One topic comes up again and again in conversations with potential buyers and landlords: the Renters’ Rights Act. Hardly a week goes by without someone telling me they’re worried about it, and a fair few have put off buying a perfectly good investment property because of it. Almost every time, that worry is based on a misunderstanding.
That matters, because a misunderstanding like this can stop someone considering a perfectly good investment property on its merits, and with it years of rental income. The headlines don’t help. Section 21 gone. Rolling tenancies. Forum threads full of landlords muttering about selling up and moving to a farm. It all sounds dramatic, which is exactly why it’s worth taking the time to understand the rules fully before you let them make your decisions for you.
Here’s my take: renters’ rights are not scary. The rules have changed and it’s worth understanding them properly, but a well-chosen property, a sensible landlord and a properly referenced tenant are still the most reliable recipe for a rental that quietly gets on with making money.
In this post we’ll walk through what the law actually does, take apart the biggest myths, and cover the practical protections that keep your income safe. We’ll also look at short-term lets, a different investment model for anyone who would rather step outside the assured tenancy system altogether. And keep an eye on the Learning Hub, because a follow-up on why being a good landlord is the best way to avoid problems in the first place is coming very soon.
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in October 2025, and its main tenancy reforms came into force on 1 May 2026. It covers private renting in England only, as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules. The government’s overview for landlords is the best place to start, and the headline changes are these:
If you want the detail, this summary from Lawher & Co. Solicitors walks through each change clearly. More is still to come: the landlord database is being rolled out from late 2026, mandatory ombudsman membership is expected in 2028, and the new Decent Homes Standard has yet to start. The government’s implementation roadmap keeps track of the timetable.
None of that is a reason to panic. It is a reason to run your lettings properly, which is what good landlords were doing already.
Most of the panic comes from a handful of claims that sound dramatic and don’t quite stand up. Let’s take them one at a time.
You can. Section 21 went, but Section 8 remains, and it covers the situations that genuinely matter: serious rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, damage to the property and breaches of the tenancy. The ground you use decides the notice period and whether the court must grant possession once you prove your case. The government’s grounds for possession guidance sets them all out.
The honest caveat is that you now need evidence and the right paperwork. A notice with the wrong form or the wrong ground can fall over. That is a reason to do things properly, not a reason to avoid letting.
Not so. Ground 8, the mandatory ground for serious rent arrears, still exists. For a tenant paying monthly, the threshold is now three months’ rent arrears, up from two, and the arrears must still be at that level when the case reaches court. For weekly or fortnightly rent, the threshold is 13 weeks. The notice period is four weeks, and if the requirements of Ground 8 are met, the court must grant possession. Arrears caused purely by delays in Universal Credit payments don’t count towards the threshold. Shelter’s guide to rent arrears and Section 8 explains the mechanics from the tenant’s side, which is a useful way to see how the system works in practice.
So yes, the route to possession can take longer than it used to. That is precisely why referencing and insurance matter, and we’ll come to both shortly.
You can, just not whenever you fancy. Rent can go up once a year through the Section 13 process, to a market rate, with at least two months’ notice, and tenants can challenge an increase they believe is above market. If your rent was set sensibly in the first place, an annual review is hardly a hardship.
You can sell. Selling the property is now a specific possession ground, though it comes with four months’ notice and can’t be used in the first 12 months of a tenancy. Plan ahead and the route is still workable, although it needs more planning than the old Section 21 system. You can also sell with the tenant in place to another investor.
They get a right to ask, which you must consider fairly and answer in writing, normally within 28 days. A reasonable ground for saying no (a tiny flat, a lease that bans pets, a neighbour with a serious allergy) is still a reasonable ground.
Here’s the thing the headlines tend to skip: most tenancies never go anywhere near a courtroom. A tenant who pays on time and is treated reasonably has no reason to fall out with their landlord, and a landlord with a happy tenant has no reason to go looking for a possession ground.
The new rules were written with the bad end of the market in mind: the damp, neglected flat with the landlord who vanishes, and the occasional eviction used as a response to a repair request. If that isn’t how you operate, most of the changes are simply admin. Use the right forms, give the right notice, answer a pet request politely and put rent rises through the proper process. Annoying, yes. Frightening, no.
There is an upside too. Rolling tenancies sit nicely alongside a strategy built on keeping good tenants for a long time. Fewer voids, fewer re-letting costs and fewer weeks of no income all do more for your returns than any clever clause in a contract ever did. A good tenant staying for five years is worth far more than a fixed term you can end on a technicality.
In short, if your plan was to buy a decent property in a decent area, let it to someone sensible and look after it, the Renters’ Rights Act changes very little about that plan. If your plan was to cut corners, well, it’s been a tricky year.
