Renters' Rights Act: What Small Landlords Need to Know

Why Small Landlords Are Under Pressure Right Now

The Property Ombudsman has called on government to provide clearer guidance to small landlords adapting to the Renters' Rights Act 2025. The concern is a practical one: most private landlords in England own just one or two properties and do not have access to in-house legal teams or compliance departments. Keeping up with a significant reform of tenancy law — while also managing properties, tenants, and maintenance — is a genuine challenge.

If you fall into that category, this article is designed to cut through the noise and give you a clear picture of what has changed and what you are now required to do.

The End of Assured Shorthold Tenancies

The most fundamental change under the Renters' Rights Act is the abolition of the assured shorthold tenancy (AST). All new and existing tenancies in the private rented sector are now periodic assured tenancies. This means there is no fixed term at the end of which a landlord can simply issue a Section 21 notice and recover the property.

Section 21 'no-fault' evictions no longer exist. If you need to end a tenancy, you must rely on one of the statutory grounds under Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988, served via a Section 8 notice using the current prescribed form — Form 3A.

This is not as daunting as it sounds, but it does require you to understand which grounds apply to your situation, what evidence you need, and what notice period is required for each ground.

Key Grounds Landlords Should Understand

The Renters' Rights Act has updated and expanded the grounds available to landlords. Some of the most commonly used include:

• Ground 8 (rent arrears) — applies where the tenant owes at least two months' rent at both the date of the notice and the date of the court hearing. This remains a mandatory ground, meaning the court must grant possession if the ground is proven.
• Ground 1A (sale of property) — allows a landlord to recover the property for sale, subject to conditions and a notice period.
• Ground 1 (landlord or family member moving in) — permits recovery where the landlord or a close family member intends to occupy the property as their principal home.
• Grounds 7A and 14 (anti-social behaviour) — cover serious nuisance or criminal behaviour by the tenant or their household.

Each ground carries its own rules about minimum notice periods and evidence requirements. Serving a defective notice — wrong form, wrong notice period, incorrect ground — means the notice is invalid and you will have to start again.

Tenant City's Section 8 notice generator uses Form 3A and guides landlords through selecting the correct grounds, calculating notice periods, and completing the e-signature workflow — reducing the risk of a procedurally flawed notice.

Deposit Rules: The Cap Still Applies

The five-week deposit cap introduced by the Tenant Fees Act 2019 remains in force. You cannot take a deposit equivalent to more than five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000. You must also protect the deposit in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receipt and serve the prescribed information on the tenant.

Failure to protect a deposit correctly can prevent you from serving a valid Section 8 notice on certain grounds and exposes you to a penalty of between one and three times the deposit amount.

Rent Increases Under the New Framework

Under the Renters' Rights Act, landlords can only increase rent once per year and must do so using a Section 13 notice — a statutory form that gives the tenant at least two months' notice of the proposed increase. Tenants have the right to challenge the proposed rent at a First-tier Tribunal if they believe it exceeds the market rate.

This replaces the previous practice of using rent review clauses in fixed-term ASTs to increase rent. If your tenancy agreement contained such clauses, they are no longer effective for tenancies that have converted to periodic assured tenancies.

Compliance Certificates: Nothing Has Changed, But the Stakes Are Higher

Your obligations around statutory certificates remain the same, but non-compliance now carries greater risk because you can no longer rely on a Section 21 notice to resolve a difficult tenancy. Specifically, you must ensure:

• A valid Gas Safety certificate is in place and renewed annually
• An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is current (valid for up to five years for residential properties)
• An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rated E or above is provided to the tenant before occupation
• Right to Rent checks have been carried out and documented before the tenancy begins

Landlords who let these certificates lapse create additional vulnerabilities — not just regulatory penalties, but potential complications if they later need to pursue possession proceedings. Tenant City's compliance tracker monitors expiry dates across all of these certificates and sends alerts before they lapse, which is particularly useful if you manage more than one property.

What the Property Ombudsman's Call for Guidance Means in Practice

The Property Ombudsman's position reflects a real gap: the Renters' Rights Act is substantial legislation and government-issued guidance for landlords has not always kept pace with the detail of the changes. In the absence of comprehensive official guidance, small landlords need to be proactive about finding reliable information.

Practically, that means:

• Reviewing all your existing tenancy agreements to understand how they have converted under the new framework
• Familiarising yourself with the Section 8 grounds relevant to your circumstances before you need them
• Ensuring your deposit protection, certificate compliance, and Right to Rent records are in order
• Keeping a documented record of rent payments and any arrears, since evidence is critical if you ever need to rely on a mandatory ground for possession

The Broader Picture

The Renters' Rights Act represents a genuine shift in the balance of rights between landlords and tenants. That does not mean responsible landlords cannot operate effectively — the new framework still provides meaningful routes to possession where there is a legitimate reason to end a tenancy. But it does mean that operating informally, without proper records and up-to-date compliance, carries significantly more risk than it did under the AST regime.

Small landlords who get organised now — whether through a property management platform, a good letting agent, or simply by building better administrative habits — will be better placed to navigate disputes, manage arrears, and recover their property when they have a valid reason to do so.