If you’re a letting agent,it is your responsibility to be aware of the many pieces of legislation governing the rental process. But the latest –the Renters Right Act 2025 which came into force on 1st May is the most significant upheaval in 30 years. Here are the main aspects you should know:
Fixed-term Assured Shorthold tenancies are gone.
Every tenancy, including those already in place, automatically convert to a rolling, periodic tenancy. You’ll need to make sure that any tenancy agreements from now onwards reflect this.
You also need to provide your existing tenants with a hard copy or PDF of the official Government Information Sheet by the end of May 2026. And do get your tenant to confirm receipt as you may need to prove you have served them with this document. You can find a copy at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-renters-rights-act-information-sheet-2026Under this rolling tenancy, tenants can give two months’notice to quit.
As Section 21 has been abolished, if a landlord wants possession, they need a valid legal reason-which is either they are going to live in the property themselves or they are going to sell the property, but they can’t invoke this during the first 12 months of a tenancy.
They can also begin proceedings if the tenant is behind on rent by at least three months.
Rental bidding wars are now banned. Whatever price you advertise, that's the price. You cannot encourage or even accept offers above the listed rent. Also, requesting rent in advance before a tenancy is signed is now prohibited ; and once it is signed, you can only take a maximum of one month's rent. So you have to turn away anyone waving a fat check for six months’ in advance to secure the property.
The security deposit against damages, etc remains capped at five weeks rent. Rent increases are now tightly controlled.Landlords can only put the rent up once a year, and they must give two months' notice using a Section 13 notice, and the rent can only rise to the current open market rate.
The bottom linefor you is that fines for non-compliance range from £7,000 right up to £40,000.
So now is the time to review your processes, talk to your landlords, and make sure everyone's on the right side of the law