In October 2025, the government finally passed the long-awaited Renters Rights Act, which will significantly reform the housing sector – particularly the private rented sector. The changes it makes will be phased throughout the next decade. Below, GMLC campaign volunteer Vankie Ma and Brocho Nemetsky summarise the proposed timeline for the changes and analyse some of them in context.
First phase – 1 May 2026
The abolition of Section 21 evictions
After 1 May 2026, serving a tenant with notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 will no longer be allowed. Section 21 Notices already served before this date can still be relied upon in eviction proceedings in court until 31 July 2026, but after this, no further claims can be issued under this no-fault ground.
This change has been met with a celebration by tenants’ organisations, because Section 21 allows landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason. From 1 May 2026 onwards, landlords will only be able to evict tenants if they provide a reason. This is a major change to the previous system, though not as revolutionary as some have claimed: whilst Section 21 is being abolished, other forms of no-fault evictions will remain in the form of valid ‘reasons’ for evictions under a reformed Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. This will allow landlords to evict private tenants if the landlord wants to sell, or move in, and where the landlord wishes to complete repairs to a property ordered by the local authority.
The number of defences available on no-fault grounds is actually being decreased, meaning it may be easier for some landlords to evict a tenant for no fault of their own after the law comes into force. Enforcement procedures for landlords lying or misrepresenting their reason for eviction will mostly be held with local authorities, and it is unclear how effective these will be. GMLC will be keeping a close eye and reporting the effect of these changes in practice as soon as we see them.
Grounds for eviction
In May 2026, the grounds for eviction under Section 8 will be revised considerably, introducing new grounds, editing others, and also increasing notice periods for many of the grounds, so landlords have to give more notice of eviction. You can find more information on these grounds and changes here.
Assured Periodic Tenancies
Also in Phase 1, the government will change Assured Shorthold Tenancies (the usual kind of private tenancy in England and Wales today) and introduce Assured Periodic Tenancies for the majority of new and existing tenancies in the private rented sector. This will mean that tenants are not given a ‘fixed term’ tenancy as standard, and instead have a rolling monthly tenancy with some statutory protections at the start of their occupation. This will simplify tenancies considerably – its effects on tenants’ rights remain to be seen.
Rent increases and the Tribunal
The Renters Rights Act also makes some changes to the way rent can be increased in the private sector. Currently, rent can be increased without a tenant’s agreement using a Section 13 Notice, giving 1 month’s notice of the new rent amount. As of 1 May 2026, landlords will be required to provide 2 months’ notice of a proposed rent increase under the revised Section 13 procedure.
The revised Sections 13 and 14 of the Housing Act 1988 will also make changes to the procedures for challenging a rent increase at the First-Tier Tribunal, removing many of the risks and deterrents tenants currently face when trying to challenge their rent. For example, tenants currently risk the Tribunal increasing their rent even more than their landlord asked for if the judges determine that the new ‘market rent’ at the property is higher than the landlord proposed, whereas the new Act will limit any increase to what the landlord has asked for. From May 2026, the Tribunal will also, by default, not ‘backdate’ any rent increase to the date the landlord proposed, and instead the rent increase will take effect from the date of determination. This means that, while a tenant is waiting (sometimes months or years) for a determination, they do not need to worry about rent arrears mounting up if the Tribunal eventually agrees with their landlord.
These changes make it more attractive for tenants to challenge rent increases and protect their rights without fear of putting themselves into rent arrears, or getting an even more unaffordable rent decided at the Tribunal.
Banning discrimination and rent in advance
Currently, shortages in available housing mean that the market is set up to favour landlords, with many tenants competing for each listing, allowing landlords to pick and choose between applicants and sometimes ask for large payouts in advance. In practice, GMLC sees low-income tenants, especially those on benefits, struggle to get offers of housing from private landlords, sometimes after making dozens of enquiries.
From May 2026, the new Act will explicitly ban landlords and agents from requesting more than one months’ rent in advance, as well as banning encouraging or accepting a rent offer that is higher than the amount advertised.
It will also make it explicit that landlords and agents are barred from discriminating against potential renters on the basis of their having children, or being a recipient of benefits. The government states that this would include a ban on landlords and letting agents withholding information about a property, stopping individuals from viewing a property, or refusing to grant a tenancy – at least on paper. Whilst it is good to have this written in statute, once again, how these rights will be enforced remains in question.
Pets
The new Act, from 1 May 2026, will require landlords to consider, within an initial period of 28 days, requests from potential renters with pets. If the request is refused, valid reasons will have to be provided. This is not, as it has been claimed, a right for tenants to keep a pet in their home, but it does place more onus on landlords to explain why they intend to refuse.
