Loading Guild Resources
Loading Guild Resources
Loading Guild Resources
The government has today (20 March 2026) released the "Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026" and a number of other forms in preparation for the start of the Renters' Rights Act 2025, expected to commence on 1 May 2026.
The information sheet is the document that needs to be provided to existing tenancies with a full or partial assured/assured shorthold tenancy agreement in writing.
The information gives tenants details of the changes being introduced by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, including:
Many will want to get on with this and serve it now, but we recommend waiting until 1 May and ensuring it's done, and here's why.
In Siddeeq v Alaian (K00BF465), the county court on appeal held that deposit prescribed information could not be given before the deposit had been received because of the wording in the legislation.
Section 213 Housing Act 2004 reads (as far as relevant, highlights added):
The information required ... must be given to the tenant and any relevant person—
(a) ...
(b) within the period of 30 days beginning with the date on which the deposit is received by the landlord.
Similarly, the requirement to give the information sheet in paragraph 7, Schedule 6 of the Renters' Rights Act reads (as far as relevant, highlights added):
(2)The landlord under any existing tenancy that is wholly or partly in writing--
(a) must give the tenant any information in writing about the changes made by this Act which is required to be given by regulations made by the Secretary of State; and
(b) must do so before the end of the period of one month beginning with the commencement date.
We're not entirely sure that the decision in Siddeeq was correct, and it was in a lower court, so not binding. However, given the decision and the similar wording ("beginning with ..."), it's high risk to provide the information sheet before 1 May 2026.
The information sheet should be provided between 1 and 31 May 2026 - no earlier and no later.
View The Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 here.
If you have an oral tenancy, the information sheet is not sufficient, and instead, you must give the existing tenant a written statement containing certain prescribed information. This will be similar to the new style tenancy agreements, except it will only need to include the prescribed terms.
We're unsure whether it's worth our time to produce a special written statement for this rare case. If you have an oral tenancy and think you might need one by 1 May, please let us know.
The government press release confirms the requirements:
Existing tenants without a written tenancy agreement do not need to receive the government's information sheet. Their landlords or their agents must instead give them a written statement setting out the key terms of their tenancy and other information, as required by law, by 31 May 2026.
Student landlords who want to rely on the new ground 4A (student HMO lettings) this year will also have to provide a written statement about the ground between 1 and 31 May in addition to the information sheet.
The information sheet expressly says it alone is not sufficient:
This information sheet does not count as that written notice.
We will create a PDF that combines the sheet and the ground 4A statement for subscribers to send easily.
Where a landlord has a letting agent managing the property, the cautious view is that the Information Sheet should be provided twice - once by the landlord and once by the agent.
That is because Schedule 6 to the Renters’ Rights Act uses the same “contractor must also comply” wording for the transitional Information Sheet duty as it does for the new written statement regime. In other words, where the landlord has contracted with an agent to ensure compliance, the duty appears to apply to the agent as well as the landlord.
MHCLG has now expressly backed that approach in stakeholder correspondence, saying:
If a landlord has a letting agent who manages the property on their behalf, then the agent must provide the Information Sheet to the tenant, even if the landlord has also provided it.
On that basis, where an agent is involved, the safest course is for both landlord and agent to provide their own copy of the Information Sheet.
When sending the Information Sheet, if your tenancy agreement allows, you can email the document as a PDF attachment (but not a link) or send it as a hard copy.
The email might say something along the lines of:
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 commenced on 1 May, and I am attaching the PDF of the government Information Sheet for your information, which explains the changes introduced by the Act.
You can adjust that as you wish and modify it to "enclosing" if writing a letter.
In addition to the information sheet, the government published DRAFT forms today for use with assured periodic tenancies on or after 1 May 2026.
The new section 8 notice has considerably changed and is significantly longer than the current version.
In addition, they have also published guidance for completing the form and the legal wording used for each ground entered (the actual text from the legislation).
There is also guidance for tenants who receive the notice.
The new rent increase form has more pages than the current version, but it seems to request essentially the same information as before, just with more space, details, and notes.
You can view all these forms and guidance here.
Remember: these cannot be used until 1 May. The notice will be invalid if used before then.
Finally, the government has said it has published the final version of the written statement regulations, which contain all the prescribed terms the new-style tenancy requires. However, when following the links, nothing is found, so there might be a delay before they are visible on legislation.gov.
In the press release, the government confirms changes have been made since the draft regulations were released in January.
Before publishing our Renters' Rights Act-compliant assured periodic tenancy, we will wait for the final version to appear and make the necessary changes. Once the commencement order for the Act is finalised, we may provide the new tenancy early.
There is also guidance on the written statement requirements from 1 May and what terms a tenancy agreement must include.
This is quite a raft of documents published today, but no particular surprises. It allows us to continue preparing, and we can now start looking at the new forms to be used from 1 May.
Once we can access the new written statement regulations, we'll implement the changes in the new assured periodic tenancy, making it ready to go live once commencement is confirmed by legislation.