Preparing for The Renters Rights Bill: East London Landlord Guide

The Renters’ Reform Bill has received Royal Assent, and having passed through the all relevant stages, it has become law and the legislation is now officially titled the Renters’ Rights Act.

The Act introduces significant reforms to the private rented sector, with many of the provisions due to come into force from 1 May 2026, while some have already been introduced.

If you are a landlord trying to keep up to date with the latest changes to understand how they will impact you, this article will quickly get you up to speed. The abolishment of Section 21 evictions and many other amendments are on their way, and we can help you to navigate the complexities involved.

Landlords in east London areas such as Chadwell Heath, Stratford, Leyton and Leytonstone can use this guide to learn more about how the reforms will affect their property rental business. 

The Renters’ Rights Bill – What Is It? 

The Renters’ Rights Bill was presented by the Labour Government on 11 September 2024, outlining plans for a series of changes to the private rental sector. It then progressed through the House of Commons and received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 to become law.

The main objective of the Renters’ Rights Act is to improve the standards across the rental sector, including housing conditions, tenants’ rights and fairer rents. Reforms to the private rented sector have been in the pipeline for some time, and the Conservative Party were set to introduce similar legislation before the Labour Government came into power.

More details on the specific areas that the Act covers are explained in the sections below.

When Does The Renters’ Rights Bill Come Into Force? 

The Renters’ Rights Bill became law on 27 October 2025, with some changes taking effect already. The changes that are already implemented include giving local councils greater powers to investigate landlord breaches and to enforce higher penalties for breach incidents (fines of up to £40,000). These new powers came into force on 27 December 2025.

The remainder of the provisions in the Renters’ Rights Act will commence from 1 May 2026 onwards.

The first provisions to be implemented on the 1 May 2026 will be the abolition of Section 21 “no fault” evictions, abolishing fixed term tenancies, rent increases will be limited to once per year and new rules around not unreasonably refusing requests to keep pets.

The other provisions will follow at further dates as shown in the table below.

Timeline for Renter’s Rights Act implementation:

Want to know more? Once you’ve found a suitable tenant, make sure you’re prepared for the full tenancy — explore how to handle a tenancy deposit dispute and what to do if your tenant stops paying rent.

Key Points Of The Renters’ Rights Bill 

These are the key areas of changes that will affect the private rented sector:

• Section 21 evictions to be abolished
• All tenancies to be converted to periodic
• Tenants will be allowed to have pets in private rental properties
• Standardisation of rent increases
• Awaab’s Law and a Decent Homes Standard will be applied to the private sector
• Grounds for repossession changes (Section 8)
• Anti-discrimination measures added
• More power for local councils
• Introduction of new landlord ombudsman and digital database
• No rent to be taken in advance for new tenancies

Renters’ Rights Bill: Key Points Explained

These are the main provisions that will be coming into effect:

1. Section 21 evictions to be abolished 

Abolishing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 is one of the biggest changes in the legislation. The removal of no fault evictions will mean that landlords will not be able to evict tenants without reason. There will be a new process introduced for regaining possession of the property under Section 8 legislation.

There will be new grounds for Section 8 evictions, including gaining repossession when a landlord wants to sell the property or move themselves or their family into the property.

2. Periodic tenancies 

Moving away from assured shorthold tenancies, the plan is for all existing tenancies to be converted to assured periodic tenancies, and all new tenancy agreements will be periodic, rolling agreements running week to week, or month to month. Tenants will be able to serve a two-month notice, even at the beginning of the tenancy.

From 1 May 2026, all tenancies must be converted to periodic tenancies and Assured Shorthold Tenancies will no longer be allowed.

3. Tenants’ rights to keep pets 

Under the new bill, tenants will have more rights to keep pets in rental properties. Landlords will not be able to unreasonably refuse a tenant’s request to have pets in their property. Reasonable reasons for refusing a pet include the property not being suitable for the specified pet and also in the scenario where other tenants in the building have severe pet allergies.

Previous plans included that landlords would be able to request tenants to take out pet insurance, but these plans were scrapped. Instead, pet damage costs can be deducted from the tenancy deposit.

4. Standardisation of rent increases 

The government wants to protect tenants from unfair rent increase practices, by limiting the frequency to one increase per year, and ensuring the increase can only be up to the market rate. It will be illegal for landlords to use bidding wars to increase rent, and must instead provide an ‘asking rent’ when advertising their property.

