The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 ("the Act") delivers the government’s manifesto commitment to transform the experience of private renting, including by abolishing section 21 evictions and introducing a robust Decent Homes Standard in the sector for the first time. The objective of the Act is to ensure private renters not only have access to a secure and decent home but that they can exercise their rights to challenge poor treatment and bad practice. Landlords should retain the confidence to repossess their properties where they have good reason to but with suitable safeguards for tenants who may lose their home. To this end, the Act:
							Abolishes section 21 "no fault evictions", removing the threat of arbitrary evictions and increasing tenant security. Landlords will also benefit from clear and expanded possession grounds so they can reclaim their properties when they need to.
							Strengthens tenants’ rights and protections to challenge punitive practices such as unreasonable rent rises and rental bidding, empowering tenants to challenge rent increases designed to force them out by the backdoor, ensuring they will not face an even higher rent if they choose to appeal an increase.
							Prohibits landlords from inviting, encouraging or accepting payments of rent before a tenancy is signed and may require no more than one month’s rent ahead of a tenancy beginning. Landlords will also be unable to enforce any terms in a tenancy agreement that require rent to be paid in advance of agreed due dates, once a tenancy starts.
							Gives tenants the right to request a pet, which landlords must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse.
							Applies a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector to give renters safer, better value homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities. "Awaab’s Law" will also be applied to the sector, which will set clear legal expectations about the timeframes within which PRS landlords must make homes safe where they contain serious hazards.
							Creates a digital private rented sector database to bring together key information for landlords, tenants, and councils. Tenants will be able to access key information to inform choices when entering new tenancies, promoting greater transparency and accountability. It will also support landlords to understand their obligations and demonstrate compliance. In addition, councils will be able to use the database to target enforcement where it is needed most, against the minority of unscrupulous landlords.
							Provides for the introduction of a new ombudsman service that will provide quick, fair, impartial and binding resolutions for tenants’ complaints about their landlord, bringing tenant-landlord complaint resolution on par with established redress practices for tenants in social housing or consumers of property agent services.
							Makes it illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants in receipt of benefits or with children when choosing to let their property – so no family is discriminated against and denied a home when they need it. Landlords will still retain the final say on who they let to.
							Strengthens local authorities’ enforcement powers, expands financial penalties from which councils can keep the proceeds and use for future enforcement and introduces a new requirement for councils to report on enforcement activity. New investigatory powers will make it easier for councils to identify and fine unscrupulous landlords. Changes to rent repayment orders will make it easier and more appealing for local authorities to pursue them.
							Significantly expands rent repayment orders, including extending them to new offences, making superior landlords and company directors liable, doubling the maximum penalty, doubling the period in which tenants and local authorities can apply and requiring landlords to pay the maximum penalty when they have reoffended. The aim is to increase the deterrent effect of rent repayment orders and make it easier for tenants and local authorities to take effective action against unscrupulous landlords.
Policies in the Act