Contact

What West London Landlords Need to Know About The Renters’ Rights Act 2025

By now I’m sure the Renters’ Rights Act will be on your radar.

But I know that most of our clients, and a lot of landlords generally, don’t feel like they have the full details of the Renters’ Rights Act yet. Which is completely understandable. They’ve trusted us to handle the complexities of property management, and many don’t feel a need to spend their free time studying the Property Sector!

But this really is the biggest change in a generation, so we do recommend all our clients take the time to get familiar with the key points. So, in the hope that this helps you, here’s a jargon free breakdown of the key changes that’re coming into effect after 1st May 2026 because of the Renters’ Rights Act. What they mean for landlords in practice, and what we’re already doing for our clients to prepare.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025

The Context to the Renters’ Rights Act

The last Conservative government decided they wanted to ban No-Fault Evictions several years ago. This had wide cross-party support, but the legislation didn’t get through in time, and the current government are finishing the job.

SPOILER: I wrote this article last year on why I predict landlords will see rents increase as a result of these changes.

What we’re seeing now is the final version of the Renters’ Rights Act being implemented. It’s the most significant overhaul to the Private Rented Sector since the Housing Act 1988.

Key Changes to Landlords Rights From 1st May 2026

The Renter’s Rights Act introduces five fundamental changes to how tenancies work in England:

No More Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs)

All new tenancies will start as, and all existing tenancies will automatically become, Assured Periodic Tenancies.

No More Fixed Terms

From day one, all tenancies will run month to month, with no designated end date.

This is a fundamental shift. The twelve-month AST that’s been the foundation of buy-to-let for three decades? Gone. For landlords in West London managing multiple properties, this represents a fundamental shift in how tenancy agreements work.

Tenants Can Give Two Months’ Notice at Any Time

Fixed-term end dates no longer apply. Tenants can give two months’ notice whenever they decide to move, which means tenant retention becomes more important than ever.

Landlords Can Give Notice in Specific Circumstances

The abolition of section 21, so-called No Fault Evictions means landlords can no longer serve a Section 21 notice to end assured shorthold tenancies without a specific reasons.

But the Renters’ Rights Act does allow landlords who genuinely want to move in or sell to serve a Section 8 notice, though they won’t be allowed to rent again for 12 months. This restriction has designed to prevent abuse of the grounds.

Other legitimate grounds remain:

  • Serious rent arrears – tenants must now be in at least three months’ arrears before this ground can be used
  • Anti-social behaviour
  • Breach of tenancy agreement

What the Renters’ Rights Act Actually Means for West London Landlords

For property owners in Acton, Ealing, Chiswick, and across West London, understanding how the Renters’ Rights Act 2026 affects your buy-to-let investments is essential.

In the 15 years that I have worked in Agency, most of the tenancies under my management have ended either by mutual agreement or when the tenant has decided to move, and only a fraction have ended with the service of the old Section 21 notice.

Sometimes, there is a good reason to end a tenancy, and the Renters’ Rights Act preserves possession routes for most of the grounds that our clients are ever likely to need, selling the property, moving in, serious rent arrears or anti-social behaviour, via a strengthened Section 8 process.

A competent and experienced agent should be able to resolve issues early and correct misunderstandings between tenant and landlord before they escalate.

A lot of the work that we do is in nurturing long-term relationships between landlords and tenants, building on a foundation of trust and decency. Whilst a small portion of cases cannot be resolved with mediation alone, a competent Agent will still be able to help secure possession through due process when it is necessary.

Changes to Marketing and Starting Tenancies

The Renters’ Rights Act also introduces new rules around how landlords can market properties and what fees can be charged:

Bidding Wars Are Banned

Once the asking price for rent is set, a higher bid cannot be accepted. This is outlined in the government’s tenancy reforms.

Upfront Rent – What Landlords Can and Can’t Request

Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, landlords can no longer request large sums of rent upfront. The maximum is one month’s rent in advance once a tenancy agreement is signed. This means that on occasions where a Tenant can’t quite pass referencing, we won’t be able to request six months upfront. So, we expect a rise in the use of professional guarantor solutions, which can end up costing tenants but add extra security for landlords.

Tightened Discrimination Rules

There are tightened rules on not discriminating against prospective applicants. But we never experience any of this from the clients we work with anyway.

Pet Requests

Landlords will be obliged to consider and accept reasonable requests to keep specified pets, provided this would not invalidate the terms of a superior lease.

How Rent Increases Will Work Under the Renters’ Rights Act

One of my biggest predictions is that we will see the effective automation of rent increases.

Just as tenants have come to expect their gas safety check every year, soon enough it’ll be standard to anticipate notification of your new rent in the post every 12 months.

That’s because the new legislation specifically bakes in the landlord’s right to set a new rent every twelve months, provided it can be evidenced as the market rate, whilst removing the underlying premise of negotiating a fixed price in return for a fixed term.

All of our clients are reasonable people, and aren’t looking to hold any tenant to ransom. But I am predicting that this, as a general trend, will drive rents up everywhere.

Why?

The Renters’ Rights Act is fundamentally shifting the economics of rent setting. In the past, landlords would absorb small rental increases during fixed terms to avoid losing good tenants. Now, with no fixed terms and tenants able to leave at any time, there’s less incentive to hold rents below market rate.

