Settling In - The Renters’ Rights Act 2025
12 Days since the introduction of Phase 1 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and what have we learnt?
This is just the beginning of significant legislative change and Settling In to the new norm. A great deal of work has already been done by letting agents, landlords, stakeholders, legal firms, the Law Commission and MHCLG with more to come.
The Private Rented Sector has NOT collapsed as predicted by the national press. Yes landlords have exited the market, however, many millions remain.
Tenant service of notice and the tenant’s right to challenge a rent increase have been widely discussed since the Act was granted Royal Assent. On the 1st May 2026, we did not witness every single tenant in England serving notice on their landlord or challenging a rent increase via the First-tier Tribunal.
There will be ‘casualties’ who face initial civil penalties of up to £7000.00 in the next few months - most likely self managing landlords
Letting agents will become more valuable to landlords. We have engaged with so many letting agents over the last 2 years and the message has been Preparedness to Ensure Compliance and Minimise Risk. Over the last 12 months we have witnessed a huge amount of work being done by letting agents building on existing strong foundations.
But venturing into legislation that is new will raise questions. The most common on our Advice Line over the last 12 days have been :-
Grounds 1A under Section 8 (Form 3A) - specifically restrictions relating to service
Notice served by 1 tenant in a joint & several agreement
Ensuring the Information Sheet has been correctly served
Relying on Section 13 (Form 4A) to increase rent
Pet requests and ensuring the tenant adheres to a set of pet clauses
Awaabs Law and the implementation of the Private Rented Sector Database
Issuing the Written Statement
There is a lot more to come as the changes within Phase 1 of the Act become clearer and more familiar. It is important to note updating processes and systems that have been in place for 30 years will inevitably not be easy.