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What the new Renters’ Rights Act might mean for you

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The new Renters’ Rights Act (the RRA) will start to strengthen the rights of tenants from 1 May 2026. Here’s what that might mean for you.

Published: 09/04/2026

Does the Renters Rights Act affect me?

The RRA is intended to give you more security and create a fairer renting system. This will include changes for both private renting and social housing tenants.

For residents living in social housing, changes won’t be introduced until late 2027. The main changes for social housing tenants will largely mirror those that will apply to private renting tenants, and we’ll let you know more details about what to expect nearer the time.

However, the first phase of the RRA coming into effect this year is designed to protect tenants renting in the private sector.

So the rest of this article is only relevant to you if you either have a market rent tenancy from us or a tenancy granted by Peabody Central Housing Trust (PCHT).

(If you’re not sure, you can find out what kind of tenancy you have by checking your tenancy agreement.)

What are the new changes?

Here’s a quick overview of the changes, before we go through each of them in more depth:

All tenancies are now assured periodic tenancies

There won’t be any more fixed term tenancies or assured shorthold tenancies – both are being replaced with assured periodic tenancies. And that’s true for existing as well as new tenancies.

That means there won’t be a set end date, so you won’t have to worry about being asked to go at the end of the tenancy. Instead, the tenancy will be a ‘rolling’ one that continues until you decide to leave (or we have a good reason to ask you to leave).

So if you’re happy with where you live, you can stay there for as long as you want to, as long as you follow our rules.

(You’ll also be sent a government information sheet that will explain in more detail how your tenancy will be affected.)

Ending Section 21 notices means more security

Landlords used to be able to evict tenants relatively easily, using what was called a Section 21 notice.

However, that won’t be the case from 1 May 2026, so there won’t be any more ‘no fault’ evictions.

That’s also true if your tenancy agreement includes a break clause. That’s the part of the agreement that allows the tenancy to be ended early - it will no longer apply.

That means you’ll only face eviction if there’s a good reason, such as breaching your tenancy, breaking our anti-social behaviour rules, or refusing to pay rent.

You’ll know exactly when your rent is going up

We’ll only be able to increase your rent once a year, and if we’re planning to put it up, we’ll have to give you two months’ notice. (We already do that anyway, though).

If there’s a clause in your tenancy agreement that says your rent can go up in other ways, that won’t apply anymore either.

We always do our best to make sure rent increases are fair, but if you disagree you’ll be able to take us to a tribunal.

It’s never been easier to have a pet

Good news if you want a furry, feathered or finned friend. If you ask us if you’re able to have a pet in your home, we have to say yes unless we have a good reason not to.

Those reasons include:

  • we don’t think the animal would be safe, for you or others
  • we’re not sure you’d be able to look after them properly
  • it’s not legal to have that kind of animal as a pet

More changes are coming

To help protect residents renting in the private sector, the RRA is also introducing a new Private Rental Sector Ombudsman and database.

We’ll have to accurately record private rented property information in the new database by late 2026, and sign-up for the Ombudsman by 2028.

These changes will make the private rented sector more transparent and improve your rights and support if you’re privately renting..

To find out more about coming changes, you can read the Guide to the Renters’ Rights Act on the government website.