Renters' Rights Shake-Up: No Fault Evictions to be Abolished.

The government has announced that no fault evictions (evictions carried out under Section 21 Notices) are due to be abolished from 1 May 2026, as part of its wider Renters’ Rights Act. The latest announcement also includes several changes to other key rental terms that landlords, tenants and those working in the property sector need to be mindful of.

What are the latest Renters’ Rights Act changes?

On 13 November 2026, the UK government provided greater clarity on how it plans to implement its sweeping reforms to residential rental arrangements in England and Wales. The reforms aim to offer tenants greater protections, improve the standard of rental housing, and offer greater affordability to tenants.

The Act is due to be introduced in 3 phases, with phase 1 coming into force from 1 May 2026.

From 1 May 2026, the following changes will be enacted:

1. No fault evictions under Section 21 can no longer be served by landlords, however evictions can still take place with valid possession grounds.
2. Most new and existing tenancies will become rolling tenancies that can only be ended with a valid possession ground, or by a tenant providing 2 months’ notice.
3. Section 8 will be reformed to enable landlords to more easily evict bad tenants.
4. Rent increases will be limited to once per year and only to market rate.
5. Rental bid wars will be banned.
6. Requests for rent in advance are to be capped at 1 month’s rent.
7. Discrimination against tenants with children, or who receive benefits will be banned, however affordability checks will remain.
8. ‘Pet-free’ properties to be banned, however landlords can still refuse pets with a valid reason.
9. Enforcement of rent repayment to be enhanced.

What do I need to know?

Depending on who you are, the changes included in the Renters’ Rights Act will affect you differently:

Tenants

For private tenants:

• Your tenancy will change from 1 May 2026 and become a rolling tenancy called an Assured Periodic Tenancy.
• If you don’t have a written tenancy agreement, your landlord must provide you with a summary of the main terms before 31 May 2026.
• If you do have a written tenancy agreement, your landlord or their agent must provide you with an information sheet on the Renters’ Reform Act before 31 May 2026 (this will be released in March 2026).
• If your landlord serves you with a valid Section 21 no fault eviction notice before 1 May 2026, you can still be legally evicted, provided they begin the court repossession procedure by 31 July 2026.
• Keep an eye out for guidance directly from the government, which will be released starting from April 2026.

For social tenants:

• Reforms to social housing tenancies will come in late 2026
• If there are any issues in your property that are an immediate and significant risk to harming your health, you are protected by the recently-introduced Awaab’s Law. Your landlord must investigate and make these hazards safe within 24 hours of being made aware of them.

Landlords

For private landlords:

• Any residential tenancy agreements you have issued to tenants will convert to a rolling Assured Periodic Tenancy from 1 May 2026 and you will not be able to offer further fixed term tenancies.
• You will not be able to evict tenants through the Section 21 route after 1 May 2026 and tenants may end their tenancy at any time with 2 months’ notice.
• If you do not have written tenancy agreements with any of your tenants, ensure you provide them with a summary of key terms by 31 May 2026.
• Check what your obligations will be after 1 May 2026 and what information you must provide to your tenants before 31 May 2026.
• If you use a lettings agent to manage your tenants, confirm with them what information they will be providing and do not assume your lettings agent will automatically provide the relevant information to your tenants.
• Additional information will be released by the government in November 2025, January 2026, and March 2026.
• If your gross annual income from property and self-employment exceeds £50,000 per year, check with your accountant whether you meet the requirements of the new ‘Making Tax Digital’ scheme.

For social landlords:

• Reforms to social housing tenancies will come in late 2026.
• You are still required to fix any emergency hazards you are notified of within 24 hours under Awaab’s Law.

Lettings Agents

For lettings agents and those working in the private residential rentals sector:

• Stay ahead of the game and communicate with your landlords on what you can do to help them meet the requirements from 1 May 2026.
• Review your lettings agreements and if you are responsible for providing tenants with written tenancy agreements, ensure this is done.
• You may not ask for, encourage, or accept an offer for rent that is higher than the advertised rent on a property from 1 May 2026.
• You may not advertise a property on the basis that pets are explicitly banned from 1 May 2026.
• Familiarise yourself with the proposed Database for Landlords and Local Councils, and PRS Landlord Ombudsman rollouts, which are expected to come in late 2026.
• For larger lettings agents, update systems and processes that will ensure the upload of the relevant property documents to the Database for Landlords and Local Councils.

What changes are still to come?

With phase 1 of the rental reforms rolling out from 1 May 2026, phase 2 is set to begin in late 2026 but no dates have been proposed, and phase 3 unannounced.

Notably within phase 2 is the planned expansion of Awaab’s Law to cover the private rental sector, the launches of the Database for Landlords and Local Councils and the PRS Landlord Ombudsman. There will be major reforms and modernisations behind the scenes within the court processes and to the responsibilities and monitoring capabilities of local councils to facilitate these reforms.

How will this affect the rental sector?

The overall impact of the Renters’ Reform Act is yet to be seen and the government has made clear that it hopes this bill will lead to better rental housing standards and greater protections for tenants, however many landlords are anxious about the changes.

Analysis by Sophie Campbell-Adams

Perhaps the biggest worry for landlords is increasing costs. With an increased burden of responsibility to bring up the quality of housing, reduced flexibility to remove tenants and many landlords still experiencing higher mortgage interest rates, there is an understandable worry from landlords that they may, effectively, be priced out of the market.

Coupled with that, the government’s recent consultation that all privately rented properties in England and Wales must meet an EPC requirement of C or equivalent, costs seem like they are mounting. This issue is particularly acute on old housing stock whose contribution to the housing market is not insignificant, and wage stagnation leading to potential limits on how much rent can be raised.

Experienced landlords may also remember the issues caused during COVID where the courts were overwhelmed, leading to significant backlogs and having to wait months for decisions, including those for valid possession grounds like non-payment of rent. With the elimination of Section 21, if the reforms to Section 8 do not provide private landlords with enough confidence they will be able to successfully remove anti-social tenants in a timely manner, we may see another surge in eviction applications.

However, with greater restrictions on landlords comes greater flexibility for tenants. In practice, this may mean that landlords who continue to neglect rental properties may see low occupancy rates, while those meeting their responsibilities may be able to attract a rental premium in the short term, at least until the proportion of low quality housing reduces. This naturally presents opportunities for re-development and for potential first-time buyers.

And there is also the ‘human’ effect. With increased security that tenants cannot be evicted at the drop of a hat, tenants may be incentivised to invest more in their rented property and look after it to a greater extent than today.

While the proportion of so-called bad landlords may fall, it’s likely that rental costs will continue to rise, despite rental bid wars being outlawed. Ultimately, the underlying burden will be on landlords across the board to increase housing quality, and this will not come without a cost.