It’s worth knowing that tenants who disagree with a proposed increase can apply to the First-tier Tribunal to challenge it. Any increase must be evidenced as the open market rate – something we help our clients prepare for when the time comes.

What We’re Doing for Our Clients

All the Paperwork

The Renters’ Rights Act requires that for all existing tenancies, specific information, in a specific format will need to be served to the tenants between 1st May and 31st May 2026. We will be taking care of this for our existing clients, as well as updating all the documents that we use for new tenancies so that our clients are complying with the Renters’ Rights Act.

Here’s the guidance from the government outlining exactly what’s required, but we’ll be handling all of this so you don’t have too.

Care and Attention

As you know, what sets us apart from other Agents is the added care we put into everything that we do. We respect the importance of tasks like gathering information or referencing applicants, and we put the effort into explaining things properly whenever you need to take a decision.

Unbeatable Reliability

With 99% of rents collected on time, and a 4.9★ Google average review.

The FAQs About The Renters’ Rights Act 2026

When does Section 21 actually end?

From the 1st of May 2026, no-fault evictions disappear completely for all tenancies in England.

Yes. You’re not stuck with problem tenants forever.

You can still evict through Section 8 if you’ve got legitimate grounds: selling the property, moving in yourself, serious rent arrears (they need to be three months behind now, not two), anti-social behaviour, breach of the tenancy agreement.

The difference is you need an actual reason. You can’t just decide you’re done and serve notice anymore.

It converts automatically on 1st May 2026.

Your existing AST becomes an Assured Periodic Tenancy. We’ll need to serve specific paperwork to your tenant between 1st-31st May explaining the change and their new rights. If you’re with us, we’re handling that, it’s part of what you pay us for.

I think so, yes. Not because landlords are suddenly greedy, the economics just shifted.

Previously you’d absorb a £30 or £50 monthly increase during a fixed term to keep a good tenant. Made sense. You valued the stability, they got continuity, everyone won.

But there are no fixed terms anymore. Your tenant can leave at any time whether you increase rent or not. So what’s the incentive to stay below market rate?

The legislation gives you the right to review rent annually and adjust to market rate. I predict most landlords will use it. Some will be reasonable about it. Some won’t. But as a trend? Rents go up.

Once every twelve months, and it needs to be evidenced as market rate.

You can’t just pluck a number out of thin air. If your tenant challenges it at the First-tier Tribunal, you’ll need to show comparable properties, recent lettings data, that sort of thing.

We help clients prepare this evidence when the time comes. It’s not complicated, but you do need to do it properly.

You have to consider pet requests. You can’t have a blanket “no pets ever” policy.

But you can still say no if there’s a legitimate reason. Your freeholder forbids it? That’s legitimate. Property’s got cream carpets and the tenant wants three large dogs? Probably not suitable. They want a goldfish? You’re going to struggle to justify saying no to that.

It’s about being reasonable, not rolling over for every request.

Section 8 still works for serious arrears, but they’ve made the threshold higher.

It used to be two months’ arrears. Now it’s three months before you can start eviction proceedings. So your exposure’s gone up slightly. Another reason tenant selection matters more now than it used to.

With two months’ notice, yes any time.

Your stable tenant who’s been there three years? They can give notice on 2nd May and be gone by July. No waiting for the end of a term because there aren’t any terms.

This cuts both ways, to be fair. If you’re stuck with a difficult tenant who hasn’t quite crossed the line into eviction territory, they might just leave anyway. But if you’ve got someone good who you’ve been keeping happy with below-market rent, they now have complete flexibility to shop around.

If you’re between tenants, make sure you’re not using old AST agreements after 1st May. They won’t be valid.

If you’ve got existing tenants, you need to serve conversion paperwork during May. The exact format matters and the government’s been very specific about this.

If you’re managing yourself, don’t wing it. Get proper advice or use a template from Propertymark. If you’re with us, we’ve already updated everything and we’ll handle the May notifications.

You can. Section 8 Ground 1 lets you serve notice if you’re genuinely selling.

But, and this is important, you can’t rent that property again for twelve months after getting possession. Government put this in to stop landlords abusing the selling ground to get rid of tenants they don’t like.

So if you’re thinking of selling, you need to actually sell. Can’t change your mind six months later and re-let it.

Depends what you mean by “worth it.”

The landlords I work with, the ones who maintain properties properly, charge fair rents, treat tenants decently, they’ll be fine. This doesn’t fundamentally change how they operate because they were already doing things the right way.

The ones who relied on Section 21 as a threat, who saw tenants as a necessary inconvenience, who cut corners on maintenance will struggle. Some will sell up. Frankly, probably for the best.

Being a landlord’s getting slightly harder and slightly less flexible. But if you’re working with a competent agent who handles the complexity for you, it’s still a viable investment. Just different than it was.

Questions? Let’s Talk

We know for a lot of landlords, the shifts happening this year because of the Renters’ Rights Act might see like a lot. We’re always happy to jump on a call to explain the ins and outs, and how we might be able to help you. Feel free to get in touch today to discuss.

And if you think this information could be useful to friends or family who are landlords, please feel free to share this article.

Resources and Further Reading

If you’d like to do a deeper dive into the Renters’s Rights Act, here are the official resources:

Government Information:

Industry Guidance:

Downloadable Resources: