What is the Renters' Rights Act information sheet, and what if you missed the deadline?

In England, the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet was a transitional tenant notice for existing assured tenancies when the 2025 Act came into force. It is not a Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland duty.

What is the Renters' Rights Act information sheet, and where do you get it?

The Renters’ Rights Act information sheet is the Secretary of State’s mandatory 2026 tenant information sheet for existing private assured tenancies in England, and the prescribed document is the GOV.UK PDF called The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026. The regulations identify the prescribed information as “the version of the document entitled ‘The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026’, as produced by the Secretary of State, that has effect for the time being”, and the statutory footnote says: “This document can be found at the following web address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-renters-rights-act-information-sheet-2026.” A hard copy is also available from MHCLG because “A hard copy can be obtained by contacting the Private Rented Sector team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF.” Do not just send a Government Information Sheet for tenants template link: GOV.UK says, “You must not email or text a link to the PDF to the tenant, as this will not be valid.”

When did you have to give tenants the information sheet?

For an existing written or partly written private assured tenancy in England, the Renters’ Rights Act information sheet had to be given by 31 May 2026, because the statutory one-month period ran from commencement on 1 May 2026. Schedule 6 says the landlord “must do so before the end of the period of one month beginning with the commencement date”, and the commencement regulations brought the relevant provisions into force on “1st May 2026 for the purposes of assured tenancies that are not social housing assured tenancies”. MHCLG’s tenant information sheet page states the practical deadline directly: “You must give this Information Sheet by 31 May 2026, or you could be fined up to £7,000.” A later one-month clock applied only where a valid section 21 or section 8 notice had already been given before 1 May 2026 and then lapsed or ended without possession. Abodient can store the served PDF against the tenancy documents, which matters because late disputes turn on what was actually sent, not what the landlord intended to send.

Does an existing tenant get the information sheet or a written statement of terms?

An existing tenant in England gets the Renters’ Rights Act information sheet if the pre-1 May 2026 tenancy was wholly or partly in writing, but gets the new written statement of terms instead if the tenancy was wholly oral. For written or partly written existing tenancies, Schedule 6 disapplies the new written-statement duty: “section 16D and 16E(1)(f) of the 1988 Act (inserted by sections 12 and 13) do not apply”. For a wholly oral existing tenancy, the Act changes the timing of the written-statement duty so it is due “before the end of the period of one month beginning with the commencement date”. MHCLG guidance puts the same fork in plainer terms: “If the tenancy is based entirely on a verbal agreement and you made this agreement before 1 May 2026, then you cannot give the Information Sheet.” So if a tenant signed before 1 May 2026 and is still in the property, the answer depends on whether there is any written tenancy record.

What happens if you missed the 31 May 2026 deadline?

If you missed the 31 May 2026 Renters’ Rights Act information sheet deadline in England, the breach is fine-but-fixable: serve the sheet late, because the financial penalty is capped at £7,000 and the £40,000 figure belongs to a different offence. Housing Act 1988 section 16I says: “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.” Schedule 6 applies that penalty to the information-sheet duty by reading section 16I as if it referred to a landlord who “contravened paragraph 7(2) of Schedule 6 to the Renters’ Rights Act 2025”. Some adviser pages wrongly say the missed-sheet penalty escalates to £40,000 after 28 days; the £40,000 cap sits in section 16K, and section 16K applies to a different section 16J offence. Serving late does not erase the missed deadline, but it is better than continuing not to serve.

Does a letting agent serve the information sheet, or the landlord?

Both the landlord and a managing letting agent may have to serve the Renters’ Rights Act information sheet in England; it is not an either/or duty where the management contract puts compliance on the agent. Schedule 6 imposes the duty on the landlord, and where the landlord has contracted with someone to ensure compliance, it says “sub-paragraph (2) also applies to that person, as it applies to the landlord.” MHCLG’s guidance is even more direct for letting agents: “If you are a landlord and have a letting agent who manages the property on your behalf, then the agent must have given the Information Sheet to the tenant, even if you have also given it.” That means a landlord should not assume an agent’s duty replaces the landlord’s own statutory exposure, and an agent should not assume the landlord’s email covers the agency. The safest file is one showing what each party sent, to whom, and when.

