Sean Gould
Last October 2025, The Renters Rights Act (RRA 2025) received Royal Assent and ignited one of the most revolutionary shifts the private rented sector had seen in decades.
Driven by the governments pledge to “transform the experience of private renting”, the first set of provisions took effect on 27 December 2025, whilst the remaining reforms are scheduled to follow from 1 May 2026. Together, the reforms promise to fundamentally reshape the legal landscape for landlords, tenants and the professionals advising them.
To help navigate the complex new legislation, Kyle Fournillier provides a structured recap of the key reforms, cutting through how the legislation ensures compliance and the consequences for landlords or their agents who fail to abide.
A recap on the changes
The RRA 2025 currently contains 149 sections and six schedules. The act amends and adds to core legislation relating to housing law, most notably the Housing Act 1988 and the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.
Some of the RRA 2025 provisions came into effect from 27 December 2025, yet the vast majority of the changes, and arguably the most groundbreaking, are forecasted to come into effect from 01 May 2026.
The key reforms and their implementation dates, are:
From 27 December 2025
- Chapter 2 of Part 1: Addition to the types of tenancies which cannot be an assured tenancy.
- Section 59: Removed Part 3 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 which sets out a procedure which would have allowed private landlords to recover possession of a property subject to an assured shorthold tenancy, to regain possession of the property without a court order.
- Section 110: Relates to a duty placed upon Local Housing Authorities (LHAs) (or a County Council which is not an LHA) to report on the exercise of their functions under legislation to the Secretary of State, when requested.
- Chapter 3 of Part 4: Provides additional investigatory powers of LHAs including powers of entry into business premises and residential properties and powers to request information.
From 01 May 2026
- The abolition of fixed-term assured tenancies and assured shorthold tenancies and replacement with assured periodic tenancies.
- The abolition section 21 (HA 1988) evictions.
- Amendments and additions to the grounds for possession under Schedule 2 of the HA 1988.
- Changes to the statutory procedures for proposing rent increases and how they may be challenged.
- The creation of a right of tenants to request to keep pets.
- The creation of an obligation on landlords to provide tenants with a written statement of the terms of the tenancy and other information before the tenancy is entered into.
- A ban on the practice of discriminating against prospective tenants with children or in receipt of benefits.
- A ban on rental bidding namely, where a landlord invite offers of rent for an amount in excess of the advertised rent.
From late 2026 and beyond
- Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman
- Private rented sector database.
- Applying the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector (implementation to be confirmed).
Further details on the government’s phased implementation and key milestones may be found in Implementing the Renters’ Rights Act 2025: Our roadmap for reforming the Private Rented Sector (Published 13 November 2025) available from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s website at gov.uk.
As with all widespread changes to legislation, a failure to comply can occur when persons and organisations are tasked with implementing such change. The focus then naturally shifts towards the potential consequences of non-compliance. The numerous sanctions and means of enforcement will be discussed below.
Penalties
The primary means by which the RRA 2025 seeks to achieve compliance is through financial penalties (civil) and/or prosecution (criminal).
New powers have been conferred upon LHAs, which are defined as District or County Councils, London Borough Councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly (s.137, RRA 2025).
Part 4 of the RRA 2025 deals with enforcement, and is supplemented by Schedule 5 which relates to financial penalties and outlines the procedure for imposing a financial penalty, appeals against financial penalties, enforcement of financial penalties and prescribes how LHAs are to deal with the proceeds of financial penalties.
For a more in-depth breakdown on the Financial Penalties (Civil) click here
For contravention of the above sections, an LHA may impose the financial penalty on a person if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt (so that it is sure), that the person has committed the relevant contravention, or, in relation to section 13(1)(e) (see table above), caused the tenant to give up the tenancy within a period of 4 months beginning with the date of the breach and without an order for possession (s.15, RRA 2025).
More than one penalty may be imposed by the LHA only if the contravention continues after the end of 28 days, beginning with the day after the previous penalty for a contravention was imposed, unless an appeal is made and has not been determined, or, where the appeal has been determined, 28 days thereafter.
If the LHA is satisfied that a contravention has been committed by 2 or more persons, and that it arose from the same conduct by one or more of those persons acting on behalf of the others, the LHA may impose a financial penalty on the persons (or some of them) jointly, and where it does, they will be jointly and severally liable to pay the penalty.
A financial penalty cannot be imposed if, in relation to a particular contravention/conduct:
(i) the person has been convicted of an offence (see below);
(ii) criminal proceedings are ongoing;
(iii) criminal proceedings have concluded without a conviction; or
(iv) a financial penalty has already been imposed in respect of the relevant contravention/ conduct.
To access a detailed rundown on the breaches of landlord duties under the RRA 2025, click here
Company Landlords
Where an offence under section 15 (RRA 2025) is committed by a body corporate and it is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the body corporate, the officer, as well as the body corporate commits the offence and is liable to be fined or prosecuted, as appropriate (s.16J(7), HA 1988 (as amended)).
Where an offence under s.16J(2) is committed by a body corporate and is proved to be attributable to any neglect on the part of an officer of a body corporate, the officer, as well as the
body corporate commits the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly (s.16J(8), HA 1988 (as amended)).
Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, the above 2 provisions will apply to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if the member were an officer of the body corporate (s.16J(9), HA 1988 (as amended)).
Alternative to prosecution (under section 16J, HA 1988)
An LHA may impose a financial penalty on a person, as an alternative to prosecution, if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person is guilty of the offence under section 16J (s.16K(1), HA 1988 (as amended)).
No financial penalty may be imposed in this regard in respect of any conduct, if the person has been convicted of an offence under section 16J for that conduct, criminal proceedings have been instituted against the person and have not yet concluded, or the criminal proceedings have been concluded and the person has not been convicted of the offence (s.16K(2), HA 1988 (as amended)).
The amount of a financial penalty which may be imposed is to be determined by the LHA imposing it but must not be more than £40,000 (s.16K(3), HA 1988 (as amended)).
If the LHA is satisfied that an offence has been committed by 2 or more persons, and that it arises from the same conduct by one or more of those persons acting on behalf of the others, the LHA may impose a financial penalty on the persons (or some of them) jointly, and where it does, they will be jointly and severally liable to pay the penalty (s.16K(4), HA 1988 (as amended)).
Procedure, appeals and enforcement
The procedure which an LHA must follow before imposing a financial penalty, appeals and enforcement of such penalties is set out under the new Schedule 2ZA to HA 1988, as inserted by section 16 of the RRA 2025.
Conclusion
The RRA 2025 therefore represents a structural recalibration of the private rented sector. Its ambition is to give greater security for tenants and greater accountability for landlords. Stronger regulatory oversight is achieved by providing greater enforcement powers to LHAs.
For landlords, compliance is no longer optional. Informal tenancies and bad practices now give rise to hefty penalties and/or prosecution which goes beyond the previous inability to recover possession.
As implementation progresses through 2026 and beyond, the private rented sector is likely to experience a period of adjustment – which may create instability. Those best prepared will be those who engage early, seek advice and achieve compliance.
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