The biggest shake-up to lettings law in a generation.

For the past thirty years, the private rented sector in England has run on a single mechanism, the assured shorthold tenancy, a fixed term and a Section 21 notice to end it. That mechanism is gone. The Renters' Rights Act sweeps it away, replaces the standard tenancy with an open-ended periodic one, and adds a national database every landlord must register on. It is the biggest change to private letting law since 1988.

For the 50+ properties we manage, none of this is theoretical, we have already moved every tenancy onto the new structure, updated every clause in every agreement, and walked every landlord we work with through what changed for them specifically. This is the long version of that conversation.

01 · OverviewWhat has actually changed

The Act does five big things and a long list of smaller ones. It abolishes Section 21. It abolishes fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies. It changes how and when you can raise the rent. It creates a national database every landlord must register on. And it expands the grounds you can rely on under Section 8, while making some of them harder to use.

Here is the same thing as a single table, what existed before, what exists now, and whether the change is in your favour or not.

02 · PossessionThe end of Section 21

The single biggest change is the abolition of the 'no-fault' eviction route. For three decades a landlord could end a tenancy after the fixed term by serving a two-month Section 21 notice, no reason required. That route no longer exists for any tenancy, new or existing. The clock has stopped.

To regain possession now, you must rely on a ground under Section 8. Some of these were already familiar: rent arrears, anti-social behaviour, breach of tenancy. Others are new and explicitly designed to compensate for losing Section 21, selling the property, moving in yourself, moving in a close family member, redeveloping. Each has its own notice period and evidential bar.

The catch is that the new mandatory grounds, particularly 'sale' and 'moving in', carry a twelve-month protected period at the start of every tenancy, during which you cannot use them. So if you let to a tenant and then decide six months in that you want to sell, you cannot serve notice on that ground until the year is up. That is the trade-off Parliament made in exchange for keeping those grounds at all.

03 · Tenancy structurePeriodic tenancies, by default

Every assured tenancy created after the commencement date is periodic from the first day. There is no fixed term. The tenant can leave with two months' written notice at any point, and you can end the tenancy only on a Section 8 ground.

This sounds, on paper, like a one-way ratchet against landlords. In practice it changes less than you would think. Tenants who want to leave were already leaving; tenants who want to stay are now slightly more likely to stay because they have certainty. The average tenancy length in our portfolio has been creeping upward for two years already.

What does change is your paperwork. There is no fixed-term clause anymore, no surrender wording, no statutory periodic provision. The tenancy agreement we now issue runs to roughly 60% of its old length, and most of the formerly-essential clauses have been removed.

04 · RentHow rent reviews now work

This is the section landlords ask us about the most. The rules are tighter than they were, but tighter does not mean restrictive, most fair, market-aligned reviews will still go through.

• You can only raise the rent once every twelve months, regardless of how long the tenancy has been running.
• You must serve a Section 13 notice giving at least two months' notice of the new rent.
• The tenant can refer the increase to the First-tier Tribunal, which will set the rent at open market rate.
• The tribunal can only decrease or confirm your proposed figure, it can no longer set a higher rent than you asked for.

That last point is important. Under the old regime, tenants were occasionally reluctant to challenge a rent increase because the tribunal could in theory hand them a higher rent. That deterrent is gone. We expect, and are already seeing, a sharp rise in tribunal applications. The defence is straightforward: keep documentary evidence of comparable lets on the same street in the last six months, and the tribunal will land on your number.

05 · RegistrationThe new PRS Database

The Act creates a national Private Rented Sector Database. Once it is operational, landlords will need to register themselves and their let properties before marketing them, and the entry is expected to include details such as the property address and relevant safety information. The aim is a single register that tenants, prospective tenants and local councils can consult.

Important: the database is not yet live. The legislation establishes it, but the digital service, the fees and the exact registration requirements are being set out in later regulations, and the government has said the duty to register will be switched on once the system is ready. We are tracking the rollout closely and will register the properties we manage as soon as the service opens.

06 · Other changesPets, possessions and grounds

A handful of smaller but still meaningful changes:

• Pets. Tenants now have a statutory right to request a pet, and you must consider the request in writing and respond within 28 days. You can refuse only on reasonable grounds, typically lease restrictions or property unsuitability. You can require pet damage insurance.
• No rental bidding. Properties must be advertised at a stated rent. Asking applicants to 'bid' above that figure, or accepting an offer above it, is now an offence.
• Blanket bans. 'No DSS' or 'no children' restrictions in adverts or applications are explicitly prohibited and enforceable.
• Decent Homes Standard. Extended to the private rented sector. Most of our portfolio already met it; if yours is older or has not been refurbished, an inspection is sensible.

07 · Action planEight things to do this week

1. Note the PRS Database is coming, and plan to register your properties once the service opens.
2. Replace any existing tenancy agreement template, the old fixed-term wording is unenforceable.
3. Diary your rent-review dates so they sit at least twelve months apart.
4. Stop using Section 21, any notice served on or after the commencement date is invalid.
5. Pull together evidence of comparable local lets, in case of tribunal challenge.
6. Keep your gas and electrical certificates and EPC current and to hand, ready for the database when it opens.
7. Update any property listing that uses 'offers over' or 'guide rent' language.
8. Read the pets, anti-discrimination and Decent Homes sections in detail, they are smaller, but they bite.

08 · In closingHow we handle this for you

For landlords we manage, the eight items above are not your job. We re-papered the portfolio ahead of commencement, updated the clauses in active agreements, and will register every managed property on the PRS Database as soon as it goes live. We monitor rent-review windows, prepare tribunal-ready evidence packs in advance, and serve every notice on the new statutory templates.

If you are with another agent, ask them to walk you through their version of this list. If they cannot, that itself is a useful answer.