The Renters’ Rights Act 2025: what changed, and what has not happened yet

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 is being switched on in pieces. Treating it as one event is how a landlord ends up relying on a scheme that does not exist yet, and how a resident ends up being told they have a protection they do not yet have.

In force since 1 May 2026#Link to this section, In force since 1 May 2026

• Section 21 "no fault" eviction is abolished. Assured shorthold tenancies are gone, and existing and new private rented sector tenancies are open-ended assured periodic tenancies.
• Rent increases run through a revised section 13 procedure: once a year, with a minimum of two months’ notice.
• Rental bidding above the advertised rent is banned.
• Rent in advance is capped at one month.
• Discrimination against tenants with children, or against people receiving benefits, is banned.
• A tenant can request to keep a pet, and the landlord has 28 days to consider it.
• Civil penalties for the relevant Housing Act offences rose to a maximum of £40,000.

There was also a one-off duty to give existing tenants a landlord information sheet, with a deadline of 31 May 2026. That date has passed.

Commencement has been by statutory instrument rather than all at once: SI 2025/1354 commenced investigatory powers provisions on 27 December 2025, and SI 2026/421 delivered the 1 May 2026 phase together with transitional and saving provisions.

Not yet in force#Link to this section, Not yet in force

• The PRS Database is not operating. Under the Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026, regulation 3 comes into force on 15 December 2026, with a regional rollout beginning in the West Midlands.
• The PRS Landlord Ombudsman is not operating. The government’s roadmap indicates mandatory membership by 2028.
• The Decent Homes Standard does not yet apply to the private rented sector. The compliance date is 2035.
• Awaab’s Law has not been extended to the private rented sector. The timescales follow a consultation, and no date has been set. We have not been able to find one, so we are not publishing one.

Tenancy reform in the social rented sector was deferred to a second phase — the abolition of section 21 in phase 1 did not apply there.

How supported and temporary accommodation are treated#Link to this section, How supported and temporary accommodation are treated

The Act governs tenancies. Where a resident genuinely occupies under a licence rather than a tenancy, the assured tenancy regime does not apply. But the label on the agreement does not decide it: whether someone has a tenancy or a licence turns on exclusive possession and on how the accommodation actually operates. Many supported housing providers run a mixture of both, and calling something a licence does not make it one.

Existing assured shorthold tenancies in supported housing converted to assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026, exactly like any other private rented sector tenancy.

Parliament provided four possession grounds aimed at supported and temporary accommodation:

• Ground 5F — supported accommodation. Available where support has stopped, funding has ended, or the person’s support needs have changed so that the accommodation is unsuitable. Mandatory, four weeks’ notice. Available to any landlord, but only where the accommodation meets the Act’s definition of supported accommodation.
• Ground 5G — temporary accommodation for a homelessness duty. Available where the local housing authority has notified the landlord that the property is no longer required for a section 193 Housing Act 1996 duty. Mandatory, four weeks’ notice, and proceedings must start within 12 months of the notification.
• Ground 5H — "stepping stone" accommodation. Mandatory, two months’ notice. Restricted to a registered provider of social housing or a charity, letting below 80% of market rent to tenants who meet written eligibility criteria, where the tenant no longer meets them or the period has ended.
• Ground 18 — supported accommodation, refusal to engage. Available where the tenant has unreasonably refused to co-operate with the person providing support services. Discretionary, four weeks’ notice.

One of those four is not available to us. Ground 5H is restricted to registered providers of social housing and to charities, and Bluebell is neither. We say so because a provider listing all four as though it could use all four is telling you something about how carefully it reads its own possession grounds.

The definitions matter as much as the grounds. "Supported accommodation" for these purposes is defined by reference to paragraph 12 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988 as amended; "support services" means care, support or supervision; and "managed accommodation" means supported accommodation into which a tenant was admitted to meet a need for care, support or supervision provided by someone other than the landlord. The Secretary of State can amend the definition by regulations, so it is worth checking rather than remembering.

Ground 18 is the one to be careful with, and it is discretionary for a reason. "Unreasonably refused to co-operate" is a judgement, and where a resident’s disengagement is a consequence of a disability, section 15 of the Equality Act 2010 requires a proportionality assessment before possession is sought. A provider that reaches for Ground 18 quickly is a provider whose support offer has probably failed first.

The database exemption, and why it links to the 2023 Act#Link to this section, The database exemption, and why it links to the 2023 Act

The Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 exempt a tenancy of supported exempt accommodation within the meaning of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 from the registration requirement. That makes the two Acts load-bearing on each other: if a scheme is not supported exempt accommodation under section 12 of the 2023 Act, the properties are registrable from 15 December 2026 on the regional rollout, with an annual fee per property.

The same section 12 test decides the Housing Benefit position. How supported housing is paid for and what the 2023 Act does between them explain why one definition carries so much weight.

If you live in one of our homes#Link to this section, If you live in one of our homes

The headline is the useful part: we cannot ask you to leave without a statutory ground, and we cannot use a no-fault notice, because there is no longer such a thing. If you have been given a notice and do not understand it, ask us what ground it is brought on and why — you are entitled to know, and it should be on the notice. The residents page has the ways to reach us, and getting independent advice is always a reasonable thing to do.