What happened to my tenancy on 1 May 2026, and does the Renters' Rights Act apply to it?

In England, the 1 May 2026 change mainly converted private assured shorthold tenancies into assured periodic tenancies and removed new fixed-term assured tenancies. Wales converted to occupation contracts in December 2022, Scotland has had open-ended private residential tenancies since December 2017, and Northern Ireland is not covered by these tenancy-reform chapters.

What happened to my existing tenancy on 1 May 2026?

Most existing private assured shorthold tenancies in England became assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026, but the tenancy did not end and restart: section 146 says commencement “does not affect the continuation of an existing tenancy on and after the commencement date.” That means a fixed term tenancy still running on 1 May 2026 did automatically become periodic because of the change in the law, rather than running to the old fixed-term end date as an AST. The important exception is a tenancy where a section 21 notice was already in possession proceedings: Schedule 6 says the new Chapter 1 amendments do not apply until the section 21 notice ceases to be valid, “and accordingly the tenancy remains an assured shorthold tenancy until then.” Social-housing assured tenancies provided by private registered providers did not move on the same date; government guidance says the Act applies to those from October 2027.

Does an old tenancy agreement still count now the law has changed?

An old written tenancy agreement still counts after 1 May 2026 in England, and the legislation does not require landlords or agents to reissue it before managing the tenancy under normal processes. The government’s 2026 information sheet states: “The legislation does not require you to change or re-issue any existing written tenancy agreement.” What changes is the legal effect of inconsistent terms: a pre-Act agreement can still evidence rent, deposit, repair terms, occupiers and other bargain points, but a fixed-term clause cannot preserve an assured shorthold tenancy or stop the tenancy operating as an assured periodic tenancy. For existing wholly or partly written tenancies, landlords had a separate one-month duty from commencement to provide the prescribed Renters’ Rights Act information sheet, and the Act’s penalty provision says a financial penalty “must not be more than £7,000.” Abodient can hold the tenancy agreement and a record of when the information sheet was served against the property, which matters if a landlord ever has to show the one-month duty was met. Reissuing every agreement is often tidy administration, not a legal precondition.

Can you still grant a fixed-term or assured shorthold tenancy?

You can no longer grant a new private assured shorthold tenancy or a fixed-term assured tenancy in England from 1 May 2026; new private assured tenancies must be periodic. The Renters’ Rights Act removed the AST chapter by providing to “omit Chapter 2 of Part 1 (assured shorthold tenancies),” and the new letting restriction says a relevant person must not “purport to let a dwelling-house on the tenancy for a fixed term.” This is why an AST template or a fixed term rental contract is now the wrong form for an ordinary England private let, even if the document is still circulating online. The old fixed-term label also does not decide what happens when a fixed term rental contract ends, because the fixed-term structure has been removed for private assured tenancies. Wales is different: Welsh guidance says “a fixed term standard contract can be agreed for any length of time.”

If the tenancy started before 1 May 2026, when does the 12-month protected period start?

If the tenancy started before 1 May 2026 in England, the 12-month protected period for Grounds 1 and 1A runs from when the current tenancy began, not from the 1 May 2026 conversion date. The key reason is that conversion did not create a new tenancy: section 146 says commencement “does not affect the continuation of an existing tenancy on and after the commencement date.” Ground 1 itself requires that “the current tenancy began at least 1 year before the relevant date,” so the statutory test looks back to the beginning of the current tenancy, not to the Renters’ Rights Act commencement day. MHCLG’s shared-ownership guidance states the same point for pre-commencement tenancies: “This applies even if the tenancy started before 1 May 2026.” A renewal before 1 May may matter because it can be the start of the current tenancy; the Act’s automatic conversion is not, by itself, a reset.

Does the Renters' Rights Act apply to lodgers and licences to occupy?

The Renters’ Rights Act tenancy-reform rules in England usually do not apply to lodgers or ordinary licences to occupy, because Chapter 1 is built around assured tenancies, not excluded occupiers. The government information sheet says: “If you live in social housing or you are a lodger, the new rules will not usually apply to you.” The Housing Act 1988 definition also starts with a tenancy where “a dwelling-house in England is let as a separate dwelling,” so a genuine licence to occupy is not turned into an assured periodic tenancy merely because the Renters’ Rights Act exists. The word usually matters: the Act can still touch licences in specific contexts, especially HMOs, because section 105 refers to “the landlord or licensor in relation to a person occupying the HMO under a tenancy or licence.” A live-in landlord’s lodger arrangement is therefore not the same thing as a private assured tenancy.

Does the Renters' Rights Act apply to HMOs?

