The Renters' Rights Act for couples renting together

What does the Renters’ Rights Act change for couples renting together?

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 changed private renting in England from 1 May 2026. For couples renting together, it decides how long you can stay, how often your rent can go up, whether you can have a pet and how either of you can leave. This guide covers England only. If you rent in Wales, see the section on Wales below.

The rules apply to private tenants with an assured or assured shorthold tenancy. If you live in social housing, or you’re a lodger in your landlord’s home, they won’t usually apply to you. The new rules apply automatically, even if your tenancy agreement hasn’t been updated, and a landlord can’t write anything into the agreement to switch them off.

Here’s what changed on 1 May 2026:

Topic	Before 1 May 2026	From 1 May 2026
Length	Often a fixed term, such as 12 months	Rolling, with no end date
Section 21	No-reason eviction allowed	Abolished
Rent rises	Rent review clauses could be used	Once a year, on a Form 4A
Pets	Set by your agreement	Can’t be refused without good reason
Leaving	Usually at the end of a fixed term	Two months’ notice, any time

Your tenancy is now rolling. Assured shorthold tenancies were abolished and most became “assured periodic tenancies”. They usually run month to month and carry on until you give notice, you and your landlord agree to end it, or your landlord ends it for a legal reason. Any end date in your old agreement no longer applies.

Section 21 has gone. Your landlord can’t give you a section 21 “no-fault” notice on or after 1 May 2026. To end your tenancy they need a legal reason, called a ground for possession, such as rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, or wanting to sell or move in. They can’t use the selling or moving-in grounds in the first 12 months of a tenancy, and for those grounds they have to give you four months’ notice. If you don’t leave, they have to go to court and show the ground applies. If your landlord served a section 21 or section 8 notice before 1 May 2026, the old rules may still apply, so get advice.

Other changes that help when you’re looking for a place:

• No rent in advance before you sign, and, if you pay monthly, no more than one month’s rent in advance after you sign but before the tenancy starts.
• No rental bidding. Landlords and agents must state the rent in written adverts, and can’t ask or encourage you to offer more. Councils can fine them up to £7,000.
• No discrimination against renters who have children or claim benefits. That matters if you’re planning a family.
• Deposits are still capped at five weeks’ rent if the yearly rent is under £50,000, and must be protected in a government-approved scheme.

What’s different when you’re both on the tenancy?

If you’re both named on the tenancy agreement, you’re joint tenants. Rolling tenancies make that matter more.

You’re both responsible for all the rent. Joint tenants are “jointly and severally” liable. If the rent is £1,500 a month, the landlord can ask either of you for the whole £1,500, not just half. How you split it between you is your choice, but the landlord doesn’t have to follow it. The rent split calculator shows what equal, by-income and by-room-size shares would come to.

Either of you can usually end it for both. GOV.UK says one joint tenant can usually end the joint tenancy without the other tenants agreeing. With no fixed term, notice can be given at any point. Two things to know:

• A shorter notice period than two months needs your landlord’s agreement in writing, and all the joint tenants have to agree to it.
• Taking notice back. Once notice is given, you can only stay on if your landlord agrees in writing.

Moving out doesn’t end it. If one of you moves out and nobody gives notice, the joint tenancy carries on, and you both stay responsible for the rent and any arrears. Your landlord can’t simply take one name off the agreement. If one of you wants to stay, the landlord can agree a new tenancy in that person’s name, though they may check affordability or ask for a guarantor first. Our guide to when one partner leaves a joint tenancy goes through each option, and splitting a joint tenancy deposit covers getting your deposit back fairly.

None of this is a reason to worry about your partner. It’s a reason to agree, together and while things are good, what you’d each do if one of you needed to leave: who stays, who gives notice, and how you’d share the rent during the notice period.

What if only one of you is on the tenancy?

This often happens when one partner moves into a place the other already rents. If you’re not married or in a civil partnership and you’re not named on the tenancy, you have no tenancy rights of your own. You live there with your partner’s permission. Your partner could end the tenancy, and you wouldn’t be responsible for the rent to the landlord.

If you want the same rights and the same responsibilities, ask the landlord in writing to make you joint tenants. This usually means ending the current tenancy and signing a new joint tenancy agreement, which needs the landlord’s agreement. Before you do:

• Check the rent and terms. A new agreement can set a new rent, so compare it with what you pay now.
• Check the deposit. Agree with the landlord whether the existing deposit carries over, and record who paid it.
• Check who can live there. Your tenancy agreement might list other people who can live with you. Even if you stay on a sole tenancy, many tenants let their landlord know when a partner moves in.

How do rent increases work now, and can you challenge one?

Since 1 May 2026, your landlord can only put the rent up using the “section 13” process:

• Once a year at most, and not in the first 12 months of the tenancy.
• On a Form 4A notice, given to you in person, by post, or by email if your agreement allows it.
• With at least two months’ notice before the new rent starts, for a monthly tenancy.
• Rent review clauses no longer work for new increases, even if your agreement has one.

If you think the new rent is more than the property would let for on the open market, you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). The rules that matter:

• Apply before the new rent’s start date on the Form 4A, even if you’re still gathering evidence.
• The fee is £47. You may be able to get help paying it.
• You won’t pay more than your landlord proposed. The tribunal decides the open market rent, and you pay that or the proposed rent, whichever is lower.
• The new rent isn’t backdated. If the decision comes after the proposed start date, the new rent starts from the next rent period after the decision. If paying it straight away would cause you undue hardship, the tribunal can delay it, by up to two months from its decision.
• It may be decided on paper, or the tribunal may inspect the property or hold a hearing.

