Tenancy renewals in England after 1 May 2026: what letting agents do instead

On 1 May 2026 the Renters’ Rights Act 2025’s tenancy reforms commenced in England. Fixed-term assured tenancies were abolished, every assured tenancy became periodic (existing ones included), and section 21 ended. The government’s guide to the Act puts it plainly: all tenancies are periodic, “with tenants able to stay in their home until they decide to end the tenancy by giving two months’ notice.” There is no end date to work back from and no new term or renewal paperwork to prepare. The renewal checklist this article used to be is legally obsolete in England, so what follows is the rhythm that replaces it there. Wales and Scotland run their own tenancy systems, covered at the end.

The anniversary replaces the end date

The renewal conversation had two real jobs: reviewing the rent and confirming intentions. Both survive, but they now hang off the tenancy’s anniversary instead of its end date. Rent can be increased once per year, by section 13 notice, with at least two months’ notice, to market rate. A tenant who thinks the proposed rent is above market can challenge it at the First-tier Tribunal, which cannot set a figure higher than the landlord proposed and can no longer backdate the increase, so a late or sloppy notice simply costs the landlord money. In practice that means every tenancy needs a rent review date tracked the way certificate expiry dates are tracked, with the notice prepared two-plus months ahead of when the new rent should start.

Move-outs are notice-driven now

The old “90 days before the end date” trigger is gone because there is no end date. Instead, the clock starts when notice arrives. A tenant gives two months’ notice to leave, and that notice starts the flow the old checklist ended with, which is to book the check-out, market the property and run viewings and referencing. Two months is not long for that pipeline, which is why the applicant side needs to be ready before the notice arrives rather than assembled afterwards.

When it’s the landlord who wants the property back

With section 21 gone, possession runs on the Act’s grounds. The two most relevant to routine agency work are selling or moving in (four months’ notice, and neither ground can be used in the first twelve months of a tenancy) and rent arrears (the mandatory threshold is now three months’ arrears, with four weeks’ notice). Every ground needs evidence, so the tenancy’s record of rent schedule, correspondence and notices with their delivery dates is what decides whether possession is straightforward or stuck.

Paperwork: written terms and one government sheet

Tenants must have the key terms of the tenancy in writing. Existing agreements did not need reissuing when the reforms commenced, but landlords must give existing tenants the government’s information sheet about the new system. The old How to Rent guide was withdrawn on 1 May 2026 (what replaced it); GOV.UK’s assured periodic tenancies guidance is the current reference. Recording that and when each document was given remains the part that protects the landlord later.

What hasn’t changed at all

• Certificates run on their own clocks exactly as before: gas annually, EICR five-yearly, EPC ten-yearly. The certificate checklist is untouched by the Act’s first phase.
• Deposit protection still runs within 30 days, with the prescribed information included, exactly as before (the deadlines and the cap).
• Right to Rent checks still happen before any new occupier moves in.
• The weekly review habit continues, and one pass across the portfolio now watches rent review anniversaries and received notices instead of end dates.

Scotland and Wales run their own systems

Everything above is England’s. In Scotland, almost all private tenancies created since 1 December 2017 are open-ended private residential tenancies. In Wales, most private renters hold a standard occupation contract, which can be fixed term or periodic, so a Welsh fixed term can still end and be renewed. A cross-border portfolio therefore keeps a different rhythm for each nation, with its own notice and rent rules, and each tenancy record should say which law it sits under.

In Verixad the tenancy record carries its rent schedule and dated documents, rent changes are applied through a recorded review, and the work (a rent review to prepare, a notice received, a check-out to book) lives as tasks with due dates that surface on the dashboard when they’re due. The renewal checklist is gone because the law removed it, and what stayed is the discipline of dates and records.