The Renters’ Rights Act applies to HMOs in England where the letting is an assured tenancy, and there is no general HMO carve-out from the 1 May 2026 private-tenancy reforms. The commencement regulations brought the relevant provisions into force “for the purposes of assured tenancies that are not social housing assured tenancies,” and HMO tenancies can be assured tenancies if the usual Housing Act 1988 conditions are met. The Act also expressly builds an HMO student possession route: Ground 4A applies where “the dwelling-house is in an HMO or is an HMO.” That means ordinary HMO rooms and joint HMO tenancies are not outside the new periodic-tenancy regime just because the property is licensed or shared. For landlords, the more practical question is not whether HMOs are affected, but which possession ground, licensing duty and notice rule fits the particular HMO arrangement.

Does the Renters' Rights Act apply to student lets and purpose-built student accommodation?

The Renters’ Rights Act applies to many student lets in England, especially assured tenancies in student HMOs, but qualifying purpose-built student accommodation can sit outside the assured-tenancy regime. The PBSA exemption applies where the tenant is on a specified course and the landlord, agent or building manager is in the specified code; the regulations state that in those circumstances “that tenancy will not be an assured tenancy.” Student HMOs are different: Ground 4A is drafted for a dwelling where “the dwelling-house is in an HMO or is an HMO,” so student HMO landlords are inside the new possession structure rather than outside it. Government guidance says Ground 4A “covers full-time students on a joint contract in a house in multiple occupation (HMO),” but the statutory wording is wider than that short description. Smaller one- and two-bedroom student homes are the awkward category because they may be assured tenancies without fitting the HMO student ground.

Does the Renters' Rights Act apply to company lets?

The Renters’ Rights Act Chapter 1 tenancy reforms do not usually apply to company lets in England, because an assured tenancy requires each tenant to be an individual and a company is not an individual. Housing Act 1988 section 1 says an assured tenancy requires that “the tenant or, as the case may be, each of the joint tenants is an individual.” That rule, rather than a special corporate-let exemption in the Renters’ Rights Act, is why a tenancy granted to a company tenant normally sits outside the assured tenancy system. The employee or director who actually occupies may have contractual rights against the company, but the Renters’ Rights Act pet-request right and the assured-periodic conversion rules are not engaged merely because the occupier is a human being. If the contract is in the individual occupier’s name instead, the analysis changes because the Housing Act 1988 gateway can then be satisfied.

Does the Renters' Rights Act apply to Airbnb and short lets?

The Renters’ Rights Act does not turn a genuine Airbnb, holiday let or short stay in England into an assured periodic tenancy, because assured tenancy status requires occupation as the tenant’s only or principal home and holiday-purpose tenancies are excluded. Housing Act 1988 section 1 requires that at least one tenant occupies the dwelling-house “as his only or principal home,” and Schedule 1 excludes “a tenancy the purpose of which is to confer on the tenant the right to occupy the dwelling-house for a holiday.” The label is not decisive: using Airbnb wording for an ordinary home let will not keep it outside the private rented sector if the occupier is really living there as their main home. There is also a post-possession restriction: after relying on Ground 1 or 1A, a landlord must not grant paid licences during the restricted period, which blocks an immediate switch into Airbnb-style licensing after using those grounds.

What happens to a joint tenancy under the Renters' Rights Act?

A joint assured tenancy in England remains vulnerable to one joint tenant’s valid notice to quit, because the Renters’ Rights Act preserves the rule that notice by one joint tenant can end the periodic tenancy for all. Section 21 says the new notice-withdrawal rule “does not affect the validity of any notice to quit premises let under a joint assured tenancy that is given by only one or some of the tenants.” The House of Lords rule in Hammersmith and Fulham LBC v Monk also remains the baseline: “unless the terms of the tenancy agreement otherwise provide, notice to quit given by one joint tenant without the concurrence of any other joint tenant is effective to determine a periodic tenancy.” Withdrawal is stricter than service: the Act says that, for a joint assured tenancy, a withdrawal agreement is not valid unless made “between the landlord and all of the tenants.” Remaining occupiers therefore normally need the landlord to agree a new tenancy.

Does the Tenant Fees Act apply retrospectively?

The sharp answer is that MHCLG guidance once said the Tenant Fees Act “became retrospective” on 1 June 2020, but the Court of Appeal held in November 2024 that the Act is not retrospective and a pre-commencement fee requirement was never a prohibited payment. Section 30 excludes “a requirement imposed before the coming into force” of section 1, and Switaj v McClenaghan states: “Because the TFA is not retrospective, the payments that Mr McClenaghan required were not prohibited payments; and any requirement made before the Act came into force is not caught by section 1 : see section 30.” There was still a later contractual effect: after one year from commencement, an old term that would have been banned “ceases to be binding on the tenant,” while the rest of the agreement continues. The Act was fully in force on 1 June 2019, so that one-year point was 1 June 2020.

Last reviewed September 2026.

