The rental market is getting a massive shake-up from 1 May, and for anyone currently stuck in the middle of a tenancy agreement, the old rules are officially out the window.
Landlords and renters alike are waking up to a completely different legal landscape as a fresh set of regulations kicks in, moving the goalposts on everything from how deposits are handled to the way a contract can be ended. These changes aren’t just minor tweaks to the paperwork; they’re a fundamental transition in how the housing system operates on a daily basis.
Whether you’re trying to figure out if your current rent increase is actually legal or you’re a property owner worried about a new mountain of admin, the next few months are going to be a steep learning curve. Getting a grip on these new rights and responsibilities is the only way to make sure you’re not caught out by the biggest overhaul the sector has seen in years.
No-fault evictions are gone.
This is the headline change and the one that matters most to the largest number of people. Section 21, which allowed landlords to evict tenants without having to give any reason at all, is abolished as of tomorrow. It’s been described as a leading cause of homelessness, and figures from Citizens Advice show that advisers helped 2,335 people with a no-fault eviction in March alone.
From now on, a landlord can only ask a tenant to leave for specific, legitimate reasons, the main ones being that they want to sell the property, move into it themselves, or move a close family member in. Notice periods are also doubling, from two months to four, which gives renters significantly more time to find somewhere new if they do need to move.
What landlords can still do
It’s worth being clear that evictions haven’t been abolished, just no-fault ones. Landlords retain the right to remove tenants through section 8, which covers situations like rent arrears of more than three months, serious antisocial behaviour, or criminal activity.
The difference is that they now need a genuine, provable reason rather than simply deciding they’d like the property back. The government has published guidance on all the remaining grounds for eviction, and landlords who don’t follow the new rules face fines of up to £7,000 for a first offence and up to £40,000 for repeat violations.
Rent increases are now limited.
Private rents have risen around 8% over the last two years, adding roughly £1,200 to the average annual rent. The new law doesn’t cap rents, and it won’t bring existing rents down, but it does introduce restrictions on how and when they can go up. Landlords are now limited to one rent increase per year.
If a tenant believes the increase is above the going market rate for the area, they have the right to challenge it through a first-tier tribunal. It’s not a rent freeze, and campaigners have been vocal about the fact that affordability remains a serious problem, but it does give tenants a formal mechanism to push back on hikes that feel unreasonable.
Bidding wars are banned.
This one has flown under the radar a bit, but it’s a meaningful change. In competitive rental markets, particularly in cities, it became common for landlords and letting agents to accept or encourage offers above the advertised rent, effectively running an informal auction that priced many people out before they’d even had a viewing. That practice is now banned.
Landlords and agents must advertise a property at a fixed price and cannot accept or invite offers above it. The same fines apply for non-compliance, of up to £7,000 for a first offence.
Tenants can now request a pet.
Previously, blanket no-pets clauses were standard in most tenancy agreements, and there was very little renters could do about it. The Renters’ Rights Act gives tenants the formal right to request a pet, and landlords cannot unreasonably refuse. They can ask the tenant to take out pet damage insurance as a condition of agreeing, which is a reasonable middle ground, but a flat refusal without valid justification is no longer acceptable.
For the considerable number of renters who’ve had to give up or avoid getting a pet entirely because of how leases were written, this is a genuinely welcome change.
Discrimination based on benefits or children is now explicitly banned.
Source: Unsplash Landlords and letting agents have long been prohibited from discriminating against prospective tenants on many grounds, but the reality for people on housing benefit or with children has often been different. The practice of advertising properties with “no DSS” or refusing to engage the moment benefits were mentioned has been widely documented.
The new law makes discrimination against tenants who receive benefits or who have children explicitly illegal, with enforcement mechanisms attached. Campaigners have pointed out that this has technically been unlawful for some time without much enforcement, so how robustly the new rules are applied in practice remains to be seen.
Deposits and upfront costs are capped.
Landlords will now only be able to request a maximum of four weeks’ rent as a deposit upfront. This has been an issue particularly for renters who’ve struggled to afford large lump sums at the start of a tenancy, especially when they’re trying to get their previous deposit back at the same time. Limiting upfront costs removes some of the financial barrier that’s made moving, or getting into renting in the first place, genuinely prohibitive for some people.
All tenancies become rolling.
Fixed-term tenancies, the type where you sign up for six or twelve months and are locked in for that period, are being replaced with rolling tenancies for everyone. This gives both parties more flexibility. Tenants can leave with two months’ notice without being tied to a fixed end date, and landlords must go through the proper grounds for possession rather than simply waiting for a fixed term to expire and then not renewing.
The aim is to make renting feel more like a stable, long-term arrangement rather than a series of short-term agreements that create constant uncertainty.
What’s not changing yet
The Renters’ Rights Act has been praised widely, but housing organisations have also been clear about what it doesn’t do. It won’t bring rents down, and with average renters in England spending more than 36% of their income on rent, affordability remains a serious and unresolved issue.
Decent homes standards, which would require rental properties to meet basic quality thresholds, are being phased in but won’t be fully in place until 2035, something several homelessness charities have criticised given the scale of disrepair already affecting renters now. Enforcement is also a question mark because rights on paper are only useful if people know how to exercise them and local authorities have the capacity to act when landlords ignore the rules.
What to do if your landlord doesn’t comply
From tomorrow, if you receive a no-fault eviction notice, it is no longer legal. You should contact Citizens Advice or Shelter for guidance on your rights. If your landlord attempts to raise your rent more than once in twelve months, or encourages a bidding war, or refuses a pet request without good reason, these are all now breachable offences with real financial consequences attached.
Knowing your rights under the new law is the first step, and both Citizens Advice and Generation Rent have published clear, accessible guidance on what you’re now entitled to and how to hold landlords to account if they don’t follow the rules.
For a full rundown of the Renters Right Act and what it includes, visit the GOV.UK website for more.
