r/rentingUK

(Polling conducted in April 2026)

Around three-quarters of Britons (73%) and an even higher proportion of those currently renting privately (85%) have heard of the Renters Rights Act.

1 in 4 Britons (23%) haven’t heard of the Act and 22% say they have heard of it but know nothing about it. Private renters are more clued up, but 1 in 8 of this tenure (12%) haven’t heard of the Act, 14% say they have but know nothing.

People are more positive than negative about its impact - 36% are positive, 10% negative - but most are lukewarm (22%) or don’t know (31%).

However, they warm to it after seeing a selection of the Act’s main provisions. Half (52%) expect it to have a positive impact, 11% expect a negative impact. 7 in 10 (69%) private renters expect it to have a positive impact (just 4% are negative).

The abolition of "no-fault" Section 21 evictions is the most well-known change - 71% of people have heard of this but 22% of the public haven’t and nor have 13% of private renters.

1 in 3 or more of the public – at least 1 in 5 private renters - haven’t heard of six other provisions including changes designed to bring more financial security to renters:

• 33% hadn’t heard that landlords will only be able to increase rents once a year (20% of private renters).
• 38% hadn’t heard that landlords and agents will have to list rental properties with a fixed price and will be banned from encouraging or accepting bidding wars (24% of private renters).
• 38% hadn’t heard that landlords will only be allowed to take/accept one month’s rent in advance (25% of private renters).

Continued concerns about affordability and the ability of any of the major political parties to improve it provide the backdrop to the Act’s introduction.

A third of Britons are very (11%) or fairly concerned (22%) about their ability to pay their rent/mortgage repayments at the moment

As was the case in May 2022, more private renters are very or fairly concerned about their ability to pay the rent at the moment (51%) than are not (46%) – the equivalent figures were 54% and 45% four years ago.

I have just moved here with my wife from abroad. I am a British citizen but she is not. I have signed the contract for a job for 45k a year and a guaranteed minimum bonus of 10% annually, but I dont start the job until 2 weeks from now. I have been trying to find an apartment for us to live in and everywhere is refusing me for not having a guarantor and still being in my work probation period (which is 6 months long) and are also refusing guarantor companies.

I dont know anybody who lives in the UK. The only other british citizens I know my brother who lives in bosnia and gets like 500 quid a month so he cant cover a 1k+ apartment, and my grandpa who owns a 3 homes but is retired. Neither of these are accepted as guarantors.

One agent I just spoke to, I offered to pay 6 months in advance and was told the new renters rights doesnt allow them to take advances on rent. I thought they just werent allowed to require it now, not that they cant accept my offering it?

Usually I wouldnt really care about sleeping in my car for a few months but I have a wife now and my workplace doesnt have showers...

If I moved into a property that has bed bugs and already had bed bugs before my arrival, but the landlord conveniently omitted to tell me so. Do I have any grounds to unwind the tenancy within 90 days ?

Based on the fact I would have never signed the tenancy contract if I would have known that information.

I was due to move out at the end of July 2026, as per my contract. However the estate agents say the renter's rights act makes all contracts invalid, and all renters are now on a rolling contract with two month's notice.

The agency also said that because I was only getting in touch on the 1st July, that my notice would be served from my next rental date, the 29th July.

In short, they are demanding that I stay until the end of September 2026. Not what my original contract stated, and not what I can afford!

They sent me the information about the renter's rights act in May, however their email said 'no immediate action needs to be taken'. I didn't understand that it invalidated my contract.

I've tried to argue my case, but they are not moving, even though it seems quite unreasonable in my opinion. I have made a formal complaint through the agency website, and next week I'll try and contact someone more senior at the agency. There must be someone who can see this is unreasonable?

Legally, what are my options?

I viewed a flat in London that I actually really like. Good location, good size and the rent is fair for the building.

The issue is that when I viewed it, the flat was in a pretty tired state. The landlord has only recently bought it and, when my offer was accepted, the agent emailed me a “final breakdown of terms agreed” which included agreed terms to replace carpets, replace mattress, replace dining chairs, make sure all appliances are tested and work (including heating), small joinery alignments around the property, and a full professional clean (including the sofa).

The carpet replacement was actually offered by the landlord rather than requested by me.

I paid the holding deposit, passed referencing and have now been sent the tenancy agreement. However, none of the above works are mentioned in the tenancy agreement itself.

My concern is that I sign a legally binding tenancy now, then move in and find half the works have not been done. I understand I could potentially pursue the landlord for breach of the written agreement/email, but realistically I don't want to spend the start of my tenancy arguing about carpets and repairs.

