The rules changed.
Here's the calm read.
Plenty has already been written about the Renters' Rights Act — most of it loud, most of it selling something. This isn't that. It's how we explain it to our own landlords: what actually moved on 1 May 2026, what it changes about owning a rental, and the work we do on your behalf so none of it lands on you.
Less drama,
more discipline.
The Act isn't the catastrophe some agents will sell you, and it isn't the rebalancing some commentators promised. What it actually does is professionalise the relationship between landlord and tenant — slowly, then completely.
The shortcuts are gone. No-fault evictions. Fixed terms. Big advances. Bidding wars. Anywhere a landlord used to lean on procedure to manage risk, the Act now asks for evidence, paperwork, and time. That's not the end of being a landlord — it's the end of being a casual one.
Our job, as your agent, is to make the professional version effortless. The sections below are what we explain to every owner who joins us.
Six shifts,
side by side.
The fastest way to understand the Act is to compare the old rule and the new one. No risk-tags, no scare-quotes — just what changed.
Two months' notice via Section 21. No reason needed.
Section 21 is gone. Recovery means Section 8, a stated ground, and — almost always — a court date.
Six- or twelve-month fixed terms were the norm.
Every tenancy is now periodic. The tenant can leave on two months' notice, whenever.
Two months of arrears, two weeks of notice, mandatory possession.
Three months of arrears, four weeks of notice. The bar to act has gone up.
Several months in advance, or competitive bidding above the asking rent.
One month maximum before move-in. Bidding wars are now unlawful — advertised is the price.
Contractual reviews, mid-tenancy uplifts, renewal renegotiations.
One Section 13 notice per year, capped at open-market rent. Tenants can challenge at the First-tier Tribunal — and the tribunal can only confirm or reduce the proposed rent, never set it higher.
How to Rent guide at sign-up and you were largely done.
Every existing tenant must receive the official Information Sheet — late service carries fines up to £40,000 on repeat.
All sources & further readingOpen
Every statement above is drawn from primary legislation or official GOV.UK guidance. Nothing on this page is legal advice — for a specific tenancy, take your own.
Slower outs.
Cleaner inputs.
The single biggest practical shift is time. Recovering a property — for any reason — now takes months rather than weeks, and goes through a court rather than a notice. The cost of a bad tenancy, end to end, has gone up.
The counter-balance is that the inputs to a tenancy now matter more than they ever did. Referencing, condition reports, the rent ledger, the served paperwork — these are the things that decide whether a Section 8 ground is winnable a year later. Done properly, they make the new framework manageable. Done sloppily, they're where landlords get stuck.
We treat that as our work, not yours.
What self-managing
actually costs now.
We don't think landlords should be scared into outsourcing. But it's worth being honest about what the new framework asks of an owner who handles their own property — in hours, in money, and in exposure.
From first missed payment to keys back. Court bundles, hearings, bailiffs — the average possession claim now runs almost half a year.
Legal fees, lost rent, repairs and re-let. A single dispute can wipe out a year of net income on a typical East London let.
Compliance renewals, repairs coordination, statements, tenant queries, the new paperwork. Quietly, it's a part-time job.
The Information Sheet, the deposit rules, the new ombudsman scheme — the penalty regime is sharper than ever, and councils are using it.
Mis-time the Section 13 or pitch the increase wrong and you're at tribunal. Below-market rents quietly compound.
No Section 21, no fixed-term exits, no rent in advance, no bidding. The procedural levers landlords used to lean on are gone.
If the property is meant to be passive income, it has to actually be passive.
Self-managing was already a stretch. After the Act, it's a second job with legal consequences attached. Most of the landlords we meet didn't sign up for that — they signed up for an asset that pays them every month while they get on with their lives. Handing the property to us is how that promise survives the new rules.
The Act,
off your desk.
Every Ekko tenancy now runs on a post-Act template — periodic by default, the new statutory grounds spelled out, the Information Sheet served and acknowledged on day one.
Landlord intent, rent ledger, condition reports, every email — captured and stored against the property, so that if Section 8 ever becomes necessary, the evidence is already there.
Section 8 is now the only road. Our team has done the procedure, the bundles and the hearings before — and on Guaranteed Rent, we sit in the seat instead of you.
PRS Database, ombudsman scheme, Decent Homes for the private sector — we're tracking each phase and registering our landlords as the doors open.
The Act,
in chronological order.
- Oct 2025PassedRoyal Assent
The Renters' Rights Bill becomes the Renters' Rights Act 2025.
- 30 Apr 2026PassedFinal Section 21
The last day a no-fault notice could be lawfully served.
- 1 May 2026PassedCommencement
Periodic tenancies become the default. Fixed terms convert automatically. Rent in advance is capped at one month.
- 31 May 2026This monthInformation sheet deadline
Every existing tenant must have been served the Government Information Sheet by this date. Fines for missing it are real.
- 31 Jul 2026AheadSection 21 court window closes
Final cut-off to apply to court using a Section 21 served before commencement.
- Late 2026 onwardAheadPRS Database & Ombudsman
National landlord register opens, with the new Ombudsman scheme phasing in alongside it through 2027 and 2028.
The questions
we get most.
That's
where we come in.
Whether you'd like a quick read on your existing tenancies or you're thinking about Guaranteed Rent — start a conversation. We'll come back within a working day.