Enforcement and penalties
The new Act promises to impose harsher legal consequences on landlords and letting agents for non-compliance with their legal obligations, seeing an expansion in civil penalties and fine levels. The Act will also extend rent repayment orders to ‘superior landlords’. This aims to prevent landlords from creating complex ‘sub-letting’ structures to escape liability for licensing and properly managing their properties, following cases in recent years that revealed problems in the current law for tenants enforcing their rights due to mystifying company structures and ‘sub-letting’ arrangements.
The Act will also give local councils new investigatory powers, including a ‘stronger ability’ to inspect properties and access to third party data in order to find offending landlords.
The above reforms will not apply to social tenancies at this stage – solely to the private rented sector.
Phase 2
Phase 2 will be implemented in two key stages, the first being in late 2026 (currently, the exact date is not specified).
The next step will be to roll out the Database for Landlords and Local Councils. Signup will be mandatory for all landlords in the private rental sector, and landlords will be required to pay an annual fee (amount to be specified). The Database will hold information such as the landlord’s contact details, the property details and relevant safety information regarding the property.
At an unspecified time after the launch of the database, public access and data sharing will be enabled. This will be very useful for tenants and campaigners, and will allow additional defences to evictions if a landlord has failed to register with the Database.
There will also be a new private rented sector Landlord Ombudsman. It will provide support, guidance and tools to landlords on handling complaints. Additionally, it will provide a means of redress in case of issues or complaints for tenants. Landlords will be required to pay a fee (amount to be specified).
The implementation of the Ombudsman will happen in two phases: first, the Secretary of State will choose an administrator to run the scheme. 12-18 months later, when the service is scaled-up and ready, landlords will be required to become members of the service. This is expected to be in 2028.
Phase 2 will also see the tenancy reforms of Phase 1 introduced in the social housing sector, although detail on this is not given in the government’s ‘roadmap’.
Phase 3
In Phase 3, the government promises to Introduce a Decent Homes Standard to ensures that all private rental properties meet minimum quality standards. The government will also provide local councils with enforcement measures if these standards are breached. This is proposed to be brought into force in 2035/2037, so these measures are a long way in the future.
The government also proposes to extend Awaab’s Law from the social housing sector to the private rental sector Awaab’s Law imposes clear timeframes for landlords to improve the safety of properties which contain serious hazards. Timescales for the implementation of this are still to be consulted on.
There is a risk that the additional rights around disrepair that the new law conveys would be ‘paper’ rights without considerable improvements to local authority resourcing and methods of challenge for tenants.
Analysis: problems with enforcement
GMLC and other tenant legal representatives remain sceptical that the Renters Rights Act will significantly improve conditions in the private rented sector, or reduce the number of evictions. The vast majority of enforcement mechanisms introduced or strengthened in the Act to prevent landlord rule-breaking rely on local authorities or the Tribunal to be enforced.
As GMLC has published on before in our report ‘Tackling Disrepair: Why Enforcement Matters’, local authorities are often overstretched, under-resourced, under-trained and beset by legal challenges by landlords against any action they take. Without considerable extra funding and political will, it seems unlikely that increased local authority powers will make widescale change in the private rented sector. Crucially, if tenants are not given individual rights to challenge their landlords for compensation or redress, they are relying on their local authorities, and are not given any protection by this. If you are homeless because your landlord relied on a lie to evict you, you could approach your local authority about it – but what is the point in pursuing a case with them if it won’t allow you to get your house back? And what if they are simply too busy, under-funded, or disinterested to bring a case for everyone who needs it? This seems very likely to us, looking at the current state of affairs.
Allowing more action in the Tribunal system is good, because it at least allows individuals to take action on their own situation to seek redress from their landlords. However, tenants will not be able to secure Legal Aid for Tribunal actions, so they are limited to using no-win no-fee legal services, pro-bono services, or representing themselves. In practice, GMLC works with a large number of disabled tenants, tenants who do not speak English as a first language, or tenants who would simply struggle with bringing an action without representation. The Tribunal will also need considerably more resources to make it possible for them to handle a larger caseload of unrepresented tenants efficiently – something that has not been so far discussed much in government publications on the Act.
GMLC relies on Legal Aid to advise and represent tenants for free when they have housing problems. The new Act does very little to bolster Legal Aid services or to widen tenants’ ability to obtain the kind of advice and support they would need to enforce their new rights. Legal Aid is a tried-and-tested way for low-income tenants to protect themselves against landlord rule-breaking, but the Act seems to move away from this enforcement mechanism, instead loading the burden on already stretched systems – systems to which the government continues to cut funding.
The Renters Rights Act has now passed. For now, these are as far as the reforms go. But further campaigning and legal action will be needed to ensure tenants can benefit from the new rights that have been introduced, and to improve the Act through amendment if it does not in practice do what the government has claimed it will.
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If you are a tenant with a housing issue relating to eviction or homelessness during this period, it will be very important to seek proper legal advice. You can contact GMLC at reception@gmlaw.org.uk or by calling 0161 769 2244.
Image credit: Natesh Ramasamy, Flickr, 2012.
