Renters' Right Act 2025

Upcoming Legislative Changes – Renters’ Rights Act 2025

The new legislation has now received Royal Assent and the government have published that the first phase will be live from 1st May 2026.

The government has committed to providing clear guidance to ensure a smooth and well-managed transition for landlords and letting agents.

Key changes to be aware of:

Abolition of Section 21 ‘No Fault’ Evictions

The removal of Section 21 aims to benefit both landlords and tenants by offering tenants greater security of tenure while ensuring landlords can still regain possession of their property through Section 8, where valid grounds exist.

These grounds include:

• Property Sale (Mandatory):
Landlords may regain possession if they intend to sell the property. A minimum of 4 months’ notice must be provided, and this ground cannot be used before month eight of the tenancy.

• Landlord Occupation (Mandatory):
Landlords or their close family members may move into the property. A 4-month notice period is required, and this ground cannot be used before month eight of the tenancy.

• Rental Arrears (Mandatory):
The threshold for mandatory eviction due to rent arrears will increase from 2 to 3 months. The notice period will also be extended from 2 to 4 weeks.

• Redevelopment (Mandatory):
Grounds for possession are expanded to cover situations where a property requires substantial renovation or redevelopment.

• Compliance with Enforcement Action:
Landlords may seek possession if they are subject to specific enforcement action and need to regain possession in order to comply with legal requirements.

Mandatory grounds require the court to order tenants to vacate the property once these grounds are proven. We want to reassure landlords that you will be able to regain possession of your property if the need arises.

Annual Rent Increases

The introduction of annual rent reviews is intended to create a fairer and more transparent rental market, allowing landlords to increase rents once per year in line with current market values.

Abolition of Fixed-Term Assured Shorthold Tenancies

Under the new legislation, all new tenancies will become periodic. This change is designed to provide greater flexibility for both tenants and landlords. Tenants will no longer be bound by fixed-term contracts that may not suit changing personal circumstances, such as relocation for work. Tenants will be able to end it by giving two months’ notice, aligning the end dated with the end of a rent period.
At the same time, landlords will retain the right to end a tenancy where legitimate grounds exist under Section 8.

Extension of Section 13 Notice Periods

Notices will be extended to two months. At SJM Properties, we already implement this as standard practice to ensure compliance and fairness.

Strengthened Rights for Tenants to Request Pets

Tenants are now legally entitled to request permission to keep a pet, and landlords must give reasonable consideration to such requests and may not unreasonably refuse.

At SJM Properties we are already looking at how these new changes will affect our business, and working on how best to tackle the upcoming legislation change from 1st May 2026 for both our landlords and tenants, and we will be following up in the next few weeks on updates.