I have asked the agent to confirm the works will be completed before commencement and that the inventory will be prepared after the works and cleaning.

Would you consider it reasonable for me to also ask for the already agreed works to be recorded in a signed addendum to the tenancy agreement?

Landlord apparently had a bad experience with the previous tenant and has therefore been more cautious than usual with my application. I have also had a bad experience with a previous tenancy, so I feel like it is fair for me to want the agreed terms clearly documented before signing.

Am I overthinking this, or would you refuse to sign until the agreed works are formally recorded?

I moved into a flat about 3 weeks ago I haven’t spoken to or seen the landlord since however he has been in the flat. When I was collecting the keys there was some weird comments made he mentioned that I am just paying for the room nothing else and if he wanted to he could put a bed in the kitchen, this made me feel a bit uncomfortable as a female. He also mentioned there would be cleaners who would have access to rooms and if we didn’t want them there we could be present during the cleaning ( there hasn’t been any cleaners or mention of them since and my flat mate said they’ve never had a cleaner so I don’t know what he was on about). He mentioned about guests and said that basically we couldn’t have someone staying for days in the week but my flat mate said she was told she wasn’t allowed guests. My flat mate has told me that her contract mentions something about being a lodger and also said he only has access to the mail box we don’t have keys for that and he gives us our post. There was already things I felt that were off but now alarm bells are ringing, right now I have no major issues and I haven’t seen or spoke to him but I am thinking to plan to move in the next few months, am I stupid for having alarm bells or does this seem dodgy?

He also said the money we pay includes council tax but also said he rents it out as a student property which in the UK if you’re a student you don’t pay council tax.

Hello everyone ! I have an issue with my landlord … I live in an HMO , not sure if that makes a big difference in the matter . All of a sudden , the landlord wants access to the garage and shed, saying :” I am writing to let you know that we now need the garage and shed back for management use.

As you know, use of the garage and shed was not part of the tenancy agreement, but was made available informally. We now need these spaces to be cleared

Please could you remove your belongings from the garage and shed and return any keys”

Ive been leaving here since 2019. In the first contract it said “Exclusions from the let premises (e.g. garage or other out building etc) N/A” , which by what I’ve researched it means (Indicating "N/A" (Not Applicable) for property exclusions means the tenant has full, exclusive possession of the entire property, including all outbuildings, gardens, yards, and garages within the boundaries, unless specific restrictions are outlined in the tenancy).

Fine until now . In 2021, renewal of the contract , no mention at all of the garage or shed

So now , out of nowhere he wants the use of both spaces.

Any advice or similar situations happening recently?

Please, anything is useful .

Thank you !

Carmel

Hi all, hoping for some advice/experiences from people who may know better than I do.

Situation:

• My tenancy with Vertus (landlord) was due to end 24 July.
• Because of the Renters' Rights Act (fixed terms converted to periodic tenancies from 1 May 2026), I now need to give 2 months' notice that must expire at the end of a rental period.
• I only gave notice on 30 June, which means (per the landlord) my notice doesn't land on the 24 August cutoff and instead rolls to 24 September - so I'm being told I owe rent until 24 September, even though I'm physically leaving the UK right after.
• When Vertus emailed an attached government information sheet about the changes early on, their email itself said I "don't need to take any action." So this situation genuinely caught me off guard. Being relatively unfamiliar of how the specific laws work here, I didn't realise there was anything new to act on either.
• Subletting, Airbnb, and assignment are all explicitly banned in my contract, so I have no way to offset the cost with a replacement occupant.
• Vertus won't agree to end the tenancy early (no surrender).
• They're also increasing the rent for the second of the two "extra" months.

Basically just looking for advice on what to actually do here. Is there any way to challenge the notice date or negotiate with them, or am I stuck paying the full amount which I don't have?

I’ve secured an apartment in London and paid a deposit while waiting for my skilled work visa to be approved.

The rental property told me they normally only accept tenancy start dates from the 1st of each month. I’m moving to London for work and ideally needed the apartment from the third week of the month, but to secure the place I agreed to the earlier start date.

My visa has now been approved, but I’ve just realised that my Right to Rent start date is 15 days later than the tenancy start date.

Has anyone been in this situation before? What are my options? Can the landlord/agent allow the tenancy to start before the Right to Rent date, or would they legally need to delay the start date until my Right to Rent is active?

