Renting your home: tenants’ rights and getting help

Start with your agreement and landlord

A tenancy is a legal agreement to rent your home. Ask for a copy, your landlord’s name, the rent, service charges and the repairs contact. A licence is a different arrangement and may give less protection. An adviser should check how your home is actually provided, not just the heading on the agreement. Lodgers living with their landlord, some hostels, student accommodation and older regulated tenancies have different rules. Joint tenants can be responsible for the whole rent.

What changed for most private tenants

From 1 May 2026, most private assured shorthold tenancies became assured periodic tenancies. These continue weekly or monthly without a fixed end date. A landlord cannot create a new section 21 “no fault” notice for a tenancy covered by these changes. They need a lawful possession ground instead. Existing written agreements did not need replacing; landlords had to give an information sheet. New agreements need the required key terms in writing. Transitional court cases are explained below.

Council, housing association and supported housing

Council tenants may have secure, introductory or flexible tenancies with different rights. Assured tenancies of social housing provided by private registered providers, usually housing associations, remain under the earlier tenancy system until October 2027. Their market-rent homes can already fall under the new private rules. Supported housing can involve a tenancy or a licence, and may or may not be social housing. Housing and support agreements need separate examination. Do not assume that every supported housing resident has the same eviction protection.

Check money before you sign

Ask what is rent, what is a service charge and which bills you pay. For covered private tenancies, landlords cannot take rent before the agreement is signed. The usual pre-tenancy advance limit afterwards is one month for monthly rent, or 28 days for weekly rent. Different rules can apply to social or supported housing and some council-arranged homelessness tenancies. Holding deposits and tenancy deposits are different payments with separate limits. Ask an adviser to check an unexpected fee or large advance payment.

Keep deposit information

Where tenancy deposit protection applies, the landlord must protect the deposit and give the required information within 30 days of receiving it. Ask which approved scheme holds or protects your money. Keep the inventory, receipts and dated photographs of the condition when you move in, where safe and practical. At the end, ask for reasons and evidence for deductions. The scheme can explain its dispute process and deadlines. Deposit protection rules are not identical for every housing arrangement.

Understand a proposed rent increase

For tenancies under the new assured periodic system, rent cannot increase in the first year or more than once a year. The landlord normally uses Form 4A with at least two months’ notice. An earlier notice given before May can be subject to transitional rules. If the proposed rent is above the market level, ask promptly about the First-tier Tribunal, a body that decides certain housing disputes. Get help before the proposed increase starts; do not assume a complaint alone stops it.

Report repairs and unsafe conditions

Report leaks, broken heating, dangerous wiring, damp or mould promptly through the landlord’s repairs route. Explain how the problem affects your health, disability or essential equipment. Ask for a repair reference, timescale and safe arrangements while waiting. Landlords normally have duties covering the structure and key water, heating and electrical installations. Keep relevant reports and replies. Continue paying rent and get advice before withholding money or arranging work yourself. For unresolved hazards in privately rented housing, contact the council’s environmental health or private housing team.

Extra repair deadlines in social housing

Awaab’s Law currently covers emergency hazards and significant damp and mould hazards in most social tenancies. Emergency hazards must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours. Significant damp and mould must be investigated within 10 working days, then made safe within five working days after the investigation finishes. Suitable alternative accommodation is required if the home cannot be made safe in time. Licences are not automatically covered. Wider social-housing requirements are scheduled for 30 November 2026; extending this law to private tenancies and licences is still being consulted on.

Privacy and access to your home

You should be able to use your home without unnecessary interference. For many tenancies, inspections of its condition require at least 24 hours’ written notice and a reasonable time. Agree practical access for necessary repairs, including communication support or a supporter’s presence if helpful. Notice does not give a general right to force entry. Genuine emergencies and other lawful powers can differ; shared areas and licences also need checking. Ask for advice if someone uses keys without agreement or repeatedly arrives unannounced.