Can you still serve the Ground 4A written statement to student tenants if you missed it?

If you missed the Ground 4A written statement deadline for an existing student tenancy in England, the ground is lost for that tenancy rather than cured by serving the statement late, and the missed notice is not the same as a missed information-sheet fine. For existing tenancies, Schedule 6 required the landlord to give the Ground 4A statement “before the end of the period of one month beginning with the commencement date”, which put the 2026 transitional deadline at 31 May 2026. The Renters’ Rights Act information sheet itself warns that it is not a substitute: “This information sheet does not count as that written notice.” MHCLG’s Ground 4A guidance states the consequence in direct terms: “For ground 4A (student tenancies) you will not be able to use the ground at all.” For a new student tenancy, the Act uses a different timing rule: the Ground 4A written statement must be given “before the tenancy is entered into.”

Sources

• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 reg. 3 — “The information which is required to be given for the purpose of paragraph 7(2)(a) of Schedule 6 to the 2025 Act is the version of the document entitled ‘The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026’, as produced by the Secretary of State, that has effect for the time being(2).” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 reg. 3 footnote — “This document can be found at the following web address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-renters-rights-act-information-sheet-2026.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 reg. 3 footnote — “A hard copy can be obtained by contacting the Private Rented Sector team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF.” Source
• GOV.UK, The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 — “You must not email or text a link to the PDF to the tenant, as this will not be valid.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Sch. 6 para. 7 — “(b)must do so before the end of the period of one month beginning with the commencement date.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 3) 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(1) only—” Source
• GOV.UK, The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 — “You must give this Information Sheet by 31 May 2026, or you could be fined up to £7,000.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Sch. 6 para. 7 — “(a)section 16D and 16E(1)(f) of the 1988 Act (inserted by sections 12 and 13) do not apply;” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Sch. 6 para. 7 — “Where an existing tenancy is wholly oral, section 16D(4) of the 1988 Act (inserted by section 12) is to be read as if, for ‘before the tenancy is entered into’ there were substituted ‘before the end of the period of one month beginning with the commencement date (within the meaning given by section 146 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025)’.” Source
• GOV.UK, Tenancy agreements: written information for your tenant — “If the tenancy is based entirely on a verbal agreement and you made this agreement before 1 May 2026, then you cannot give the Information Sheet.” 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 Sch. 6 para. 7 — “(b)section 16I(1) of that Act (inserted by section 15) is to be read as if for ‘contravened section 16D’ there were substituted ‘contravened paragraph 7(2) of Schedule 6 to the Renters’ Rights Act 2025’.” Source
• Housing Act 1988 s.16K — “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 £40,000.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Sch. 6 para. 7 — “Where a landlord referred to in sub-paragraph (2) has entered into a contract with a person which requires that person to ensure compliance with that sub-paragraph (whether or not it is referred to individually), sub-paragraph (2) also applies to that person, as it applies to the landlord.” Source
• GOV.UK, The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 — “If you are a landlord and have a letting agent who manages the property on your behalf, then the agent must have given the Information Sheet to the tenant, even if you have also given it.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Sch. 6 para. 13 — “(c)the landlord or, in the case of joint landlords, at least one of them, gives the tenant, before the end of the period of one month beginning with the commencement date (within the meaning given by section 146 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025), a written statement of the landlord’s wish to be able to recover possession on the basis that—” Source
• The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 PDF — “This information sheet does not count as that written notice.” Source
• MHCLG, written information that must be given to tenants: landlord guidance — “For ground 4A (student tenancies) you will not be able to use the ground at all.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Sch. 1 para. 10 — “(c)the landlord or, in the case of joint landlords, at least one of them, gives the tenant, before the tenancy is entered into, a written statement of the landlord’s wish to be able to recover possession on the basis that—” Source

Last reviewed August 2026.