I moved out of a flat in mid April. We chased the deposit on the 28th of May. Our landlord pushed back saying he hadn't received the keys (estate agent's mistake, we called them and they fixed it) then we chased again on June 4th and June 17th.

We were looking into other options when the landlord finally replied today, over two months after we originally requested our deposit back.

Essentially, he wants to deduct charges for:

a) broken lightbulbs

b) broken doorbell

c) a copied key

a) its two light bulbs we didn't replace

b) the 'broken' doorbell picture he provided was just a picture of dead batteries. the doorbell has never worked because we didn't add batteries. it was a ring doorbell and none of us could be bothered to figure it out

c) and key broke and was replaced, we handed in thr broken key to the estate agents also but clearly that's been missed with everything else that went on

He wants us to pay £75 for all of this, is it worth trying to fight it? He holds our deposit directly, it's not in a deposit protection scheme, and I'm a bit scared if we come back with anything he'll just keep it longer

I recently went for a viewing in London, and the letting agent (Urban Share) said they use Reposit instead of a traditional tenancy deposit because it reduces the upfront cost for tenants.
While that sounds helpful initially, I’m a bit concerned about how Reposit works if there’s a dispute at the end of the tenancy. From what I’ve read, it doesn’t seem to follow the same dispute resolution process as a protected deposit scheme.
Has anyone here used Reposit before? Would you recommend it, or is a traditional deposit the safer option?
I’m also a little wary of Urban Share. They have quite a few negative reviews on AllAgents, although most of them are from around 2015. Their recent Google reviews are much more positive, but some of them read as though they were AI-generated.
Has anyone rented through Urban Share recently? I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience, whether positive or negative.

I've been looking for somewhere cheaper and more convenient to live but of course everyone else is too.

I currently live in a rental so my notice period is a minimum of 2 months unless i negotiate it, this seems to mean the places I view get snapped up by people who don't have to give notice.

Even when I've discussed this during viewings they tell me if someone who can move in sooner is eligible they will get it over me.

Anyone got any advice on how to navigate this?

So bear with me, it's a little long.

Long story short, I told my landlord in writing that I was moving. A week later, I received a letter in writing saying I was harassing neighbours, showing aggressive behaviour, and that there was a police investigation naming me by name in the letter. I had been a tenant with them for over a decade, and this is behaviour I would never dream of. It all came after they disclosed my details to a tenant moving in who has a problem with me and I put a complaint against them and with housing ombudsman, which I had already told them about.

Anyway, I panicked at the time because I didn't know what to do. I managed to get some advice and went to the police, where I found out there was no investigation against me (shocking). When I put a complaint in against PA, they said it was a generic letter sent out to everyone. I'm kind of friends with some of my neighbours, though, and they received nothing.

Honestly, I ended up fleeing because I became scared and paranoid about what else I might be accused of.

Anyway, fast forward to today, and they've billed me for some things I left behind, which is kind of fair, I guess. But they've also billed me for things that aren't true, like clearing areas of the property that I never even had access to such as the basement.

Is it worth arguing, or not? Part of me feels like I should stick up for myself, but at the same time I just want to close that chapter.

I signed a tenancy a few years ago with a ‘partner’ this was extended - when extended I didn’t sign or initial the paperwork again- ‘partner’ & landlord did. I need to leave the property due to relationship breakdown and concerns over mental abuse remaining in the relationship- control over remaining in the property until the extension on the tenancy is up. Where do I stand please I have a teenage child also

Hi, a situation I've been in for the past few months:

In February, I moved out of a property where I was renting under a lodgers agreement with a landlord. I gave the required four weeks notice to vacate as stated in the lodgers agreement. However, the landlord has not returned my deposit despite me contacting him repeatedly for months. He eventually blocked my phone number and I then asked friends to call him on my behalf, and he told them he was experiencing financial difficulties and would repay the money soon. He then blocked their numbers as well.

I formally raised the issue with the county court last month. The landlord did not respond or take any action, so judgment was entered in my favour by default. The option that appears most suitable is transferring the case to the High Court through a Writ of Control. But I got advised against this because the landlord may have multiple items on credit, which means that even if High Court enforcement officers attend his property and he refuses to cooperate, there may be very little of value for them to seize. As well as that, auctioning something reduces the cost greatly (anything worth £600 may be auctioned for £200 at max). For context, the amount owed to me is between £1100 and £1400.

