Landlords’ new duty to inform — key changes introduced by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (the Act) came into effect on 1 May 2026, marking a significant rollout of a key government manifesto commitment to “transform the experience of private renting”.

Landlords must ensure that they understand the Act and be confident that they’re compliant with it immediately, as some of the obligations to provide written information to tenants must be met within a short timeframe. Failure to do so can also lead to significant penalties. 

Here, Matthew Cleary and Jo Morton from our housing litigation team provide practical advice on the requirement on landlords to provide tenants with certain written information.

Private rented tenancies entered into before 1 May 2026

For existing private rented tenancies (those created before 1 May 2026), under Schedule 6 paragraph 7(2) of the Act, landlords must give tenants written information about the changes made by the Act before 31 May 2026. 

The information is already available online and is known as the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 (the Information Sheet). 

The Information Sheet must be provided to tenants if the tenancy meets the following criteria: 

1. It’s an assured or assured shorthold tenancy. 
2. It’s a tenancy created before 1 May 2026.
3. The tenancy is wholly or partly in writing. 
    

The Information Sheet must be provided to each tenant named on the tenancy agreement. As such, there’s no requirement to provide the Information Sheet to lodgers. 

All tenants must receive the exact same Information Sheet that’s been published by the government and can be downloaded online. 

Tailoring or changing the Information Sheet isn’t allowed and it must be provided to tenants either by:

1. Printing and providing a hard copy of the Information Sheet by post or to tenants by hand.
2. Sending the PDF electronically as an attachment, such as by email or text message. 
    

Tenants can’t simply be provided a link to the relevant page that has the Information Sheet. 

As the deadline for providing the Information Sheet is 31 May 2026, we recommend that landlords start providing their tenants with it as soon as possible.

Private rented sector tenancies entered into before 1 May 2026

For ‘new’ tenancies (those that don’t yet exist but will exist either on or after 1 May 2026), the rules are different. 

Section 12 of the Act requires landlords to provide tenants with written information about the key terms of their periodic tenancy before any new tenancy agreement is signed. 

The government has published The Assured Tenancies (Private Rented Sector) (Written Statement of Terms etc and information Sheet) (England) Regulations 2026 which sets out what must be included in the written statement for new tenancies. 

This includes (but isn’t limited to) the following:

1. The names of the landlord(s) and tenant(s), details of the tenancy like the address and the date on which rent is payable.
2. A statement explaining that if the landlord makes a new proposal to increase the rent under the tenancy, the landlord must serve a notice on the tenant in accordance with section 13 of the Housing Act 1988.
3. A statement regarding bill payments under the tenancy.
4. A statement regarding the minimum notice period a tenant must provide when giving a notice to quit the property.
5. A statement that the landlord is under an obligation to ensure that the property is fit for human habitation.
6. A statement that the landlord is under an obligation by virtue of section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to do certain things, for example keep in repair the structure and exterior of the property and installations in the property.
7. A statement explaining that the tenant may keep a pet at the property if the tenants’ requests permission.
    

There are further statements to be aware of and other issues which may limit whether and in what circumstances a specific statement must be provided in the written statements. If you have any questions, please get in touch with us. 

The same written statement must be provided to tenants for tenancies that are wholly oral, even if they were entered into before 1 May 2026. 

Recap: Key deadlines & when action must be taken

To recap, the key dates and when landlords must take action are as follows:

1. 1 May 2026: The Act came into effect.
2. 31 May 2026: Deadline to provide existing tenants with the Information Sheet.
3. Before a tenancy is signed: When the written statement of terms must be provided to tenants for tenancies created on or after 1 May 2026 and wholly oral tenancies (whether or not the oral tenancy was created before or after 1 May 2026). 

Private registered providers of social housing

The requirement to provide certain information to tenants initially applies to landlords in the private rental sector, with implementation of the relevant provisions of the Act not yet in force for the social rented sector.

Private registered providers of social housing who offer non-social housing assured tenancies (for example, market-rent tenancies) were also impacted from 1 May 2026.

These changes will only apply to private registered providers’ social housing assured tenancies from October 2027, with the corresponding Information Sheet to be published ahead of that date.

Consequences for failure to comply 

It’s important that landlords are aware of and take the necessary action to avoid breaching any of the new rules. 

The requirement to provide written information to tenants for tenancies created before and after 1 May 2026 are treated as landlord breaches if landlords don’t comply. 

In the first instance, a failure to provide the relevant written information could lead to a financial penalty of up to £7,000. 

If the breach isn’t fixed within 28 days, a landlord will have committed an offence and be potentially liable to prosecution or a civil penalty of up to £40,000.

It’s therefore crucial that all landlords who have tenancies (or plan to at any time in the future) ensure that they’re fully aware of what they need to do now and into the future to avoid breaching any of the new rules now in force.  

Just Housing Conference 2026

Our annual Just Housing Conference, taking place on the 14 May 2026 in our Leeds office at 1 City Square, will include advice from our housing experts on the key changes introduced by the Renters’ Rights Act — beyond just the information that must be provided to tenants.

Don’t miss this valuable opportunity — early in the roll out of the Renters’ Rights Act — to learn about how it may affect your business.

Register your place.

Talk to us

Our housing litigation team is across every aspect of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and is well placed to advise you on the practical steps that you’ll need to take to ensure that you’re fully compliant with the new rules.

If you have any questions about how the Act may affect tenancy management, talk to us by sending an email to hello@brabners.com, calling 0333 004 4488 or completing our contact form below.