Renters' Rights Act: what landlords need to do now

The Renters' Rights Act commenced on 1 May 2026, which means the rules set out below are not proposals. They are the rules you have been letting under for four months. A lot of the material still circulating online was written before commencement and reads as though the changes are pending, so it is easy to assume you still have time. You do not. If you have not looked properly at your tenancies since the spring, here is what has already changed, what you may have missed, and what is still to come.

Every tenancy is now periodic

On 1 May 2026 all assured shorthold tenancies and all fixed terms converted to assured periodic tenancies. Nothing had to be signed and no notice had to be served. It happened by operation of law. Your six month or twelve month fixed term stopped existing on that date, and the tenancy now rolls on a periodic basis with no end date. Any new tenancy you grant is periodic from the start.

Two things follow from that. Tenants give two months' notice to quit, and they can give it at any point, including a few weeks into a new letting. And your tenancy agreement, if it still talks about a fixed term ending on a set date and a Section 21 notice at the end of it, is now describing a tenancy that does not exist. Agreements written before 2026 need replacing. This is the single most common thing we still see when we take over a property from a self managing landlord or another agent, and it matters more than it sounds, because a tenant reading a term that contradicts the law will reasonably assume the rest of the document is equally out of date. Our residential lettings service in Doncaster now issues periodic agreements as standard.

Section 21 has gone and Section 8 is the only route

The Section 21 no fault eviction procedure is abolished by the Renters' Rights Act. Possession is now available only through the revised Section 8 grounds, and you have to be able to point at a specific ground and evidence it. If you were holding an old Section 21 notice, note that 31 July 2026 was the final deadline for issuing a claim form on it. Notices that were not acted on by that date have lapsed and are worthless. The same deadline applied to Section 8 notices served before 1 May 2026, so if you are sitting on one of those it has gone the same way, and any fresh notice has to comply with the new grounds and notice periods.

The grounds themselves work differently from the old ones:

• Many grounds now require four months' notice, so plan on a much longer run in than you are used to.
• For rent arrears, three months' rent must be owed before the court will make a possession order.
• Antisocial behaviour has a shorter notice period, and you can apply to the court immediately.
• Selling the property and moving in yourself are both blocked as grounds during the first twelve months of a tenancy.
• If you do use the selling or moving in ground, you cannot then market or re-let the property for twelve months afterwards.

There is also a deposit trap that catches people out. A court possession order is only available where the deposit was properly protected, or returned, or the dispute over it resolved. If a deposit was never protected within thirty days of receipt, or was protected in the wrong name, your possession claim stops before it starts. Check every deposit you hold against the government's deposit protection rules rather than assuming the paperwork was done. We hold client deposits in the Tenancy Deposit Scheme under membership G13462, and that check is part of what our landlord compliance work in Doncaster covers.

We are not solicitors and none of this is legal advice. If you are mid possession or a tenant has raised a defence, speak to a solicitor before you take another step.

Rent increases follow one route now

You can raise the rent once a year and no more. The increase must be served on Form 4A with at least two months' notice, and a rent review clause in the tenancy agreement no longer gives you a second route. If you have been increasing rent by letter, or by agreement at renewal, that method has gone with the fixed term.

Tenants can challenge an increase at the First-tier Tribunal if they believe it is above open market rent. That is a real check, not a formality, so the sensible approach is to evidence the figure before you serve. Comparable local advertised rents, not what you would like to achieve. An increase you cannot support with evidence is an increase that may not survive.

Pets, bidding and rent in advance

Three changes that landlords are still getting wrong, months on.

A tenant may request a pet, and you can only refuse where you have a valid reason. A blanket no pets policy in an advert or an agreement is not lawful. Consider each request on its facts and record why you decided as you did.

Rental bidding is banned outright. It is illegal to encourage or accept an offer above the advertised rent. That means the advertised figure has to be the figure you actually want, because you cannot advertise low to generate interest and then let the market push it up. Some landlords still ask us to do this and the answer is no.

Rent in advance cannot be requested, encouraged or accepted before the tenancy agreement is signed. Asking a tenant for six months up front to compensate for a weak reference is no longer available to you. Rent repayment orders now run to a maximum of two years' rent, doubled from one, so the cost of getting these things wrong has gone up considerably.

Refusing tenants on benefits or with children

Discrimination against applicants because they receive benefits, or because they have children, is prohibited. This applies to the advert as much as the decision. "No DSS", "professionals only" and "not suitable for children" are all out, and so is the quieter version where the property is simply never available when a particular applicant calls. Affordability assessments are still allowed. Blanket exclusions are not.

The information sheet deadline has already passed

Landlords had to give existing tenants the government Information Sheet by 31 May 2026. Plenty of landlords missed it, particularly those managing one or two properties themselves who were waiting for something to arrive in the post that never came.

If you missed it, send it now. Do not leave it on the basis that the date has gone. Download the current version of the Renters' Rights Act information sheet, send it to every tenant in writing, and keep a dated record of what you sent and how. A late compliance is a better position than a continuing one, and the record is what you will be asked for if the question ever arises. If a tenant has already raised the failure with you, take advice before you respond.

What is still coming

The Renters' Rights Act sets out several changes that are still ahead of you. Nothing below is in force yet, and one item has no date at all.

• The Register your rental property service opens on 15 December 2026 and rolls out region by region. Yorkshire and Humber regulations commence on 15 April 2027, with a registration deadline of 14 July 2027. That deadline covers Doncaster.
• The PRS Landlord Ombudsman launches in 2028, and participation will be mandatory for landlords.
• The Decent Homes Standard applies to the private rented sector from 2035.
• The extension of Awaab's Law to the private rented sector has no confirmed timescale. The government has not published one. Ignore any article that gives you a date for it.

The database is the one to prepare for, because registration will mean your property details and compliance documents need to be in order and findable rather than in a drawer.

What to do this month

If you have not touched any of this since May, work through it in this order.

• Replace any tenancy agreement that still refers to a fixed term or Section 21.
• Check every deposit is protected in the correct scheme, in the correct name, and that prescribed information was served.
• Send the Information Sheet to any tenant who has not had it, and record the date.
• Move all rent increases onto Form 4A with two months' notice, and diarise so no tenant gets two increases in twelve months.
• Rewrite adverts to remove pet bans, benefit restrictions and anything that invites offers above the asking rent.
• Read the government's overview of the Act for landlords in full, once, properly.

Our 2026 landlord compliance checklist sets the same ground out in a form you can work through property by property.

Getting it handled

Most of the above is not difficult. It is just detailed, and the penalties for a small omission are now larger than they were. If you would rather not track Form 4A dates and information sheet records yourself, our property management service in Doncaster covers it for the properties we look after, under one all in fee with no setup, renewal, inspection or admin charges on top. If you want someone to look at what you currently hold and tell you plainly what is out of date, get in touch with the office on 01302 244104.