Ask for accessible housing services

Explain changes you need to understand letters, report repairs or attend meetings. These might include Easy Read information, more time, a familiar contact or permission for an agreed supporter to help. Ask the landlord to record and respond to your request. Equality law can require reasonable adjustments, but the rules for letting and managing premises have specific limits. Structural adaptations and funding need separate advice; not every requested building change must be provided by a landlord.

Benefits, children and fair treatment

New rental discrimination rules protect covered renters from exclusion because they receive benefits or have children. Landlords can still make lawful affordability checks, counting benefit income fairly. There are limited exceptions, including certain insurance contracts that began before 1 May 2026 until they end or renew. Restrictions concerning children can sometimes have a legally justified reason. Disability discrimination has separate Equality Act protections. Keep an advert, message or refusal reason and ask the council or a housing adviser to check it.

If you want a pet

For an assured tenancy covered by the new pet-request provision, ask in writing and describe the pet. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse and normally has 28 days to respond in writing. Some information requests, superior-landlord decisions or an agreed extension change the deadline. This statutory provision excludes social housing tenancies; a licence has different rules too. Check your contract and any assistance-animal needs rather than assuming permission. Do not get a pet on the assumption that silence means agreement.

If you want to move out

For the new assured periodic system, the usual notice is two months in writing, ending on the rent-due day or the day before it. A shorter period can be agreed in writing. Other housing arrangements have different notice rules. Ask an adviser to check the dates and effects on anyone sharing a joint tenancy. Keep paying rent that remains due. Get advice before signing a surrender, returning all keys or assuming that leaving has ended your legal responsibilities.

If your landlord asks you to leave

A possession notice starts a legal process; it is not usually the same as a court eviction order. For reformed private assured tenancies, the landlord must identify a valid section 8 ground, use the proper notice and follow the relevant notice period. Some grounds are much quicker than others. If you stay after notice ends, the landlord generally needs a court possession order and, if necessary, court-authorised enforcement. Some licences, including certain lodger arrangements, differ. Take every notice or court paper to a housing adviser immediately.

Older notices and court papers still matter

An old section 21 case can still continue if the landlord started the claim within the applicable deadline, no later than 31 July 2026. Do not ignore a case just because section 21 has since been abolished for new notices in the private sector. Old section 8 cases have their own transition rules, including a narrow debt breathing-space exception. Social housing has separate timing. Ask the adviser to check the notice, court dates, grounds, disability issues and any defence. Attend hearings or request the support needed to participate.

Threats, harassment and retaliation

Threatening you, cutting off services or changing locks to force you out may be harassment or illegal eviction. Contact the council’s housing enforcement team and seek urgent legal advice. Call 999 where there is immediate danger; use 101 for a non-emergency police report. Tell your adviser if threats followed a repair request or complaint. A landlord still needs the correct lawful route: complaining does not guarantee protection from every possession claim. Keep messages if safe. Do not put yourself at risk confronting someone trying to remove you.

Get help before you lose your home

The Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service offers free legal advice from written notice that possession is being sought, and court duty help, regardless of your finances. It can address connected housing, debt and benefit problems. Contact the council’s homelessness team early, especially if losing your home is likely within 56 days or it is unsafe to remain. Explain disability, support and accessibility needs. Eligibility and accommodation duties depend on circumstances; asking for help does not guarantee a particular new home.

Use the right complaint route

Report the problem, then use the landlord’s complaints process if it is unresolved. For member social landlords, the Housing Ombudsman can investigate after the final stage and help when replies are delayed. A letting agent’s redress scheme deals with the agent’s service, not every landlord decision. The new general private-landlord ombudsman is not yet operating. Council enforcement, a tribunal or court may be needed instead. Complaints do not pause court deadlines. Use the ombudsman and solicitor guides to choose the route.

Your rights when renting a home

Understand your housing agreement

Rent, bills and repairs

Privacy and accessible support

Leaving or losing your home

Complaints and safety

What you can do next

More useful links