From Royal Assent to Commencement

The Renters’ Rights Act received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, completing the longest-running reform of the private rented sector since the Housing Act 1988. It replaced an earlier Renters (Reform) Bill that had progressed through the previous Parliament without completing its passage, and brought together — in a single piece of legislation — the abolition of Section 21, statutory reform of the possession grounds, the rent bidding ban, the Property Portal database, the extension of Awaab’s Law to the private sector, the Decent Homes Standard for the PRS, the new Private Rented Sector Ombudsman, and a series of anti-discrimination provisions for tenants with children, on benefits, or wishing to keep pets.

Commencement is staged. The headline date — 1 May 2026 — abolished Section 21 and converted every existing Assured Shorthold Tenancy in England into an Assured Periodic Tenancy. Other provisions, including the Property Portal and the full Decent Homes regime, are commencing in tranches through secondary legislation. This guide covers what is in force today and what is approaching.

Section 21 is Gone: What That Means in Practice

For thirty-seven years, Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 gave landlords the right to recover possession of an assured shorthold tenancy without proving fault — a notice procedure that did not require a reason, did not require the landlord to prove anything in court, and resulted in mandatory possession orders if defended. It was the structural backbone of the private rented sector: the reason fixed-term tenancies functioned, the reason landlords could plan portfolio exits, and the reason possession was, in practice, an administrative process rather than a litigated one.

On 1 May 2026, Section 21 was abolished. No new notice can be served under it. From that date, the only lawful way to recover possession of a residential tenancy in England is to prove a specific Section 8 ground.

In-flight cases.

Any Section 21 notice properly served before 1 May 2026 remained valid for the period set out in the original notice — but if a possession claim had not been issued at the court before the relevant cut-off, the notice expired and the landlord must now begin again under Section 8. Landlords who served Section 21 notices in February, March, or April 2026 should check the validity window of each notice against the date a claim was filed; any notice that has not yet produced a court claim is no longer enforceable.

The practical impact.

The cost of recovering possession has risen across three dimensions: time (Section 8 hearings are not “accelerated” — they are full hearings on the merits), evidence (the landlord must now prove a ground rather than simply rely on a notice), and risk (a discretionary ground may be refused). Portfolio exit timing — selling a tenanted property, taking a property back for personal use, redeveloping a site — must now be planned around the Section 8 grounds and their notice periods, not around an open-ended Section 21 option.

This is the single most consequential change in the Act, and the one most often underestimated. Every other provision flows from it.

From Assured Shorthold to Assured Periodic Tenancy

Every Assured Shorthold Tenancy in England converted to an Assured Periodic Tenancy on 1 May 2026 by operation of law. Landlords were not required to issue new agreements, sign anything, or serve any notice to effect the conversion — it happened automatically. The same is true of every new tenancy granted from 1 May onwards: there is no longer any such thing as a fixed-term assured tenancy in the private rented sector. Every new tenancy is periodic from day one.

What “periodic” means.

A periodic tenancy rolls month to month. There is no end date, no expiry, no fixed term. The tenant can stay as long as they wish, on the terms of the original agreement, paying the same rent. The landlord cannot recover possession by waiting for a fixed term to expire — because there is no fixed term.

Tenant notice rights.

A tenant can now end the tenancy at any time by giving two months’ written notice. They are not required to wait for a “break date,” and they cannot be required to commit to a minimum term. This is true on day one of a new tenancy and on day one of a converted tenancy. A landlord whose entire portfolio converted on 1 May 2026 should plan for the possibility — small in any individual case, real across a portfolio — of an unexpected two-month notice from any tenant at any time.

Fixed-term and break-clause language.

Every fixed-term clause, minimum-term clause, and break clause in a converted tenancy agreement became legally inoperative on 1 May 2026. The contract itself remains in force, but those specific provisions cannot now be enforced. Existing agreements do not need to be rewritten — but landlords using them as the basis for any decision (refusing a tenant exit, requiring a re-let fee, asserting a fixed-term obligation) must understand that those provisions are no longer enforceable.

Practical implications.

• Rent reviews are now governed by Section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 as amended. A landlord can serve a Section 13 notice to increase rent once per twelve-month period. The tenant has a statutory right to challenge the proposed rent at the First-tier Tribunal.
• Deposit protection windows continue to run from the date the deposit is received and prescribed information served. The conversion did not restart any clocks.
• Inventory and check-in evidence has become structurally more important. Without the safety net of Section 21, the only route to recovering damage costs at end of tenancy is through the deposit scheme adjudication process, which depends entirely on documentary evidence.