The Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May. We are now far enough past it to stop speculating about what it would do and start looking at what it has actually done.
The short version: a measurable number of landlords who used to manage their own properties have stopped. This piece sets out the evidence, the specific things that have caught people out, and an honest view of when self-managing still makes sense — because for some landlords it does.
What has actually changed since May
Every assured shorthold tenancy converted to an assured periodic tenancy overnight. Fixed terms no longer exist, and attempting to hold a tenant to one can attract a civil penalty. Break clauses are redundant. Tenants can leave on two months’ notice at any point.
Section 21 is gone. Regaining possession now requires a valid Section 8 ground, with notice periods of up to four months in most cases.
Rent can be increased once a year, using Form 4A, with two months’ notice. Any increase agreed under an old rent review clause but taking effect after 1 May is not permitted. Tenants can challenge an increase at tribunal for £47.
Rent in advance is banned for new tenancies, as is accepting bids above the advertised asking price. There are new discrimination protections around children and benefit status, and a strengthened right to request a pet.
Penalties run to £7,000 for procedural failures, and rent repayment orders now reach two years’ rent.
The three things catching landlords out
The possession clock is far longer than people think
Most coverage says there is a twelve-month restriction after using Ground 1 or 1A. In practice the restricted period runs twelve months from the later of the notice expiring or proceedings being issued — which in a contested case means sixteen months or more before you can re-let. Breaching it carries civil penalties up to £40,000. The clock also resets if a renewal was signed, and Ground 1 is not available at all to limited-company landlords.
Rent review clauses died quietly
Landlords who had next year’s increase written into the contract are discovering it is void. Hamptons found 23% fewer sitting tenants received an increase in May 2026 than in May 2025.
Voids are now unpredictable
With no fixed terms, a tenant can give notice in month one. Student and HMO landlords in particular have been hit — one operator reported ten students serving notice within a month of the Act landing, leaving properties empty through August. There is very little practical guidance published anywhere on how to plan re-lets and maintenance windows without fixed terms.
What landlords are doing about it
Propertymark’s members are reporting the shift directly. From a Sussex agent: “I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of let only landlords that have converted to the managed service due to the change in legislation.” From Staffordshire: “we have replaced that managed stock with more landlords who have previously self-managed and, in some cases, have never used an agent before.”
The numbers back it up. Property118’s Q2 2026 survey of 2,096 landlords found self-management down to 39.1% and full agent management up to 26.1%.
There is also a precedent worth knowing. When Wales introduced its equivalent legislation, one large Welsh agency’s fully managed portfolio grew by 10%. Propertymark’s head of policy, Timothy Douglas, describes the landlord response as binary: “they either sit back and wait and see, or they conclude it’s not for them and leave the sector.”
The uncomfortable part
We should be straight about something, because landlords are already saying it and pretending otherwise would insult you.
The most common objection we hear to “let an agent handle it” is not the cost. It is that landlords do not believe agents understand the Act either. That scepticism is earned — the trade press has run headlines about agents being unprepared, and complaints about letting agents rose sharply in the months around implementation.
More to the point, using an agent does not transfer your legal liability. If your agent gets a notice wrong, you are still the one facing the penalty. That is the real anxiety, and it is a legitimate one.
So the question is not “should I hand this to someone.” It is “can this particular agent show me, specifically, that they will get it right.” Ask for the process. Ask how many Section 8 notices they have actually served. Ask to see proof that Information Sheets went out before 31 May. An agent who cannot answer those is not worth the fee, whatever the fee is.
When self-managing still makes sense
Honestly: if you have one local property, a long-standing tenant you know well, time to keep up with legislation, and no intention of needing possession, self-managing is still perfectly reasonable. Plenty of landlords do it well.
It stops making sense when any of these are true. You live far from the property. You have more than two or three tenancies. You might need possession in the next couple of years, whether to sell or to house family. You are letting to students or running an HMO. Or you have found yourself unsure, more than once this year, whether something you did was compliant.
That last one is the real test. Uncertainty is expensive now in a way it wasn’t before 1 May.
Where do you stand?
If you want a clear read on your property — what’s changed for your specific tenancy, whether your paperwork is right, and what it should be achieving in the current Guildford market — we’ll do that with you free of charge and with no obligation to instruct us.
We’d rather have the conversation than the fine.
New to this? Our complete checklist for renting out your first property covers everything you legally must do before a tenant moves in — and ten ways to improve what you keep once they have.
Letting from overseas is a different question entirely. If you live abroad for six months or more a year, the Non-resident Landlord Scheme means tax is deducted from your rent at source — and self-managing becomes considerably harder.
General information about legislative change, not legal advice on your circumstances. For a specific possession, arrears or compliance matter, take advice from a solicitor or your landlord association.
Need a second opinion?
We’re Property Lounge, an ARLA Propertymark accredited lettings agency in Guildford. If anything above raised a question about your own property, we’re happy to talk it through — whether or not you’re a client, and whether or not you ever become one. No charge, no obligation, and we won’t chase you afterwards.
If you’re weighing up agents, ours is easy to check: our landlord fees are published in full — 12% inclusive of VAT for fully managed, and no surprises after that.
You can see how our fully managed lettings service works, what it costs, or book a free rental valuation.
Call 01483 369209 or email lettings@propertylounge.co.uk.
