Tenancy In England After The Renters' Rights Act 2025

On 1 May 2026 the principal provisions of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 came into force. The Act represents the most significant reform of private renting in a generation. It abolishes section 21 “no-fault” eviction notices, converts the assured shorthold tenancy into a single periodic tenancy, and tightens the rules on rent increases, advance rent and bidding wars. Every assured shorthold tenancy in existence in England on 30 April 2026 became, by operation of law, an assured periodic tenancy the following morning. The legal framework has shifted underneath what may otherwise feel like an unchanged tenancy.

Against that backdrop, it is useful to set out the principal tenancy categories now relevant in England, and what distinguishes them.

Assured periodic tenancy. The new default in the private rented sector. The tenancy runs from rent period to rent period — typically month to month — and continues indefinitely until the tenant terminates or the landlord obtains possession on one of the grounds in section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (rent arrears, anti-social behaviour, sale of the property, the landlord’s own occupation, redevelopment and so on). The tenant may end the tenancy on two months’ notice. The landlord may not give notice without a ground.

Assured tenancy (non-shorthold). A small residual category. A tenancy that falls outside the assured periodic regime, for example a high-rent tenancy (above £100,000 per annum), a company let, or certain holiday and short-term lets, falls back to ordinary assured tenancy status, or to common-law tenancy status, depending on the precise facts. Classification turns on the substance, not the label.

Regulated tenancy under the Rent Act 1977. Confined to tenancies created before 15 January 1989. Now rare, but the rights conferred — long-term security of tenure and a fair rent set by the Rent Officer — remain powerful. These tenancies survived the 1988 reforms and survive the 2025 reforms.

Secure tenancy (local authority housing). Granted by a local authority or other public-sector landlord under the Housing Act 1985. Strong security of tenure, statutory succession rights and, in many cases, the right to buy. Distinct from the assured tenancy regime and not affected by the 2025 Act.

Assured tenancy with a housing association (social rented sector). Most housing-association tenants hold assured tenancies, and from 1 May 2026 these too operate on the new periodic basis with section 21 no longer available. Some housing associations use a “starter” or probationary period at the outset of the tenancy; the practical operation of those arrangements has been substantially reshaped by the 2025 Act and is one of the areas in which careful early advice is repaying.

Excluded tenancy or licence (lodgers and shared accommodation). Where the occupier shares living accommodation with the landlord or a member of the landlord’s family, the arrangement is an excluded tenancy or, more commonly, a licence. The Protection from Eviction Act 1977 does not apply in the usual way: the landlord can recover possession on reasonable notice, typically aligned with the rent period, without a court order. The distinction between a tenancy and a licence is settled by Street v Mountford [1985] AC 809: the question is whether exclusive possession has been granted for a term at a rent, not what the document is called.

Other regimes. Business tenancies are governed by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954; agricultural tenancies by the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 or the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995; and high-value, short-term or holiday lets fall outside the Housing Act 1988 framework altogether. Each carries its own statutory regime and its own pitfalls.

Jurisdiction

The 2025 Act applies to England only. Wales operates under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (occupation contracts); Scotland under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 (private residential tenancies); Northern Ireland under the Private Tenancies Act (Northern Ireland) 2022. Tenancy classification therefore turns first on the jurisdiction in which the property is situated, and then on the parties and the document.

Two practical points

First, the label on the agreement is rarely decisive: the legal type is fixed by the underlying facts. Second, since 1 May 2026 a private landlord in England can no longer rely on section 21. Anyone advising on, granting, varying or ending a tenancy now needs to be working from the new framework, not the old.