Rental Reform: Renters’ Rights Act 2025 – Action Required!

All affected landlords must take action by 31st May 2026 to avoid risking a fine.

Information sheet deadline approaching fast!

Since our previous article on the reform of the residential tenancy sector, the Government has now published a mandatory information note for tenants of private rented residences. The note aims to let tenants of tenancies granted under the old regime prior to 1st May know of the transition from fixed term tenancies to rolling periodic tenancies, explain the end of ‘no-fault’ evictions and the protections replacing it, and give them details of the other key changes, including rights as to rent review, pets and how to challenge decisions made.

Requirements

There are certain mandatory requirements in respect of the Information Sheet as follows:

• The note is in prescribed form, and no changes may be made.

• This note must be sent by private rented sector landlords to all tenants who are occupying under any assured or assured shorthold tenancy granted with a commencement date prior to 1st May 2026.

• It must be sent prior to 31st May 2026.

• For tenancies with multiple tenants, it must be sent to every tenant.

• For houses in multiple occupation or shared households, each tenant must receive the sheet individually unless they share a single written agreement.

• If a landlord has a letting agent who manages the property on their behalf, the agent must also provide the Information Sheet to the tenant, even if the landlord has also provided it.

• It must be provided to the tenants by either printing a hard copy, which is posted or given to the tenants by hand, or by sending the PDF electronically as an attachment, for example, to an email or text message. Landlords need to be careful, as an email or text sent to the tenant containing only a link to the PDF will not be valid.

Compliance Requirements and Financial Penalties

Failure to comply with the requirements exposes the landlord to a penalty starting at £4,000, rising potentially up to £7,000. Continued breach beyond 28 days may escalate the breach to a criminal offence and a fine of up to £40,000. It is therefore imperative that landlords comply with these requirements promptly to avoid any such penalties.
Whilst the end of the section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions has been widely publicised, this requirement for the prescribed information sheet to be served has perhaps received less headlines, so might be easy to miss. If you are a residential landlord, now is the time to check that you have plans in place to ensure that all relevant tenants receive this note before 31st May 2026.

The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 can be accessed here.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this article further, please contact the Property team on 0113 244 6100.

You can also keep up to date by following Wrigleys Solicitors on LinkedIn.

The information in this article is necessarily of a general nature.  The law stated is correct at the date (stated above) this article was first posted to our website.

Specific advice should be sought for specific situations. If you have any queries or need any legal advice, please feel free to contact Wrigleys Solicitors.