The government has confirmed that the Renters’ Rights Act will come into force next year, with implementation beginning on 1 May 2026, following the release of the official rollout timeline.
The legislation is set to introduce enhanced protections and rights for tenants, marking a significant shift in the rental sector. Key measures include stronger safeguards against eviction, clearer responsibilities for landlords over property maintenance, and new rights for tenants to request repairs and improvements.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, commented: “The UK government’s announcement on timelines for the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 signals a landmark shift for the private rented sector in England. With increasing layers of regulation, it has never been more important for landlords to use a qualified, professional, and regulated letting agent to help navigate the complexity of compliance and ensure both landlords and tenants are properly protected.
“Professional agents play a vital role in supporting good practice, reducing risk, and maintaining standards across the sector. That makes it even more important that the UK government proceeds with these reforms in a way that maintains landlord confidence, incentivises continued investment in private rental housing, and enables letting agents and landlords to deliver high-quality homes for tenants.”
The government recently published an official guide to the Renters’ Rights Act – see below – setting out what the new legislation means for letting agents, landlords and tenants.
The guidance explains the key changes to rental rules, but fails to outline when the new measures will take effect. The government says it will publish a separate timeline outlining plans for implementation.
David Smith, property litigation partner at London law firm Spector Constant & Williams, said: “This will put agents under an immense amount of pressure to get everything done ready for the start date. As the government does not intend to give details of what needs to be in tenancy agreements until early in 2026 there will be very little time to prepare paperwork, train staff and update systems.”
Landlords will also be prevented from increasing rents more than once per year and bidding wars among potential tenants will also be outlawed from 1 May next year. Other measures to come into force from 1 May include banning landlords from asking for more than one month’s rent as a deposit.
Other measures in the Act will come into force in two further phases, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG).
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, commented: “The announcement of a commencement date for these important reforms is welcome. However, a deadline alone is not enough.
“We have argued consistently that landlords and property businesses need at least six months from the publication of regulations to ensure the sector is properly prepared for the biggest changes it has faced for over 40 years.
“Unless the government urgently publishes all the guidance documents and written material needed to update tenancy agreements to reflect the changes to come, the plan will prove less a roadmap and more a path to inevitable failure.
“Without this landlords, tenants, agents, councils and the courts will be left without the information required to adapt, creating utter confusion at the very moment clarity is most needed.
“Ministers also need to explain how the county court will be ready to process legitimate possession cases far more swiftly than at present. As the cross-party Justice Committee has rightly warned, the court is simply dysfunctional. Vague assurances about digitisation, without an idea of what that means in practice, are simply not good enough.”
Government publishes guide to Renters’ Rights Act
