What are the essential steps for a new landlord in the UK?
Right, so you’ve bought a property and you want to rent it out. Or maybe you’ve inherited one. Either way, there’s a checklist of things you need to sort before a tenant moves in, and it’s longer than most people expect.
First things first: you need landlord insurance. Standard home insurance won’t cover you for rental activity, so get a policy that’s built for landlords. It should cover things like property damage, loss of rent, and liability. It’s not a legal requirement, but skipping it would be a bit foolish.
Then there’s the legal stuff. You’ll need a Gas Safety Certificate (renewed annually by a Gas Safe engineer), an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR, every five years), and an Energy Performance Certificate with a minimum E rating. You have to give copies of all of these to the tenant before they move in. Carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms on every floor are also mandatory.
You’ll also need to do Right to Rent checks, which means verifying your tenant’s immigration status before the tenancy starts. Keep copies of the documents. Penalties for not doing this can go up to £20,000 per tenant, which is not something you want to find out the hard way.
Deposit protection is another big one. Any deposit you take must go into a government-approved scheme within 30 days. I’ll come back to that in more detail later.
And with the Renters’ Rights Act coming into force in May 2026, there are new requirements too. All tenancies will now be assured periodic tenancies. No more fixed terms. You’ll need to provide tenants with written information about the key terms of the tenancy before they sign. Rent can only be increased once a year via a Section 13 notice. And you can’t ask for more than one month’s rent in advance.
It’s a lot to take in, I know. But getting it right from the start saves a huge amount of hassle later on.
What are the key protections under the Renters’ Rights Act in the UK?
This is the big one. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in October 2025 and the first phase takes effect on 1 May 2026. It’s probably the most significant change to private renting in England since the Housing Act 1988.
The headline changes include the abolition of Section 21 “no-fault” evictions. From May 2026, landlords will only be able to evict tenants using Section 8, which requires a specific legal ground, things like rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, or the landlord wanting to sell or move back in. Landlords will need to give four months’ notice in most cases.
All tenancies become periodic. Fixed-term contracts are gone. Tenants can leave with two months’ notice, and landlords can’t lock them into a set period.
Rent increases are limited to once per year and must be done through a formal Section 13 notice. Tenants can challenge increases they think are above market rate by applying to a tribunal. Landlords are also banned from encouraging or accepting bids above the advertised rent, which should help curb those bidding wars that have become common in some areas.
There are also protections against discrimination. Landlords can’t refuse tenants just because they receive benefits or have children. And tenants will be able to request permission to keep pets, which landlords can only refuse with good reason.
Later phases of the Act will introduce a private rented sector database (probably 2027), a landlord ombudsman, and eventually a Decent Homes Standard for private rentals, though that’s not expected to become enforceable until 2035.
What are the legal steps a landlord must follow to evict a tenant in the UK?
This one’s changing quite a bit. Under the current system, landlords can use either a Section 21 notice (no reason needed) or a Section 8 notice (specific grounds required). But from 1 May 2026, Section 21 is gone.
Going forward, you’ll need to serve a Section 8 notice with a valid ground for possession. The grounds include things like: the tenant has at least three months’ of rent arrears, you want to sell the property, you or a family member wants to move in, or the tenant has caused serious antisocial behaviour. There are also new grounds being introduced for student lets and other situations.
The notice period is generally four months, though it varies depending on the ground. After the notice expires, if the tenant hasn’t left, you’ll need to apply to the court for a possession order. You cannot change the locks or pressure the tenant to leave without going through the courts. Doing so would be an illegal eviction, and that’s a criminal offence.
If your deposit isn’t properly protected, or you haven’t provided the required prescribed information, you won’t be able to use most Section 8 grounds at all. So compliance isn’t just good practice; it’s a prerequisite for being able to get your property back if you need to.
How can I check if my tenancy agreement complies with the Renters’ Rights Act?
If your tenancy started before 1 May 2026, your existing agreement will automatically convert to an assured periodic tenancy on that date. You don’t need to sign anything new for that to happen.
But it’s worth checking a few things. Any clauses that reference a fixed term or a break clause will become unenforceable after the changeover. If your agreement says you can’t keep pets, that will also be overridden by the new rules. And if there’s a rent review clause that lets your landlord increase rent outside the Section 13 process, that won’t be valid either.
Your landlord should be giving you the government’s official information sheet by 31 May 2026, which explains how the Act affects your tenancy. If they don’t, they face a penalty of up to £7,000.
For new tenancies starting on or after 1 May 2026, the landlord must provide a written statement of the key terms before the tenancy begins. That should cover things like their name and address, the rent amount and due date, the deposit amount, repair responsibilities, and what bills you’re expected to pay.
Where can I find a tenant rights checklist for UK renters?
The government publishes a “How to Rent” guide that your landlord is supposed to give you at the start of the tenancy. It covers the basics of what you should expect and what your rights are. From May 2026, there’ll also be a new information sheet that all landlords must provide to existing tenants.
Shelter’s website has a good overview of tenant rights, broken down by topic, things like eviction, repairs, deposits, harassment, and so on. Citizens Advice covers similar ground. Both are free and regularly updated.
If you want something more structured, the NRLA and sites like Propertymark have tenant-facing guides that walk through responsibilities on both sides.
Honestly, the most important things to know as a tenant are: your deposit must be protected in a government-approved scheme, your landlord needs a valid reason to evict you (from May 2026 onwards), you can’t be charged fees beyond the deposit and rent, and your home needs to meet basic safety standards. If any of those aren’t being met, that’s when you should be seeking advice.
What are the approved schemes for protecting tenancy deposits in England?
There are three government-approved tenancy deposit protection schemes in England:
Deposit Protection Service (DPS) – offers a free custodial scheme where they hold the deposit for you, plus an insured option.
mydeposits – offers both custodial and insured options. The insured scheme charges a fee per deposit.
Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) – again, both custodial and insured. They’re the longest-running of the three.
The custodial option is free and straightforward: you hand over the deposit, they hold it, and they release it at the end of the tenancy based on what you and the tenant agree. The insured option lets you keep the deposit in your own account, but you pay a fee to insure it.
You must protect the deposit within 30 days of receiving it and give the tenant “prescribed information” about which scheme it’s in, also within 30 days. If you don’t, the tenant can take you to court, and the penalty is between one and three times the deposit amount. Under the Renters’ Rights Act, from May 2026, failing to protect the deposit will also block you from using most Section 8 grounds for possession.
The deposit itself is capped at five weeks’ rent for tenancies where the annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks’ rent for higher rents.