The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 was passed by Parliament on 27 October 2025 (the Act). As we have reported previously, it will have major implications for landlords and tenants of residential property once it comes into force.
Under the Act, from 1 May 2026 Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) in the private rented sector will cease to exist and anything purporting to create a tenancy for longer than a month will not be legally enforceable. All tenancies will become periodic with the tenant permitted to end the tenancy at any time with 2 months’ notice, meaning that tenants will no longer be tied to a fixed period.
Abolition of No-Fault Eviction (s21 Housing Act 1988)
Currently section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 allows a landlord to end an AST without a reason, a so called “no-fault eviction”. This will no longer be an option after the commencement date of the Act which the government has recently announced will be 1 May 2026 for the private rented sector.
Unless a s21 notice has been served before 1 May 2026, this right will be lost overnight. They will also lose the option to use the accelerated court procedure to obtain possession (where the court can make a possession order without a court hearing). Landlords can still seek possession of the property on other grounds from 1 May 2026, but if the tenant does not vacate after a notice of possession has been served, a court hearing will be required and the landlord will need to prove that they satisfy the grounds for possession set out in the notice. Ultimately this will increase time and costs for landlords to obtain possession when s.21 is no longer available.
Social Housing landlords can continue to use s.21 notices until “phase 2” of the Act comes into force, which will not be before late 2026.
Transitional Period
The Act includes a period of transition for landlords that have already served a s21 notice before the commencement date. They will have, at most, 3 months from 1 May 2026 to start possession proceedings at court; it might be less depending on when the notice was served. The transitional provisions require that the landlord send the claim documents to the court with a request that the court issue the proceedings within 3 months of 1 May 2026. Provided that step is taken within the 3 month window, i.e. by 31 July 2026, the landlord can rely on the no-fault ground and accelerated procedure to obtain a possession order.
Suggested Action Now
Currently, if a landlord serves a s.21 notice they must commence court proceedings within 6 months of serving the notice. Now that the commencement date has been fixed as 1 May 2026, landlords should give serious consideration to serving s.21 notices in early 2026 and in any event before the end of April 2026 to ensure that they preserve their right to use the no-fault ground and accelerated procedure. In the short term, landlords must first ensure that they have provided the prescribed information and documents to tenants in order to serve a s.21 notice and rely on the no-fault ground.
Once s.21 notices are served, landlords should also seek advice or keep under review the potential dates for delivering possession proceedings to the court.
Our property litigation specialists are on hand to provide guidance to landlords on how they can utilise s21 before the Act comes into force.
