On notice – preparing for the changes to possession proceedings in the Renters Rights Act 2025

Chapter 1 covers the end of “no fault” evictions under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and the conversion of all assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) into monthly periodic assured tenancies (ATs). The Government has announced that Chapter 1 will come into force on 1 May 2026. 

The Act is the largest overhaul of the process for repossessing residential property in decades. The Act will (among other things) make it harder for landlords of residential property currently let under ASTs to recover possession of their properties. Landlords should familiarise themselves with the changes in the Act, especially the key dates in relation to Chapter 1 and should seek urgent legal advice if they need to or are considering giving notice to their tenants before 1 May 2026. 

The most significant changes at the date of this article include:

Abolition of ASTs

From 1 May 2026 ASTs will be a thing of the past, with all ASTs being automatically converted to monthly periodic ATs on that date. These new monthly periodic ATs will be on a rolling basis with no fixed end date, making it easier for tenants to leave by giving notice. 

Prohibition on rent demanded in advance

From 1 May 2026 landlords will no longer be able to demand rent in advance on or after the commencement of the tenancy, other than the first rent payment. This new rule aims to protect tenants from financial burdens associated with large upfront payments and to ensure fairer rental practices. 

If a landlord demands rent in advance after the Act comes into effect, they will be in breach of the statutory provisions and may face financial penalties and enforcement action by local councils. 

Tenant’s right to terminate their tenancy

For most ASTs, tenants must currently give at least one months’ notice to terminate the tenancy. Under the new Act, tenants giving notice on or after 1 May 2026 must give a minimum of two months’ notice, but landlords can agree to a shorter period. 

No more “no fault” evictions from 1 May 2026

From 1 May 2026, “no fault” evictions under Section 21 will be abolished in full and landlords will have to serve notice under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (Section 8) to get their property back. Currently, Section 21 allows a landlord to recover possession of their property on service of two months’ notice on the tenant and compliance with certain statutory criteria (such as having protected the tenant’s deposit and having provided gas safety records for the property). The landlord does not need to give a reason for wanting the property back. 

Under the new Act, the landlord will have to serve a Section 8 notice giving one or more valid reasons or “grounds” for eviction. These grounds include the existing grounds based on rent arrears (known as Grounds 8, 10 and 11), as well as new grounds such as a proposed sale of the property (Ground 1A) or occupation of the property by the landlord and their family (Ground 1, as amended by the Act). The length of the notice period varies between each ground. 

Landlords still have a limited time to evict tenants via the existing Section 21 procedure but only if (a) a valid Section 21 notice is served on the tenant on or before 30 April 2026, and (b) the landlord asks the court to issue proceedings by the earlier of (i) the end of a period of six months beginning with the date on which the Section 21 notice was served on the tenant or (ii) 31 July 2026. Any landlords wishing to give notice under the Section 21 procedure should urgently take steps to do so.

Amended requirements for rent arrears grounds

The current most used rent arrears ground is Ground 8, which provides that the court must make a possession order against the tenant if they are in arrears of rent of at least two months at the date of the Section 8 notice and at the date of the court hearing. The notice must give the tenant at least two weeks’ notice of the landlord’s intention to commence possession proceedings. The benefit of using Ground 8 is that it is a “mandatory” ground, and if Ground 8 is made out the court must make a possession order. If the landlord only relies on the other rent arrears grounds (Grounds 10 and 11), which are “discretionary” grounds, then the court will only make a possession order if it decides that it is reasonable to do so. This often results in the landlord’s claim being dismissed or an order for possession being made which allows the tenant to clear the arrears over an extended period. 

Under the new Act, the amended Ground 8 requires that the court must make a possession order if the tenant is in at least three months’ rent arrears at the date of the service of the notice and the date of the court hearing, and the landlord must have given the tenant at least four weeks’ notice of any possession proceedings. 

New possession grounds

Most Section 21 notices are served to enable the landlord to sell the property or to otherwise dispose of it. The new Act includes some additional grounds to put in a Section 8 notice to enable the landlord to obtain possession even if the tenant is not in breach of the tenancy agreement. However, the landlord will need to set out their reasons in the notice, satisfy all requirements in the new grounds, and provide evidence in support of their reasons at the court hearing. For example, if a landlord wishes to recover possession to sell the property, they will need to (a) serve notice under Ground 1A not earlier than twelve months after the grant of the tenancy giving the tenant at least four months’ notice of their intention to sell, (b) provide evidence to the court to prove their intention (such as witness statements and documentary evidence) and (c) cannot re-let or advertise the property for letting for at least twelve months after recovering possession. 