You can also challenge the starting rent itself, within the first six months of a new tenancy.

Before you apply, look at what similar homes nearby are advertised for. You can also talk to your landlord: you can agree a lower increase, or none, in writing.

How does a rent increase challenge work with real numbers?

Sam and Priya have rented a two-bedroom flat for three years on a joint periodic tenancy, with no rent rise in the last year. They pay £1,500 a month, due on the 1st, and split it equally. They’re saving for a deposit to buy together.

On 1 March their landlord gives them a Form 4A proposing £1,700 a month from 1 June. Similar flats on their street are advertised at £1,550 to £1,600. They have three choices:

Sam and Priya's rent for the year from 1 June

What they do	Monthly rent	Extra for the year
Accept the increase	£1,700	£2,400
Agree £1,600 with the landlord	£1,600	£1,200
Tribunal sets £1,600 in July	£1,500, then £1,600	£1,000 plus £47 fee

Accepting costs them £200 a month more, so £2,400 over the year, or £1,200 each.

Agreeing £1,600 with the landlord in writing costs £100 a month more, so £1,200 over the year.

Going to the tribunal: they apply before 1 June. The tribunal decides on 10 July that the open market rent is £1,600. Because the decision came after 1 June, the new rent starts from their next rent day, 1 August. They pay £1,500 for June and July, then £1,600 for the 10 months after that: £1,000 more over the year, plus the £47 fee.

The tribunal could have decided the market rent was £1,700 or more. In that case they’d pay £1,700, never more than the landlord proposed, from the next rent day after the decision. Illustration only: real decisions depend on the evidence about local rents.

Whatever they choose, their next rent rise can’t come until at least a year after this one. Putting the £100 to £200 a month they don’t spend on rent into savings adds up towards their deposit. Try what different deposits would mean for each of you in the deposit split calculator.

Can you have a pet under the Renters’ Rights Act?

You have the right to ask, and your landlord can’t unreasonably say no. If you’re joint tenants, agree between you first, then ask together.

1. Ask in writing. Describe the pet: what it is, its size, and how much space it needs.
2. Your landlord has 28 days to reply in writing. If they reasonably ask for more information, they get the rest of the 28 days or an extra 7 days from when you reply, whichever is later. They can also take longer if they need consent from a superior landlord, such as the freeholder.
3. If they refuse, they must tell you in writing and should give the reason. Each request has to be considered on its own.

GOV.UK gives examples of what can be reasonable: someone you live with has an allergy, the property is too small for a large pet or several pets, the freeholder doesn’t allow pets, or the animal is illegal to keep. Refusing because the landlord just doesn’t like pets, or because of problems with a past tenant, would usually be unreasonable. Refusing an assistance animal, such as a guide dog, would be unreasonable.

Once your landlord agrees, they can’t change their mind. They can take money from your deposit to repair damage your pet causes, but they can’t charge you a fee for keeping a pet unless it’s a payment the Tenant Fees Act 2019 allows. If you think a refusal is unreasonable, you can complain to your landlord and, as a last step, go to court.

What if you’re renting while saving to buy?

Rolling tenancies suit couples who are saving to buy. You’re not tied to a fixed end date, so when you’ve found a home you can give notice and leave. A few things help:

• Plan your notice around completion. You need to give two months’ notice in writing, by letter, email or text, ending on a rent day or the day before. Keep a copy. You keep paying rent until the tenancy ends.
• Decide who gives notice. On a joint tenancy, one of you can give notice for both, but it’s clearer if you both sign it.
• Ask about a shorter notice period if your purchase moves fast. Your landlord can agree in writing, and as joint tenants you both have to agree.
• Think about the deposit timing. Your tenancy deposit usually comes back after you leave, so don’t count on it for the purchase.
• Agree how you’ll own your new home. If one of you has saved more, decide now how that will count. A couples agreement (also called a cohabitation agreement) records it; our guide to a couples agreement for buying a house explains how.

What about couples renting in Wales?

The Renters’ Rights Act tenancy changes in this guide apply in England. Wales has its own law, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, which came into force on 1 December 2022. Most private renters in Wales have a “standard occupation contract” instead of a tenancy, with different rules on notice, rent and joint contracts. For help, see the Welsh Government’s Renting Homes pages on gov.wales or contact Shelter Cymru.

Is anything still to come?

Yes. The government is bringing in the rest of the Act in stages. A database of private rented homes is due to start from late 2026. A landlord ombudsman for tenants’ complaints is being set up, and the government expects landlords to have to join it in 2028. Later, a Decent Homes Standard and Awaab’s Law on damp and mould are to be extended to private renting, with dates still to be confirmed. When we checked on 1 October 2026, these were still being set up, so check GOV.UK for the latest before relying on them.

What should you do next?

1. Check your tenancy. Are you both named? If only one of you is, decide together whether to ask for a joint tenancy.
2. Agree how you split the rent and bills, and what each of you would do if one of you needed to leave. The free 10-minute conversation helps you talk it through side by side, and your answers stay on your device.
3. Read any Form 4A carefully. Check the date and the amount, compare local rents, and apply to the tribunal before the new rent’s start date if you think it’s too high.
4. Ask for a pet in writing, and keep a copy of the request and the reply.
5. Give notice together when you leave, in writing, timed to end on a rent day.
6. Get advice if your landlord gives you a notice to leave, you’re splitting up and can’t agree who stays, or you’re in rent arrears. Shelter, Citizens Advice and your local council can help, and free legal advice is available if your landlord takes you to court.
7. When you buy, record how you’ll own your home. Read about unmarried couples’ rights first.