If a tenant believes a proposed rent increase is above the market rate, they will be able to challenge this through the First-tier Tribunal process – which is also being reformed.

5. Awaab’s Law and the Decent Homes Standard 

Awaab’s Law, which currently applies to social housing, will also be introduced to the private rental sector. Applying Awaab’s Law to privately rented properties will require landlords to investigate issues with damp and mould within 14 calendar days.

Similarly, the Decent Homes Standard will also be extended to the private rental sector, which aims to improve safety standards for tenants. The Decent Homes Standard (DHS) sets the minimum standards for home conditions, including safety, facilities and repair standards.

The implementation dates for both Awaab’s Law and the Decent Homes Standard will be announced at a later date, as there is further work to be completed to finalise the details.

6. Grounds for possession changes 

The end of section 21 evictions is a major change to how landlords can reclaim possession of properties. The new rules will allow landlords to recover their property when there are reasonable grounds, such as if they want to sell the property or they want to move back into the property as their main residence. This can only occur after the first 12 months of the tenancy have elapsed, and then, with 4 months notice.

Landlords who want to use ground 8 to evict tenants for rent arrears will only be able to do so after 13 weeks or three months of arrears (increasing from eight weeks or two months). Equally, the notice period will be 4 weeks rather than 2 weeks.

7. Anti-discrimination measures 

The new Renters’ Rights Bill also includes anti-discrimination measures, which include making it illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants on benefits or with children.

Specifically, landlords and letting agents will not be able to advertise as ‘no tenants with children, no DSS applicants’ – which is common practice at the moment.

Want to find out more? You may also want to consider changing letting agents mid-tenancy if your current agent isn’t delivering on the referencing process, and read up on what preparing for the Renters’ Rights Bill means for tenant selection.

8. More power for local councils 

The government has given more power to local councils to enforce civil penalties in the private rented sector, and the local authority will be required to report this activity.

The increased powers include enforcing rent repayment orders for landlords who breach the rules, as well as fixed penalties of up to £7,000 for breaches of conduct (and up to £40,000 for repeat offenders).

These increased powers for local councils took effect from 27 December 2025. They include additional powers for gathering information from landlords and agents, inspecting council tax data and stronger powers of entry to conduct investigations into landlord breaches.

Enforcement action will be supported by the new landlord ombudsman and database, which are discussed next.

9. New landlord ombudsman and digital database 

Another major change in the bill is to introduce a new landlord ombudsman that will be compulsory for all landlords to be members of.

This service will allow tenants to raise complaints about landlord conduct or property issues, and have them resolved impartially. The new ombudsman scheme is expected to be launched in late 2026 or later, providing a more cost effective and efficient way to resolve disputes, potentially avoiding court proceedings. Membership will include the landlord paying a fee, which is yet to be confirmed.

The landlord private rented sector (PRS) database will also have a later implementation date, expected to be after late 2026. All landlords must sign up for, containing landlord profiles and property information and failure to do so will result in penalties.

This will enable tenants to check for compliance or any past misdemeanours, as well as for the local council to provide updates, offer compliance information or conduct enforcement action.

The amount of information on this portal displayed to the general public is yet to be decided. However, it should enable tenants to check the credibility of prospective landlords, and it should also provide transparency of who is renting out property in England, so that rogue landlords are easily identified and penalised.

Similarities And Differences To The Old Renters’ Reform Bill 

If you had already spent time reading and researching the old Renters’ Reform Bill, your time was not wasted because there are many similarities.

• While the Conservatives had plans to ban Section 21 evictions, they wanted to improve the courts beforehand, whereas Labour will also ban section 21 no fault evictions from 1 May 2026.
• The new Renters’ Rights Bill includes expanded possession grounds, which the previous bill had included but not fully developed.
• Introducing the Decent Homes Standards to the private rental sector was part of both bills but applying Awaab’s Law is also part of Labour’s reforms.
• The changes to strengthening tenants’ rights to keep pets featured in both bills.
• The digital database and landlord ombudsman membership plans are also included in both bills.
• There will be more guidance for landlords and tenants published in the coming months as the Renters’ Rights Bill implementation progresses.rehand, whereas Labour stated that they will immediately ban section 21 no fault evictions. 

If you are worried about staying compliant with the latest legislation, we can help. With offices in Stratford and Ilford, we handle lettings and all areas of property management, helping landlords to navigate the ever-changing requirements.