The Renters' Rights Act: what landlords need to do

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 — introduced and widely known as the Renters' Rights Bill — is the government's overhaul of renting in England, and the most significant change to the sector since the Housing Act 1988. It has passed into law and is being brought into force in stages, with the core tenancy reforms commenced from 1 May 2026; the government's guide to the Act is the canonical summary.

For landlords the headlines are about how tenancies work and the condition you have to maintain. This guide focuses on the second — the maintenance and repairs implications — because that's where most of the practical, ongoing work sits.

Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions are being abolished. In their place, assured tenancies become periodic — they roll on month to month rather than running for a fixed term — and landlords regain possession through strengthened, specified grounds under Section 8 (for example genuine intention to sell or move in, or serious rent arrears).

The practical effect: you can no longer rely on a fixed end date to deal with a problem property by simply not renewing. Keeping the home in good condition and the relationship working becomes the better strategy — which puts a premium on responsive, well-documented maintenance.

For the first time, the Decent Homes Standard is being applied to the private rented sector. It sets a baseline every let must meet: free from the most serious (Category 1) hazards, in a reasonable state of repair, with reasonably modern key facilities and effective heating and insulation.

If you have older stock, now is the time to survey it honestly against that standard — tired bathrooms and kitchens, ageing boilers, poor insulation and unaddressed damp are exactly the issues it targets.

Awaab's Law — which forces landlords to investigate and fix dangerous hazards within fixed timescales, in force for social landlords since October 2025 — is being extended into the private rented sector via the Act, with the detail and timescales subject to consultation in a later phase of the implementation roadmap. That means damp, mould and other serious hazards will carry legal deadlines to act, not just a vague duty to repair within a ‘reasonable’ time.

In practice you'll need to be able to demonstrate a timely response: log the report, investigate quickly, and get qualified remedial work done and recorded. Getting quotes you can put side by side, fast — with a paper trail — stops being a nicety and becomes part of compliance.

A new Landlord Ombudsman will give tenants a route to redress without going to court, and a Private Rented Sector Database (property portal) will require landlords to register. Other measures end rental bidding wars, limit rent in advance, give tenants the right to request a pet, and prevent blanket bans on tenants with children or on benefits.

None of these are maintenance duties as such, but the Ombudsman in particular raises the stakes on slow or poorly-handled repairs — unresolved maintenance complaints are exactly what redress schemes are built to catch.

Three practical moves. First, survey each property against the Decent Homes Standard and plan the works — spread capex sensibly rather than facing it all at once. Second, tighten your repairs process so reports are logged, investigated quickly, and fixed with documentation, ready for Awaab's Law timescales. Third, make sure your statutory checks (gas, electrics, alarms, EPC) are current and on a renewal schedule.

FixQuotes helps with the repairs side: send a job and get three quotes for the same work from vetted local trades fast, with a clear record of what was sourced and when — useful evidence if a timeline is ever questioned.