The introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act marks a major milestone in strengthening tenant protections within the private rented sector (PRS). The legislation enhances tenants’ rights and encourages higher housing standards. For local authorities, it presents both opportunities and challenges: how to enforce these new rights effectively while maintaining a constructive relationship with landlords, who remain vital providers of decent and affordable rented homes. 

The act received royal assent last autumn and fundamentally redefines the landlord–tenant relationship by abolishing section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions from the Housing Act 1988. This is achieved by removing sections 19A to 23, thereby ending the assured shorthold tenancy (AST) regime from 1 May 2026. From that date, all PRS tenancies will automatically convert to monthly assured periodic tenancies under section 4A, closely resembling assured secure periodic agreements. This will become the standard tenancy contract moving forward. All tenancies must be periodic, with rental periods no longer than 28 days or one calendar month. Fixed-term and quarterly rents are prohibited. 

In addition, the act introduces new rules governing transparent marketing practices, advance rent payments and rent increases. Section 8 grounds for possession have also been amended and extended. 

New responsibilities for local authorities 

For local authorities, the act creates significant new responsibilities backed by enhanced enforcement powers. The framework targets landlord behaviours, some of which are criminal offences subject to prosecution or liable to civil penalties up to £40,000. Other breaches constitute civil wrongs, with meaningful fines of up to £7,000. Authorities must develop clear policies to guide enforcement decisions and identify appropriate sanction routes for each case, all while balancing the competing priority of reducing homelessness and temporary accommodation costs. 

Investigatory powers, effective since December 2025, bolster enforcement capacity. Officers can demand information from landlords, agents or other relevant parties, and failure to comply (without reasonable excuse) constitutes an offence. These powers include entry to business premises such as letting agencies and the ability to seize documents, take photographs and make recordings. Routine inspections generally require 24 hours’ notice unless the occupier has agreed to waive this right, and where access is denied and evidence is at risk, warrants may be granted. Officers may also enter residential premises to investigate suspected illegal evictions under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. 

Key tenancy reforms 

From 1 May 2026, no new ASTs can be created. All existing ASTs will automatically convert to new periodic assured tenancies, subject to transitional regulations. With section 21 evictions abolished, landlords must rely entirely on section 8 grounds for possession. 

For instance, a tenant who signed a 12-month AST earlier in the year will have the right to terminate with 2 months’ notice from 1 May 2026, regardless of the original fixed term remaining. In such cases, landlords lose section 21 eviction rights and must prove statutory grounds under section 8 to regain possession. This represents a major shift in control for landlords and delivers unprecedented security and flexibility for tenants, a central aim of the legislation and something that housing advice teams will quickly need to get up to speed on. 

Amendments to section 8 grounds 

The act restructures Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 by dividing possession grounds into two categories: 

• Mandatory grounds, where courts must grant possession if proven, and 

• Discretionary grounds, where courts retain discretion even if grounds are established. 
  
  

Among immediate changes, Ground 1 has been expanded to include occupancy by wider family members, and a new Ground 1A addresses situations where the landlord genuinely intends to sell the property.  

A 12-month marketing restriction related to Grounds 1 and 1A prohibits re-letting or re-marketing a property within 12 months of possession obtained under these grounds. Breaching this restriction is an offence punishable by fines of up to £40,000. This restriction covers all marketing activities, including online advertising and instructing agents. 

Notice periods have been extended: Ground 1 requires 4 months’ notice, and other Ground 8 require 4 weeks instead of 2 weeks. 

Rental increases and bidding restrictions 

Contractual rent review clauses will be void from 1 May 2026. Landlords may only increase rent by issuing a section 13 notice, which requires 2 months’ written notice and limits rent increases to once per 12-month period after the first 52 weeks of a tenancy. 

Upward rental bidding is banned entirely from 1 May 2026. Accepting offers above the advertised rent (a specific amount) will be considered a breach, enforceable by penalties of up to £40,000. 

Transparency for tenants 

Landlords must provide all existing tenants with prescribed information about these changes by 31 May 2026. This requirement applies to all tenancies, not just new agreements. A government-published template, expected in March, will help landlords comply. Failure to deliver this information accurately and on time may result in penalties. 

Being prepared: Challenges and opportunities 

Local authorities face a critical opportunity to educate landlords and agents and to identify early enforcement prospects. Running focused landlord education campaigns over the coming months can clarify legal obligations and the consequences of non-compliance. 

Authorities should notify landlords through established communication channels and prepare to respond to non-compliance. Developing clear strategies to manage tenant complaints will also be essential. 

Immediate priorities include establishing clear enforcement policies and procedures, training homelessness and PRS teams and training authorised officers on serving notices, entering premises, seizing evidence, applying for warrants, investigating breaches and offences and issuing civil penalties. RIAMS Libraries can support local authorities with clear and robust procedures and templates. 

Many landlords currently fall into discriminatory practices, such as ‘No DSS’ or ‘No children’ criteria, which will attract penalties up to £40,000 from May. Some landlords will be blissfully ignorant of these changes, and local authorities must raise awareness that such terms are illegal and that mortgage conditions restricting benefit claimants from renting will no longer be enforceable.  

Tenant advice services must prepare to support tenants in understanding their new rights, especially concerning tenancy termination and the end of section 21 reliance. They will also need to provide guidance on tenants’ rights to request pets and contest rent increases without retrospective penalties. 

