r/rentingUK

Moved into new flat this week. Noise is more than I realised when viewing and don’t think I’ll be able to relax here. Lots of cars and music from cars. I’m panicking a bit as I’ve moved in by myself for the first time and feel a bit of a muppet. Can I give in my notice after 1 month? So I’d only need to be here 3 months? Any tips on dealing with noise during the daytime (not just with sleeping).

Also has anyone else had trouble finding a good rental particularly in London. Can’t tell if I’m useless or it’s just tough.

I’m thinking about finally asking my landlord if I can get a cat. In the past they’ve always had a pretty strict “no pets” rule, but with the rules changing this month around blanket bans, I know landlords aren’t really supposed to just refuse automatically anymore without a proper reason. Has anyone actually tried submitting a formal pet request since the new rules kicked in? How did your landlord take it? Did they ask for extra insurance or additional conditions, or was it a fairly smooth process?

Hi I rented a flat from 2022 to 2026. My fist months rent and deposit was paid by a housing association (which I am struggling to find) at the time due to me not working. I have the tenancy agreement stating the price of the rent and deposit.

During the tenancy the original landlord sold the property to another landlord and I continued to pay rent to the new landlord with a small rent increase.

When I gave notice this year I asked about the deposit and the new landlord said that the previous landlord had said there was no deposit paid. They showed me a copy of the tenancy agreement I have which says deposit nil, but on my agreement it shows that actual deposit charge.

I have tried to see if it was put in the deposit protection scheme and there is no record of it.

The new landlord has asked me to chase it up with the old one but I have been unable to contact him.

What would be my next steps?
TIA

Hi all,

Looking for some advice regarding a tenancy dispute in England.

We signed a 12-month AST in June 2025. The tenancy agreement specifically states:
- one month’s written notice is required to end the tenancy at the end of the fixed term, and
- one clear calendar month’s notice is required during the contractual periodic tenancy after the fixed term.

Our tenancy was due to end on 20 June 2026, so on 19 May 2026 we emailed the letting agent giving notice that we would be leaving on 20 June.

The letting agent has now replied saying that because of the Renters’ Rights Act changes on 1 May 2026:
- all tenancies automatically became periodic,
- our tenancy terms are “no longer valid,”
- and we are now legally required to give two months’ notice aligned with the rent date.

They are also saying we may remain liable for rent beyond 20 June unless the landlord agrees to “consider” a shorter notice period.

Our issue is:
If the law only changed on 1 May 2026, it would have been literally impossible for us to comply with a two-month notice period for a tenancy ending on 20 June 2026, because we would have needed to give notice before 20 April — before the law allegedly came into force.

We were also:
- never informed beforehand that our notice period had changed,
- never asked to sign any updated agreement,
- and only found out after serving notice.

What makes this more confusing is that the GOV.UK guidance for tenants says:
- tenants normally give 2 months’ notice,
- BUT landlords and tenants can agree in writing to a shorter notice period.

Our tenancy agreement already contains a signed written one-month notice clause.

So my questions are:

1. Does the Renters’ Rights Act automatically override existing written shorter-notice clauses?
2. Can a landlord/agent legally rely on a notice requirement that tenants had no practical ability to comply with?
3. Is the agent correct that our tenancy clauses are simply “no longer valid”?
4. Would a court or deposit adjudicator likely consider the impossibility/fairness issue here?

We’re speaking to Citizens Advice and Private Rented Service as well, but wanted to see whether anyone familiar with housing law has insight into how transitional situations like this are being interpreted.

Thanks.

Edit: We are located in north east England

me and my mum (main tenant) are both adults (obviously) and have been trying to get a private rental for almost four years. this is the first time we’ve made it past a viewing probably thanks to the new Renters Rights, so we’re very new to this.

letting agent asked us to submit everything through a Rightmove referencing application after paying the holding deposit, which we’ve done. part of the affordability check meant consenting to Open Banking, which we were happy to do so. we both make 30x the rent a year at least, and monthly combined were more than covered for rent and bills anyway.

except now the letting agent has messaged my mum privately on whatsapp (every other correspondence has been through email with other members of the letting agency cc’d in) and asked for 6 months worth of uncensored bank statements from both of us.

we said we’d already covered this by doing the Open Banking thing on the Rightmove affordability check and wanted to wait for that to go through, but the letting agent is insisting that “because Rightmove is a third party and they can’t see the Open Banking details”, they are legally required to ask for our bank statements to proceed with the tenancy agreement.

we obviously don’t want to do this because it’s private and sensitive information, especially because we’ve already given up everything to the Rightmove referencing application. but we also don’t want to argue with the letting agent and ruin our chances.

can they do this? can we just wait for the Rightmove thing to be processed? is the letting agent pushing this because they want to secure the tenancy quicker? any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Hi

There is a problem with the current Tenancy deposit scheme it seems. When a tenant doesn’t pay rent on time then they are charged interest rate on the outstanding balance ; however the same doesn’t apply for the delay in payment of holding deposit from the landlord.