Stricter rules on rental increases

Under the new Act, contractual rent review clauses will be of no effect. Landlords will now need to serve notice under section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 if they want to increase the rent and must serve notice on the tenant in the prescribed form. From 1 May 2026 landlords will only be able to increase rent once a year and must give the tenant at least two months’ notice before implementing any rent increases. Tenants can still apply to the First-tier Tribunal to challenge the increase. 

Student accommodation

At present, student accommodation is covered partly by the Housing Act 1988 and partly by common law principles. Lettings by universities and some other educational institutions are exempt from the Housing Act 1988, which means that if students occupy under a fixed term tenancy the tenancy will be a “common law” tenancy which will automatically end on the last day of the term and the tenant will have no right to stay in occupation. Most other lettings of residential property to students, including most lettings of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), will be classed as ASTs and so can only be terminated on service of a notice under Section 8 or Section 21. 

Under the new Act, certain PBSA where, among other things, the relevant operator has signed up to the government approved codes of practice e.g. the ANUK/UNIPOL code (Approved PBSA), will be exempt from the effects of the Act. However, this exemption will depend on the Government issuing regulations under the Act confirming which PBSA providers fall within the relevant legal definitions in the Act. Landlords of such PBSA property should note that if the relevant regulations are not in force on 1 May 2026, then any lettings of property on or after 1 May 2026 and before the issue of the relevant regulations may be subject to the provisions of the Act. 

Subject to the above, providers of Approved PBSA will become ‘specified institutions’ under the Housing Act 1988, meaning that all new tenancies of Approved PBSA created after 1 May 2026 will be common law tenancies with no rights for the students to continue occupying the property at the end of the tenancy. Accommodation provided by universities and certain other educational institutions will also be exempt from the changes and will remain common law tenancies.

Existing tenancies of Approved PBSA will go through a transitional period, where only tenancies granted after 1 May 2026 will be common law tenancies. This means that they will become ATs, but the government has made special concessions to minimise the transitional effects. 

Non-approved PBSA properties and other properties let to students which are or form part of a house in multiple occupation (HMO) will be subject to the Act and the relevant tenancies will become ATs on 1 May 2026. However, there is a new ground for possession of such property (Ground 4A). Ground 4A allows landlords of non-approved PBSA properties/HMOs let to students who need to obtain possession of property for next year’s students to seek possession by giving notice expiring on a given date between June and September. The notice period for this type of notice is four months. Landlords will need to notify tenants within the first thirty days of Chapter 1 coming into force of their intention to rely on Ground 4A with respect to their tenancy.  This rule will not apply to Approved PBSAs after the transitional period, but it will continue to apply to HMOs and non-approved PBSA and landlords will need to notify tenants of their intention to use Ground 4A at the time of signing the contract. 

Existing non-approved PBSA tenancies will be treated the same as HMO’s during the transitional period, where they will be able to use the Ground 4A procedure in the same way as HMOs. Any new tenancy granted after 1 May 2026 will be exempt, if the property is classified as Approved PBSA.

An important point to be aware of is that tenancies of properties which are neither classed as HMOs nor PBSA will become monthly periodic ATs, and Ground 4A will not apply. This means that any tenants living in a property of this kind can remain as long as they wish unless they give two months’ notice to leave. Landlords letting these smaller houses may therefore find that they end up housing non-students and should take urgent advice if they want to avoid this outcome. 

Permission to keep pets

One other connected change is that tenants will now have the right to request permission to keep a pet in their rented property. The right is an implied term of every private assured tenancy. Tenants must submit their request in writing and include a description of the pet. Landlords are required to respond to such requests within twenty-eight days and cannot unreasonably refuse consent. 

Conclusion

Landlords need to pay close attention to the upcoming changes to prepare for them, particularly if they want to recover possession of their property in the coming months. In addition to the above changes, there are many other changes in the Act relating to how rental property is managed and other matters. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Governments have helpfully produced a “roadmap” for the implementation of the Act, which can be accessed here Renters' Rights Act 2025: Implementation roadmap - GOV.UK.

This article was written by Alexandra Bond and Jessica Wisternoff from Irwin Mitchell's Real Estate Disputes team.