Post-May, local authorities should monitor compliance with information deadlines starting in June and track complaints. Building or updating landlord and property databases from local authority records and tenancy deposit schemes will be critical to support enforcement. This data will also inform the enforcement of the PRS database, plus future ombudsman membership schemes as they are introduced. 

Conclusion 

The Renters’ Rights Act represents a fundamental transformation of the English PRS. For local authorities, success requires immediate action: implementing officer authorisation systems, training, developing comprehensive financial penalty policies before May 2026 and launching robust landlord education campaigns to proactively prevent breaches and promote a safe and sustainable PRS. 

A transparent, fair, and well-communicated enforcement strategy is vital to protect tenants while providing clarity to landlords navigating a rapidly changing legal landscape. Balancing clear enforcement with education will help prevent landlords from unnecessarily exiting the market, which would harm renters. Proactive and local support for renters beyond the central government campaign is also critical. The absence of clear communication and support is likely to result in confusion, perhaps even damaging the rental market rather than supporting its growth.  

Henry Dawson, senior lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University, said that updates to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), developed for the government by RHE Global, will make it more useful and usable for landlords, tenants and professionals across the property sector.

He said: “HHSRS will be much more comprehensible. Previously, landlords and tenants received reports and they often didn’t understand why these numbers and letters were important to them. HHSRS will now be less impenetrable for those who haven’t been trained in it. Hopefully, [we will] see it being used far more widely.”

He noted that the new training curriculum for assessors will include the requirement for CPD to be maintained. HHSRS now explicitly included mental health impacts of hazards and the contribution of flooding to damp and mould.

A 2017 CIEH survey found the HHSRS assessment process to be hard to apply and time-consuming, making enforcement decisions difficult. Two-thirds of respondents wanted HHSRS to be revised or simplified, while 20% wanted it to be scrapped and a new, simpler standard adopted.

Following a scoping review in 2019, the government commissioned RHE to revise and update the HHSRS Operating Guidance and to improve its scoring system and training. The work involved Cardiff Metropolitan University and other universities, legal practices, multi-sector representatives and a roadshow that connected with nearly 900 respondents.

Delivered in 2023, the project created new operating guidance and revised hazard profiles, with worked examples, quick-reference summaries and a new manual and competencies for HHSRS assessors.

The concept of categories 1 and 2 hazards remains, with Category 1 triggering a legal duty to act. Twenty-nine hazards have been reduced to twenty-one. Complex explanations have been removed, and a traffic-light banding system has been devised to make scoring easier to understand.

The UK government has begun the formal implementation process for the revised Housing Health and Safety Rating System by laying the draft guidance in parliament. It represents the biggest cross-tenure change to housing standards legislation for England in 20 years.

RHE Global, the team behind the HHSRS review, can meet all your HHSRS resource and training needs.

We’ll get underway with a FREE Housing Roundtable on 23 April at 10:30 a.m., dedicated to the revised HHSRS with the experts who led the review and policy development. 

Officers can hit the ground running with our HHSRS Conversion Course, designed for practitioners who have previously completed the competency course. This training will bring delegates up to speed on the new HHSRS, highlight the key differences and demonstrate how to complete assessments using the new guidance and case studies.

Also new is our HHSRS Practitioner Training. Amended to encompass new content, this flagship training course will enable practitioners to master the new HHSRS and confidently assess hazards in line with the updated regulations and guidance. This comprehensive course provides practitioners who successfully complete the end-point assessment with a certificate of competency.

Dates for new training will be announced soon, so keep an eye on training.rheglobal.com or contact us to register your interest or request in-house training for your team. If you already have HHSRS training booked, we will be in touch to discuss your options.

Operating guidance for the revised Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) has been laid before Parliament, Luke Spanton, head of cross-tenure standards at MHCLG, told the RHE Housing 2026.

Spanton said: “I would expect that some peers from the House of Lords will show an interest in the scrutiny process.” The formal process, initiated on the week of the RHE conference, fired the starting gun for historic changes to renters’ rights and landlords’ responsibilities and to wide-ranging reforms across both sectors of rented housing.

The reforms, which are the most radical since the Housing Act of 1988, are designed to move towards bringing private rented and social housing under more common standards and regulation in England by 2035. 

After scrutiny is complete, within 40 days, HHSRS baseline indicators can enter into law, defining Category 1 hazards that require mandatory action by local authorities. The 40 days will end on 1 May, coinciding with the commencement of new landlord obligations and penalties under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. 

From that date, councils will be able to issue penalties of up to £7,000 to landlords for Type 1 breaches of the RRA, including the presence of Category 1 hazards, without waiting for a landlord to first fail to comply with an improvement notice.

Spanton said the context of the legislation was the government’s Decade of Renewal for Social and Affordable Housing plan, launched last July following the Spending Review 2025 and updated in January 2026. As well as pledging to deliver roughly 300,000 new homes, with at least 60% for social rent by 2036, the plan contains provisions to converge the regulatory regimes for all rented housing.

Awaab’s law on damp and mould already applies to social housing and is expected to be extended to the private rented sector under the RRA later this year. The improvement in minimum energy efficiency standards for the PRS from E to C will apply to that sector in 2030.

From 2035, a new Decent Homes Standard will apply to both the social and private rented sectors, to be enforced by the Regulator of Social Housing and local authorities.

Spanton noted: “We need an effective and stable regulatory regime. Landlords need to know what’s required of them and when. Social landlords, in particular, need to start work now. I’d like to suggest the same is true of private landlords.”