I’ve been following up from a month but the owner is not responding. Can I claim interest if the deposit is paid late?

Thanks

I live in a shared house. Some of the people I live with aren’t very good with their shared jobs.
“Council are red hot about bins and recycling if I receive one more warning from them I will charge you all £50 each for resolving this problem with council
So respect the timing and bins
Never leave them outside for too long
If council doesn’t see recycling being done then I will receive a warning and penalty
So respect my request and do the bins correctly and promptly”
The landlord sent this message to the chat. Is he allowed to do this? If he is, I don’t see how it’s very fair for the people that are doing their part.
There’s 7 rooms so he’d get like £350

Another thing!
I paid my deposit through direct debit to my landlord but he hasn’t sent me any details about how he has protected it… and there’s a little history about him keeping deposits when people move out. What can I do about this?

We’ve been renting a flat for about 4 months now, when we signed the contract it did have a no pets policy, however about a month in we asked if we were allowed to keep a snake and this did get allowed, we paid £50 and signed the change, however it specifically stated “the tenants are allowed ONE snake”, this was before the new act came into place.

We have another small snake that we just move to a different house during inspections that are done through an agency, however we would love to get a couple more snakes and want to do it the official way so that there’s no worry about relocating them during inspections, any advice on the best way to ask this ?

I’m thinking surely if one is allowed then I don’t see what the issue with a couple more would be but I’d rather not have the specific limit altogether, they’re kept in one room and it all looks very neat and tidy, non venomous and not huge, obviously they don’t free roam and are in the appropriate enclosures, so with all of this taken into account with the new act i’m betting on my chances of it being accepted are fairly strong?

any advice appreciated!

Hello you knowledgeable lot,

we've had a "Form 4 Notice proposing a new rent under an Assured Periodic Tenancy" from £975 - £1050. the amount could be acceptable, if it wasn't for work that's been outstanding over 2 years. part the work was from the previous increase (June 2024) LL promised to to do alterations to the property but never has. I know rent is usually separate from work but with the new rules, if we took it to tribunal on the ground the property has a 57 year old bathroom, 39 year old kitchen, all carpets are over 8 years old and dead, internal doors are all originals from 1972. some external work that was promised to be completed for Christmas is still incomplete aswell.

Will the tribunal consider this in any judgement or is it a simple, straight comparison to average market with no other factors?

Hi! I’m renting a flat in England. We’ve been having issues with our gas where we can’t use the gas hob and gas boiler at the same time and now our hob has started to pop. We’ve contacted the estate agent several times over the last couple of weeks and last week they said we should expect a call to schedule a repair man to come check it out. It’s gotten much worse and we’ve not heard anything, what do we do?

Me and my partner both work part time only at the moment they are not allowed any more hours as OH has advised against it for health reasons

I'm off sick but planning on going back at the end of the week

We put a deposit down for renting a property we also have our first month's rent saved and we're told everything went OK with checks

Then suddenly were told a week ago my partner needs a guarantor

We both have no family or friends to do this we are getting kicked out 29th which was our moving day and told by council and citizens advice they can't help we looked at a few companies like housing hand but they need a co signer which is basically the same as a guarantor and again we have no one

We can't afford to do a guarantour company that costs a fortune so we are stuck is there any where that we can get a guarantor without a co signer ?

I've been renting my flat in Hackney, London, since 2023 through an agency.

Recently they've gotten in touch to let me know that my landlord is applying for a selective licence for the property. They've asked for access to measure the property to create a floorpan which I believe is necessary for the licence application.

They have also instructed me that a photographer will also be coming to take photos as they have no professional photos of the flat. This I have pushed on to say that I don't give consent for them to be taken I'm unaware of the intended use of the photos and why they are being taken. As a tenant I believe I have the right to refuse photos taken of my private space.

This had got me thinking if my landlord even had an existing license, so I checked the record and can only see that he is registered as a landlord for the property above me, he owns the full building.

I know that Hackney Council recently implement changes to landlord licences but I was wondering if anyone had experience of this or advice as to where I stand if my landlord has had a licence to rent the property to me for these last 3 years?

I'm thinking as the property is managed by an agent he must of as they would have asked for this when registering the property surely?

Hi all, looking for some advice as I’m feeling quite overwhelmed and unsure what the smartest next step is.
My partner and I moved into a rental property in
Manchester in December 2025 (£1,800pcm AST).

Within days of moving in we started noticing major issues which we reported almost immediately, including:
Damp and black mould
Intermittent electrical tripping/RCD issues
Structural opening to the basement
Rotting external timber/windows
Plumbing leaks
Toilet issues
Strong damp/urine smell from carpets and flooring
We raised concerns very early and have everything documented by email and WhatsApp.