Sources

• GOV.UK, Renters’ Rights Act overview for tenants — “Most existing assured shorthold tenancies automatically became assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 s.146 — “The commencement of Chapter 1 of Part 1 (which, in particular, has the effect that, on the commencement date, an existing tenancy becomes a section 4A assured tenancy) does not affect the continuation of an existing tenancy on and after the commencement date (as a section 4A assured tenancy that is subject to the other provisions of that Chapter).” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Sch.6 — “The amendments made by Chapter 1 of Part 1 do not apply in relation to the tenancy until the notice under section 21 ceases to be valid by virtue of sub-paragraph (2) (and accordingly the tenancy remains an assured shorthold tenancy until then).” Source
• GOV.UK, Implementing the Renters’ Rights Act: social housing — “While the Act is being commenced for private landlords from 1 May 2026, it will only apply in relation to assured tenancies of social housing provided by PRPs from October 2027.” Source
• GOV.UK, The Renters’ Rights Act information sheet 2026 — “The legislation does not require you to change or re-issue any existing written tenancy agreement.” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.16I — “The amount of a financial penalty imposed under this section is to be determined by the authority imposing it, but must not be more than £7,000.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 s.2 — “omit Chapter 2 of Part 1 (assured shorthold tenancies).” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025, 1 May 2026 version — “purport to let a dwelling-house on the tenancy for a fixed term.” Source
• Welsh Government, Renting Homes frequently asked questions for landlords — “Under the new law a fixed term standard contract can be agreed for any length of time.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Sch.1 — “The current tenancy began at least 1 year before the relevant date and the landlord who is seeking possession requires the dwelling-house as the only or principal home of any of the following—” Source
• GOV.UK, Renters’ Rights Act and shared ownership guidance — “This applies even if the tenancy started before 1 May 2026.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 PDF — “If you live in social housing or you are a lodger, the new rules will not usually apply to you.” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.1 — “A tenancy under which a dwelling-house in England is let as a separate dwelling is for the purposes of this Act an assured tenancy if and so long as—” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 s.105 — “any person who is the landlord or licensor in relation to a person occupying the HMO under a tenancy or licence.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026 reg.2 — “The following provisions of the 2025 Act, in so far as not already in force, come into force on 1st May 2026 for the purposes of assured tenancies that are not social housing assured tenancies only—” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Sch.1, Ground 4A — “the dwelling-house is in an HMO or is an HMO,” Source
• GOV.UK, Renters’ Rights Act overview for landlords — “It covers full-time students on a joint contract in a house in multiple occupation (HMO).” Source
• Assured Tenancies and Student Accommodation (England) Regulations 2026 — “As a result, where a tenant is pursuing or intends to pursue a course of study provided by a specified educational institution and the landlord, a person appointed to act on the landlord’s behalf or a person appointed to discharge management functions in respect of the building which comprises the dwelling-house or in which the dwelling-house is situated is a member of the new code of practice, that tenancy will not be an assured tenancy.” Source
• Assured Tenancies and Student Accommodation (England) Regulations 2026 — “These Regulations extend to England and Wales and apply in relation to accommodation in England.” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.1 — “the tenant or, as the case may be, each of the joint tenants is an individual; and” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.1 — “the tenant or, as the case may be, at least one of the joint tenants occupies the dwelling-house as his only or principal home; and” Source
• Housing Act 1988 Sch.1 — “A tenancy the purpose of which is to confer on the tenant the right to occupy the dwelling-house for a holiday.” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.16E — “Subject to section 16F, where a relevant person relies on Ground 1 or 1A in Schedule 2 in relation to an assured tenancy, the landlord must not, within the restricted period—” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 s.21 — “That does not affect the validity of any notice to quit premises let under a joint assured tenancy that is given by only one or some of the tenants.” Source
• Hammersmith and Fulham LBC v Monk [1991] UKHL 6 — “For all these reasons I agree with the Court of Appeal that, unless the terms of the tenancy agreement otherwise provide, notice to quit given by one joint tenant without the concurrence of any other joint tenant is effective to determine a periodic tenancy.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 s.21 — “In the case of a joint assured tenancy, an agreement under subsection (3) is not valid unless it is made between the landlord and all of the tenants.” Source
• GOV.UK, Tenant Fees Act 2019 guidance — “On 1 June 2020, the Tenant Fees Act 2019 became retrospective.” Source
• Tenant Fees Act 2019 s.30 — “a requirement imposed before the coming into force of that section, or” Source
• Switaj v McClenaghan [2024] EWCA Civ 1457 — “Because the TFA is not retrospective, the payments that Mr McClenaghan required were not prohibited payments; and any requirement made before the Act came into force is not caught by section 1 : see section 30.” Source
• Tenant Fees Act 2019 s.30 — “After the end of the period of one year beginning with the date on which section 1 comes into force, the provision ceases to be binding on the tenant or a relevant person in relation to the tenant (but the agreement continues, so far as practicable, to have effect in every other respect).” Source
• Tenant Fees Act 2019 (Commencement No. 3) Regulations 2019 note — “The Act is brought fully into force on 1st June 2019.” Source