What has gone
- Section 21 no fault eviction. A landlord can no longer end a tenancy without giving a reason.
- Assured shorthold tenancies. The standard English tenancy type since 1988 no longer exists for new lets, and existing ones converted.
- Fixed terms. Tenancies are periodic and open ended.
All three took effect on 1 May 2026. This is the largest change to English renting in nearly forty years, and a good deal of the advice still online predates it.
What applies instead
Possession runs through specified statutory grounds, each with its own notice period and evidential requirements. Broadly they fall into three families: tenant fault such as serious arrears or breach of the agreement, landlord circumstance such as genuinely needing to sell or to move in, and property circumstance such as redevelopment.
The practical difference is that a landlord now has to establish something rather than simply serve a notice. Rent increases also follow a statutory process rather than whatever the agreement said.
What landlords should do
- Check that your agent is using current notices. A defective notice is months lost.
- Keep better records than you used to. Grounds have to be evidenced, so rent ledgers, correspondence and inspection reports now carry weight they did not before.
- Treat arrears earlier. Chasing at week two is a different conversation from chasing at month three.
- Review your management agreement. If your agent handles notices, confirm in writing that it is competent on the new grounds.
The compliance basics did not change. Deposit protection within thirty days, prescribed information served, gas safety record renewed annually, an electrical report every five years and a current How to Rent guide all still apply, and failure on those can block possession regardless of the ground.
How it is enforced
Local authorities enforce, and some do so far more actively than others. Manchester City Council runs a Renter's Rights Resolution Team and enforces through Housing Compliance and Trading Standards, with penalties of up to seven thousand pounds for a first breach and up to forty thousand pounds for a repeat. Those are not theoretical figures.
Licensing sits alongside this. In Manchester, mandatory HMO licensing applies at five or more sharers from two or more households, selective licensing applies street by street in named neighbourhoods, and a city wide Article 4 direction means planning permission is needed to create even a small three to six person share.
Scotland got here first
Scotland abolished no fault eviction and fixed terms in December 2017, when private residential tenancies replaced short assured tenancies. It banned tenant fees in 2012, seven years before England.
So the English reforms of 2026 move the two systems closer together rather than further apart. If you hold property in both countries, the remaining differences are worth knowing: the HMO threshold is three unrelated occupants in Scotland against five in England, deposit timescales are counted differently, and Scotland has no equivalent of selective licensing.
Common questions
Can a landlord still evict me in England?
Yes, but only on a specified ground, and the landlord has to prove it. What has gone is eviction with no reason given. Grounds include serious rent arrears, breach of tenancy, and the landlord genuinely needing to sell or move in, each with its own notice period and evidence requirements.
Do I still have a fixed term tenancy?
No. Assured shorthold tenancies and fixed terms were abolished, and existing tenancies converted. Tenancies are now periodic and open ended, so a tenant can leave with notice rather than being locked in until a fixed end date.
My agent is still talking about section 21. Is that a problem?
It is a signal worth acting on. An agency that has not updated its language months after the change may not have updated its notices or its processes either, and a defective notice costs a landlord months. It is a reasonable reason to look at alternatives.
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