Enforcement of the Renters’ Rights Act

The Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) makes a number of significant changes to the laws that landlords must follow when renting. These include banning section 21 notices, introducing new rights to request pets, abolishing assured shorthold tenancies and replacing them with assured periodic tenancies.

To ensure these new rules are enforced, the Government has created new offences related to renting. Local authorities will have significantly enhanced powers to investigate and enforce against landlords or agents who commit these offences.

Tenants will also have more powers to enforce their rights by expanding the number of things they can reclaim rent for (rent repayment orders) and extending the duration they can reclaim rent for.

These changes can seem intimidating, and the potential financial penalties for getting things wrong can be high. But most landlords already provide a good service and will be able to adapt to the new rules with a few changes to their practices and documents.

This guide is intended to help identify what changes you might need to make to protect yourself now that the act has come into force on 1 May 2026. It goes through the new offences, as well as the new powers available to local authorities. It also lists out who is responsible for enforcing a particular offence.

New enforcement duty for local authorities

Under the RRA, every local housing authority will have a number of new duties placed upon them. One of these duties is a new statutory duty to "enforce the landlord legislation in its area.