The best protection against a problem tenancy is made before the tenancy starts. Three things matter most.
A tidy, well-built home in a location with strong, steady rental demand attracts tenants who can afford the rent and want to stay. A tired property in a weak area attracts the opposite, and you end up fighting problems that the building and the postcode created. Modern, low-maintenance stock with a good energy rating also means fewer repair headaches and an easier time with compliance. This is exactly why we focus on the kind of properties we do. If you want to dig into how location shapes your returns, our post on regeneration zones is a good place to go next.
This is the single most useful habit a landlord can have. Check identity and right to rent, verify income and employment, run a credit check and speak to a previous landlord where you can. Aim for a rent that is comfortably affordable for the applicant, and apply your criteria consistently to everyone. Remember that you can’t refuse someone simply because they have children or receive benefits, but you can still carry out a fair, evidence-based affordability assessment.
Proper referencing also has a second job: rent guarantee insurers generally expect it as a condition of cover, so skipping it can undo your protection at the very moment you need it.
Get the paperwork right from day one, protect the deposit, keep records of rent and repairs, and respond to problems quickly. We’ll keep this one brief, because our next post covers what makes a genuinely good landlord in much more detail and deserves its own space.
Choosing the right property to attract the right tenant is now more important than ever.
The Renters’ Rights Act makes good record-keeping a necessity rather than a nice-to-have. Written tenancy terms, rent records, repair logs, copies of notices and evidence of conversations with the tenant can all become important if a dispute reaches a tribunal or court. A possession claim can fail simply because the notice used the wrong form or the evidence wasn’t there.
That is one reason a good letting agent or property manager earns their fee. The job isn’t just collecting rent. It’s making sure the tenancy is run consistently, the right forms go out at the right time, and there is a clear paper trail if something does go wrong. If you self-manage, build the same habits: keep everything in writing and keep it organised.
Even the best-referenced tenant can lose a job or hit a rough patch. That’s what rent guarantee insurance is for. It pays out when a tenant stops paying rent, and many policies also include legal expenses cover for the cost of recovering possession, so a difficult tenancy doesn’t turn into a difficult year.
Since the Act came in, the market has moved. Brokers have been launching products with longer payout periods because the old standard of six months of cover may no longer match how long possession can take if court delays bite. Financial Reporter reported in April 2026 that broker Ceta had launched four rent guarantee products, underwritten by Addept, with 12 and 18 month cover options, premiums starting from £110 and £50,000 of legal expenses cover. Premiums vary with the rent, the policy limits and your referencing, so treat that as a ballpark, not a quote.
Three things to check when you shop around:
This is general information rather than insurance advice, so speak to a specialist broker about what suits your portfolio. But for roughly the monthly cost of a takeaway, it is one of the cheapest ways to take the sting out of the worst-case scenario.
If periodic tenancies and Section 8 still make you twitch, there is a different model worth considering: genuine short-term lets.
The Renters’ Rights Act reforms apply to assured tenancies, which are the standard way of renting a home. A genuine holiday letting is excluded from that system. According to Landlord Law, a genuine holiday let is not an assured tenancy, so the assured tenancy rules on Section 8 and periodic tenancies do not apply to it. The important word is genuine.
The test is the purpose of the occupation. You can’t take an ordinary residential tenancy, call it a holiday let and hope for the best. What matters is that the let is genuinely for a holiday, rather than a short-term label stuck on what is really someone’s home. The same source suggests the agreement should state that the let is for holiday purposes and record the guest’s home address, but a short stay alone doesn’t make something a holiday let, and an arrangement dressed up as one can backfire badly.
There are practical trade-offs too:
Our short-term vs long-term lets guide compares the two models side by side. Short-term lets aren’t a shortcut, but for the right property in the right location they can be a perfectly sensible investment model, run outside the assured tenancy regime that Section 8 applies to.
The Renters’ Rights Act is a real change, and landlords who ignore it will have a rough ride. But it is not the end of buy-to-let, and it doesn’t make rental property a bad investment. It rewards the things sensible investors were doing anyway: buying a good property in a strong location, referencing tenants thoroughly, protecting income with the right insurance, keeping good records and running the tenancy properly. If a different model appeals, a genuine short-term let is another option.
Get those basics right and renters’ rights are something you work with rather than worry about, and your property carries on doing what it’s meant to do, which is make you money.
Watch this space for our next post on what makes a good landlord, which will show how treating people well is the most underrated way to protect your returns. And if you’d like to talk through investment properties designed around strong rental demand, modern standards and long-term tenant appeal, get in touch with the Providence Wealth team and we’ll be glad to help.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Laws and guidance change, so check current rules or speak to a qualified adviser before making decisions.
