The Renters’ Rights Act became law on May 1, 2026 and has brought the biggest change to renting in England in decades.
It supports renters by abolishing Section 21 no fault evictions and introducing rolling tenancies where tenants can now leave at any time by giving at least two months’ notice.
The new act limits landlords to increasing rent to just once a year and the whole Act strengthens tenant protections and gives clear indications of renters’ rights.
Landlords need to have a valid reason to evict tenants, rather than just issue a Section 21 no fault eviction notice (which have now been abolished). At our drop-in sessions here at Launchpad we regularly saw people who had been issued with Section 21s and were incredibly upset, scared and worried about becoming homeless.
Now if a landlord wants someone to leave, they must use specific legal grounds under a Section 8 notice, such as rent arrears or anti-social behaviour, or if they plan to sell the property or move into it themselves.
The Act also determines that rent can only be increased once a year through a formal process and practices like rental bidding wars have been banned. Landlords and agents must advertise a clear asking rent and cannot accept offers above this amount.
Asking renters to make very large upfront payments have been restricted as landlords cannot now demand more than one month’s rent in advance.
It is now illegal for landlords and agents to refuse tenants based on receiving benefits or having children. Applicants must be assessed on affordability and suitably.
And it’s good news for animal-lovers as tenants have the right to request a pet, which cannot be unreasonably refused.
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