Renters' Rights Act 2026: What London Landlords Need to Know

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 is the most significant change to the private rented sector in a generation, and for London landlords the practical implications begin well before the first court date under the new regime. The Act abolishes fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies, ends Section 21 no-fault evictions, introduces a new Ombudsman and property portal, and extends the Decent Homes Standard to private rentals for the first time. This guide explains what the Renters' Rights Act 2025 means for landlords, which obligations start immediately, and the steps that responsible London landlords should be taking now to protect both their income and their compliance position.

What the Renters' Rights Act 2026 changes for landlords

The Act does not simply tighten existing rules. It reshapes the legal architecture of letting. Below are the core changes every London landlord should understand before the commencement date.

The end of Section 21 no-fault evictions

Section 21 has been the default route for ending an assured shorthold tenancy since 1988. Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, no-fault Section 21 notices are abolished in full. To regain possession, a landlord must now rely on a strengthened set of Section 8 grounds: including selling the property, moving in, persistent rent arrears, and serious anti-social behaviour. Most grounds require evidence, notice periods of up to four months, and in many cases a possession hearing. For London landlords who have relied on Section 21 to manage turnover, this is a fundamental shift: possession is no longer something you can schedule, it is something you have to justify.

Some grounds are mandatory, if evidence is proven, the court must grant possession, and some are discretionary, meaning the court weighs the tenant's circumstances alongside the landlord's. Ground 1A (selling the property) requires four months' notice and twelve months to have passed since the tenancy began; Ground 8 (two months' rent arrears) is mandatory but must be current at the hearing date, which tightens the window in which engagement with a tenant is still possible. The evidence standard is not onerous in most cases, but it is a standard, and landlords without organised records will find it harder to meet.

A shift to periodic tenancies

All assured shorthold tenancies convert to a single system of periodic tenancies. There are no fixed terms, no break clauses, and no renewals in the traditional sense. Tenants can end the tenancy by giving two months' notice at any point. Landlords can only end the tenancy by serving a valid Section 8 notice on a permitted ground. In practical terms this means the 12-month renewal cycle most London landlords are used to disappears, and with it the predictable refurbishment and compliance windows that came with each check-out.

New rules on rent increases

Rent can only be increased once per year, by serving a Section 13 notice, and the new rent must reflect market value. Tenants have a statutory right to challenge any proposed increase at the First-tier Tribunal, and the Tribunal can only confirm or reduce the rent, never increase it above what the landlord proposed. Rent review clauses and backdated increases written into older tenancy agreements will no longer be enforceable. For landlords, this makes accurate initial pricing and annual rent reviews, informed by current comparable evidence, far more important than before.

Pets and reasonable requests

The Act introduces a statutory right for tenants to request a pet, and landlords cannot unreasonably refuse. Landlords are entitled to require a reasonable amount of pet insurance to cover damage, and they have a defined window to respond in writing. A blanket "no pets" policy will not survive the new regime. This is a modest change for landlords who already accept well-vetted pet owners, but a significant one for blocks with leasehold restrictions, where the landlord will need to evidence the block rule to refuse reasonably.

A new Private Rented Sector Ombudsman

All private landlords will be required to join a single PRS Ombudsman. Tenants will be able to bring complaints, about repairs, rent handling, deposit disputes, and communication, directly to the Ombudsman without going to court. Decisions are binding, can require compensation of up to £25,000, and non-membership is itself a penalty offence. This is the first time unmanaged private landlords will fall under a redress scheme equivalent to the one already covering letting agents. In practical terms, a tenant who has waited too long for a boiler repair, or who believes a deposit deduction is unreasonable, now has a free, low-friction route to redress that sits outside the courts and produces a decision in weeks rather than months.

A national property portal

Every rental property in England will need to be registered on a new national property portal. The portal will hold landlord details, property details, safety certificates, and energy performance data. Tenants, local authorities, and the Ombudsman will have visibility of the record. Letting a property that is not registered, or with out-of-date information on the portal, becomes a civil offence with financial penalties.

The Decent Homes Standard extended to private rentals

The Decent Homes Standard, which has applied to social housing since 2006, is extended to the private rented sector. Properties must be free of category 1 hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, have reasonably modern facilities, and be in a reasonable state of repair. Many well-maintained London rentals already meet the Standard in substance, but older flats with tired kitchens, inefficient heating, or damp issues may need targeted investment before inspections begin in earnest.

How the Act will be enforced

Enforcement is split across three channels: local authorities (civil penalties of up to £40,000 for serious breaches, and rent repayment orders of up to 24 months), the PRS Ombudsman (binding decisions and compensation for tenants), and the courts (possession claims and banning orders in the most serious cases). Civil penalties are a lighter evidential standard than prosecution, which is deliberately designed to make enforcement faster. Landlords who currently operate informally, without written tenancies, up-to-date certificates, or a registered deposit, are the group most exposed under the new regime.

What London landlords should do now

The commencement date for the main provisions will arrive quickly, and the steps below are ones you can take today, regardless of when your current tenancy agreement ends.

Audit your tenancy paperwork

Review every existing tenancy to confirm the tenancy agreement, deposit registration, How to Rent guide, and right-to-rent checks are all current and on file. Any gap becomes a potential defence for a tenant challenging a possession claim under the new grounds, and can bar you from serving a Section 8 notice. If you have been managing tenancies in personal email, now is the time to consolidate them into a structured file per property.

Get your safety certificates in order

A valid gas safety certificate, a satisfactory Electrical Installation Condition Report, and an in-date EPC are pre-conditions for lawful letting under the current law and will remain so, only with the Ombudsman and the property portal now verifying them at the click of a button. Running certificates to expiry and renewing reactively is the single most common cause of preventable compliance breaches.

Work with a letting agent who understands the change

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 rewards landlords with good systems and punishes landlords without them. If your current agent does not have a clear answer on how they will handle pet requests, Section 13 rent reviews, property portal registration, or Ombudsman complaints, that is a question worth asking. A let-only service can handle the initial tenancy correctly; a full property management service handles the whole life-cycle, including the parts of the Act that now apply every year rather than every renewal.

How AIHPG helps landlords adapt to the Renters' Rights Act 2026

All In House Property Group is London's only property management and lettings agency that includes cleaning, inventory, EICR, gas safety, EPC, and decoration as standard within its service bundles. Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, that bundled model becomes more than a convenience. It becomes a compliance advantage. Our in-house teams schedule certificate renewals before expiry, log every inspection and condition report against the property record, and maintain the paperwork a tenant or Ombudsman would want to see. When a possession ground does need to be relied upon, the evidence is already on file. When a pet request arrives, the response window is managed. When the property portal goes live, the record is ready to be registered.

Our cleaning and inventory service provides the photographic condition record that underpins any Section 8 claim involving property damage, and our in-house decoration and renovation team addresses Decent Homes Standard issues before they become enforcement issues. Because every service is delivered by in-house staff rather than third-party contractors, response times are measured in days rather than weeks, which matters when the Ombudsman starts measuring them.