Over the past 2–3 months, the agency has now admitted there is:
-A failed DPC (damp proof course). The landlord refuses to pay for it.
-Significant basement damp
-Potential need for tanking works
-Electrical remedial works / possible kitchen rewire
-Window replacement works
-They are now arranging works, but it has taken months to get to this stage.

One thing that’s really upset me is the flooring situation. We repeatedly reported damp and strong odour issues affecting the carpets. Eventually we lifted part of the carpet and discovered damp floorboards and mould beneath the floor structure directly above the cellar.
We also placed a framed picture in the cellar around 2 months ago and it now looks badly affected by damp/moisture already.

The agency/landlord are now saying they won’t reimburse us for any remedial costs we incurred ourselves because the works weren’t “approved”, even though we only carried out minor mitigation works after delays in response.
They’ve also now offered us the option to exit the tenancy early.
Part of me feels relieved, but another part of me feels like it’s a “get out of jail free card” for the landlord/agency after we’ve spent months living with the issues, paying full rent, and dealing with the stress and disruption.

For context:

We have continued paying rent throughout
Rent has been paid under protest
We have cooperated with all inspections and contractor access
The landlord/agency are now carrying out significant remedial works

My questions are:
-Would you accept an early surrender and move on?
- is it realistic to seek compensation/reimbursement first?
- is Environmental Health worth involving at this stage?
- Has anyone successfully negotiated compensation + early exit together?
- Does the carpet situation sound defensible given the damp/mould evidence underneath?

Trying to approach this calmly and properly, but honestly the unpredictability of it all has really affected my anxiety.
Any advice appreciated.

Me my partner and 2 friends are trying to move to a different city but are having trouble finding housing there's is very few HMOs due to a law that is In affect in the city. We keep getting turned away because they only want people on a shared contract there example being families. My question is what would stop us from just getting a contract in 1 or 2 of our names and just having the others pay us too pay them? We have all know eachother a long time and have lived together before I would genuinely consider them my family.

Hi everyone, I would like some advice. Me and my partner have been living in our rental house for 4 years now. We have been good tenants, there has never been any issues. It is a three bedroom house with a large garden, and yet the original rule when we moved in was no pets, and no kids.
This was fine for us originally but I have been desperate to get a dog, I grew up with them in my family home and miss them.
After the rule change on the 1st May, we realised there is no legal reason that the landlord has given us to deny us having a small dog. However, after requesting this yesterday our letting agent rang me to tell me our landlord is adamant on no pets. Apparently he had tenants before us who had a pet and had to replace all the carpets in the property. Aside from the landlord obviously not liking pets, this is the only reason given for the refusal.
Today I am planning on sending a more official request to the letting agent. Is there any way I can word the email to be firm, yet also understanding of the landlords worries? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Me and my boyfriend are moving in together in the next month and he has been looking for a job in the city i live in as he currently lives with his parents, We both have savings but can we rent if he is not currently working, he needs the city address to get a job, i work part time so could not cover it alone, I dont want to lose money on holding deposits if we are just going to be denied, is there any way around this?!

Hey folks, I’m looking for advice on an early tenancy release issue in England from a private landlord.

I signed an early release agreement on 5 March 2026. I agreed to pay rent until a replacement tenant was found, plus a £650 early termination/re-letting fee, which I’ve already paid. My original tenancy was due to end on 15 June.

The property wasn’t uploaded to the agent’s website until around 23 days after signing, and Rightmove a couple of days after that. The agent has said this was partly due to landlord approvals/communication, paperwork and marketing prep. So not total inactivity, but it wasn’t publicly marketed for over 3 weeks while I remained liable.

One tenant failed referencing. A new tenant is now expected around 30 May (but still waiting confirmation after a week), so I’m being asked to pay rent from 28 April to 30 May as well.

At my request, the agent asked the landlord to end my liability on 15 May as a compromise, but the landlord refused. I’ve started the agent’s formal complaint process and may go to the Property Redress Scheme if needed.

Questions:
- Is it reasonable to dispute part of the rent due to the marketing delay?
- Does the signed agreement override any fairness/proportionality argument?
- Does paying under protest preserve my position?
- Is complaint/PRS more realistic than small claims?

We have been told our landlord is selling our house , it has now sold & we need to be out by September.

I know a lot of us are in the same position, just wondering how everyone else is finding things? There doesnt seem to be many rental options about right now & its all feeling quite stressful. Have any of you had any luck? How are you all approaching the situation?

I handed in my notice on the day the new law came in (May 1st). I have emailed chasing and rang twice and the estate agents are completely ignoring me. (They have been absolutely terrible) Can I still move out July 1st?