I was recommended Nightfox Investigations as well. They appear to use a more traditional approach where they apply pressure to encourage repayment, but I am unsure how effective this would be if the landlord simply refuses to pay. Their fee is £474, which is recoverable if the debt is paid in full, although they take a 15% commission from the amount recovered. The cost of a Writ of Control through the High Court is £395 , of which only £142 is recoverable.

I would appreciate any advice or any experiences people have had with Nightfox. This situation has been in my head for several months now and I want to resolve it.

Hi there, I would really appreciate some advice please about a text message I’ve received from my landlord just now.
This is the text conversation…..

“Hi just to let you know all the properties are going into a management company don’t worry you are safe but there is going to be a rent rise it’s based on other flats we have that we get £750 per month for but yours will be £650. Thanks.”

So that was the initial message I received and I replied saying ok and that I assume I’ll get the details about the new management company and they will let me know the date my rent changes etc. He replied with this……

“You need to change on the next rent due because they will take over & they might want more rent this is why I’ve done it now it’s the same banks details. Its the same bank details at the moment so just carry on with the same details please I will let you know if that changes”

I replied saying “Yes I know it’ll be the same bank details but it comes out as a direct debit. They’ll need to get in touch to let me know when it’s changing and I have to change it with the bank. And obviously I’ll need their details and who they are if I need to contact them as I’ll be contacting them instead of you from now on. He replied with this…..

“They are only managing the property I’m still in control at the moment you still phone me if anything is wrong I will let you know when I decide not to manage the properties it’s my company the new management company so it’s all the same details & it will go up to £650 next month i hope this explains”

Sorry for all the writing and I’m grateful if you’ve read this far. Firstly I’m in wales and I’m on a periodic standard contract so legally he needs to give me two months notice using form RHW12. But as he’s not increasing my rent as much as the others I think I should just leave it, be grateful and advise my bank to change the direct debit to £650 next month.
I’m confused as to what he means about the properties going into a management company etc and I’m just genuinely confused about everything he’s said to be honest and I’d be incredibly grateful for any advice please.

Hi, I’m posting on behalf of an elderly relative with dementia who has just moved in to dementia care, from a flat in sheltered/retirement housing run by a small local non-profit organisation. I hold power of attorney for her and am handling the end of the tenancy.

She has been a resident for around 10 years.The flat was freshly redecorated by the landlord immediately before she moved in. The current written tenancy agreement dates from 2021 and replaced an earlier agreement. It began as an assured shorthold tenancy. The agreement contains a clause requiring the tenant to “decorate the inside of the flat in every fifth year of the tenancy and immediately before the end of the tenancy.”

On giving notice, the landlord sent a letter requiring the flat to be redecorated, all carpets removed, and the flat "given back to us as we gave it to you when your tenancy began" In other words, returned to the same condition it was let in, with no allowance for fair wear and tear.

My main questions are about whether that decorating clause is enforceable at all:

Requiring a return to the initial condition, with no allowance whatsoever for fair wear and tear. Does that make the obligation unfair or unenforceable? My understanding is that tenants are generally not liable for fair wear and tear.

Is requiring this “immediately before the end of the tenancy”, an unfair term under the Consumer Rights Act 2015? The tenant derives no benefit whatsoever from redecorating on the way out. The benefit goes entirely to the landlord and the incoming tenant, so it seems to load the obligation entirely onto the party who gains nothing.

Although the landlord is a limited company with the words Housing Association in its name, as far as I can tell is not actually registered as a provider of social housing, so I would guess is just classed as a private landlord?

For completeness: after we gave notice, the landlord also sent a separate “decoration policy and specification” requiring professional decorators only, and inspection by their committee, with a claimed right to redo the work at our cost. We had never seen this document before, and it isn’t referenced anywhere in the signed tenancy agreement, so I’m assuming it has no contractual force.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice about a tenancy in England.
I signed an assured shorthold tenancy for a student house in Leeds. The tenancy starts tomorrow (1 July 2026). I have only paid a £200 deposit and haven’t moved in or collected the keys.
My circumstances have changed and I won’t be living in Leeds anymore. I also no longer have a guarantor willing to act for me.
I called the letting agency (Oasis Properties) today and asked if I could cancel the tenancy. They refused and said because I’ve signed the contract, I have to move in and pay at least two months’ rent, otherwise I won’t get my deposit back.
I have not paid any rent yet, only the deposit.
My questions are:
Can the landlord legally require me to pay rent if I never move into the property?
Are they required to try to find another tenant to reduce their losses?
Can they keep my £200 deposit?
Is there anything else I should do now to protect myself?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.