The single biggest shake-up to the private rented sector in a generation lands on 1 May 2026. Phase One of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 is now weeks away, and whether you manage short-term lets, medium-term corporate housing, or long-term assured tenancies, the changes will touch almost every part of your operation. Here is a practical breakdown of what is coming, and what you should be doing right now.
The Headline Changes
From 1 May, Section 21 “no-fault” evictions are abolished. The vast majority of new, and existing, private tenancies in England will automatically convert to Assured Periodic Tenancies (APTs). In plain English, tenants can stay for as long as they wish, and landlords can only regain possession by serving a valid Section 8 notice with a qualifying ground. If your business model has relied on fixed-term tenancy end dates to rotate stock, that model has just changed.
Alongside the abolition of Section 21, Phase One introduces a ban on rental bidding, tighter rules on rent increases through Section 13 notices (one increase per year, with at least two months’ notice), stronger anti-discrimination protections for tenants receiving benefits or with children, and a new right for tenants to request a pet.
What This Means for Short-Term Lets
If you operate genuine short-term holiday lets, typically under 90 days, you may fall outside the scope of the Act, depending on how the tenancy is structured. However, the line between a short-term let and an AST is not always as clear as managers assume. Any arrangement that looks or functions like an assured tenancy could be caught. Now is the time to review every template and every booking structure with a legal eye, ensuring that genuine short-term and holiday lets are clearly documented as such.
Medium-Term Lettings: The Advance Rent Crunch
This is where the biggest operational headache hits. Many of us manage properties let to international students, relocating workers, and contractors arriving in London or other UK cities for three to six months. Historically, requesting several months’ rent upfront was standard practice, as it reduced the risk of default for tenants who lack a UK credit history or a UK-based guarantor.
From 1 May, that practice ends. The Act caps advance rent at a maximum of one month. For tenancies with a rent period shorter than a month, the cap is 28 days. Any clause requiring more than one month’s rent in advance will be void and unenforceable. What is more, Section 9 of the Act bans pre-tenancy rent payments entirely, meaning you cannot ask for or accept any rent before both parties have signed the tenancy agreement.
There is one important caveat: existing tenancies entered into before 1 May 2026 are not affected. If a current agreement requires six months upfront, that obligation remains valid for that specific tenancy. But every new tenancy from 1 May onward must comply with the one-month cap.
Long-Term Tenancies: Stability, but New Rules
For traditional long-term lets, the shift to periodic tenancies actually mirrors what many professional managers already operate. However, the removal of Section 21 means your possession toolkit is now exclusively Section 8. Grounds for possession, including rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, the landlord wanting to sell or move in, still exist, but they must be properly evidenced and correctly served. Sloppy paperwork that might have been overlooked when you had the Section 21 backstop will now leave you exposed.
Rent increases must follow the new Section 13 process, and tenants can challenge increases they believe exceed market rate at a First-tier Tribunal. Keeping solid comparable evidence for every rent review will be essential.
Leaning on Guarantors, a Practical Lifeline
With advance rent no longer available as a risk-mitigation tool, guarantors become more important than ever. For international students and overseas workers, a UK-based guarantor has always been valuable, and now it may be indispensable.
The good news is that the guarantor market is maturing rapidly. Specialist guarantor agencies such as Housing Hand, Guarantid, and UK Guarantor now offer institutional backing for tenants who cannot provide a personal guarantor. These services typically charge the tenant a fee equivalent to one week’s rent and guarantee the full tenancy value to the landlord. For property managers, building relationships with these providers, and integrating them into your onboarding process, is one of the most effective ways to de-risk your portfolio under the new regime.
At the same time, strengthening your referencing and affordability checks is critical. Where you previously relied on a lump sum of upfront rent as security, you now need robust credit checks, employment verification, and where appropriate, a guarantor agreement in place before keys are handed over.
What You Should Do This Month
Time is short. Before 1 May, every property manager should be reviewing and updating tenancy agreement templates, briefing landlords on what the changes mean for their properties, integrating guarantor agency partnerships into the lettings process, training teams on the new Section 13 rent increase procedure, and auditing current marketing to ensure no prohibited practices, such as rental bidding, slip through.
The Renters’ Rights Act is not something to fear, it is the new landscape, and the managers who adapt fastest will be the ones their landlords trust most. At Hello Hosty, we have been preparing for these changes for months, and we are here to help you navigate every step. If you have questions, get in touch, this is exactly the kind of challenge we thrive on.