribed information served
• Right to Rent checks completed and documented
• Smoke and CO alarm compliance documented

Process updates:

• Create a formal pet request procedure with a 28-day response log
• Remove "no DSS" or "no children" language from all listings and communications
• Ensure no advance rent requests exceed one month
• Stop accepting or encouraging offers above your advertised rent

What This Means for BTL Investors Entering the Market

The Renters' Rights Act has materially changed the risk profile of buy-to-let. Possession is now slower, more evidence-dependent, and more expensive if a tenant disputes it. This has two significant implications for investors:

1. Tenant selection is now more important than ever. The friction involved in removing a problem tenant has increased substantially. Comprehensive referencing — income verification, credit history, previous landlord references — is no longer optional. Budget for proper referencing on every tenancy.

2. Cashflow resilience matters more. With possession proceedings taking longer if contested, landlords face potentially extended void periods during disputes. A cash reserve covering 3–6 months of mortgage payments per property is now a sensible minimum.

Neither of these factors makes buy-to-let unviable — but they do make careful property and tenant selection more important. Buying well (the right property, right location, right yield) remains the foundation. Finding those properties efficiently, before the competition, is where tools like BTLDeals.com come in — monitoring thousands of Rightmove listings daily and surfacing the highest-potential BTL opportunities so you spend time on viewings, not on Rightmove.

Summary: The New Landlord Reality

The Renters' Rights Act doesn't make buy-to-let impossible. What it does is raise the bar for how professionally landlords need to operate. The era of the casual, under-documented landlord is effectively over.

For investors who treat their portfolio as a business — with proper documentation, professional management, and careful tenant selection — the fundamentals of BTL remain strong. Rents are at record levels, supply is constrained, and a new generation of landlords is entering the market.

The compliance bar is higher. The opportunity is still there.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. For advice specific to your tenancies, consult a specialist property solicitor or the NRLA.

BTLDeals.com helps UK landlords and investors find high-yield buy-to-let opportunities across England and Wales — automatically scoring Rightmove listings and delivering the best deals daily. Start free.