Originally published at: How OpenRent is Preparing for the Renters' Rights Act
The Renters’ Rights Act is set to change the private rented sector in England on 1st May 2026. While the transition to a fully periodic system and the abolition of Section 21 may feel like a daunting shift for many landlords, the reality is that you don’t need to become a legal expert to stay…
Has OR considered producing tool or a data analysis showing rent increases over past year in different areas or postcodes (or rent increases based on advertised rents), ideally broken down by the type of property and number of bedrooms. Or the average rent advertised for properties of particular type by postcodes, in any quarterly period
Either for individual postcodes or for a group of postcodes chosen by a landlord.
The RRA legislation requires market information to be taken account of when setting rents but this actually quite hard to find.
Even if it was only based on rentnow contracts issued by OR, you could still have big enough samples for meaningful areas eg show what has happened in South and North London inside and outside zone 2 (for example).
You could also analyze data on what % increases happen within contracts that OR do the rent collection for, again by postcode/area and type of property.
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Hi @David240,
Thank you for the suggestion, I’ve shared this with the team.
We do have a rent calculator that landlords can use to get a market appropriate rental amount for their properties:
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This is good. I was hoping you’d do this.
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Do you know the timeframe of when this will be done?
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If you ask Ts to acknowledge receipt of the info sheet, you’ll know when it’s been served Karl 
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That’s great that OR are sending out the documents re RRA. Will landlords be copied in and what if a tenant has changed their email?
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Greg
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If my property is currently let under the market rate, would I be able to raise it to the market rate or could they say the actual percentage increase is too high.
Also, as OpenRent is serving the information sheet on our behalf, could we see evidence of that in the portal and will there be something from the tenant that acknowledges that they have seen and read it?
@StevieLets It will be up to the courts but this is what the govt guidance says
“Rent increases
In line with the government’s manifesto, we will empower private rented sector tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases. This will prevent unscrupulous landlords using rent increases as a backdoor means of eviction, while ensuring rents can be increased to reflect market rates.
In future, all rent increases in the private rented sector will be made using the same process. Landlords will be able to increase rents once per year to the market rate – the price that would be achieved if the property was newly advertised to let. To do this, they will need to serve a simple ‘section 13’ notice, setting out the new rent and giving at least 2 months’ notice of it taking effect.
If a tenant believes the proposed rent increase exceeds market rate, they can then challenge this at the First-tier Tribunal, who will determine what the market rent should be.
We will reform how the Tribunal works to ensure tenants feel confident in challenging poor practice and enforcing their rights. Currently, tenants face the risk that the Tribunal may increase rent beyond what the landlord initially proposed – we will end this, so tenants never pay more than what the landlord asked for. We will also end the practice of backdating rent increases – with the new rent instead applying from the date of the Tribunal determination – to ensure tenants are not unexpectedly thrust into debt. And, in cases of undue hardship, we will give the Tribunal the power to defer rent increases by up to a further 2 months.
To ensure tenants always have a right of appeal, and prevent backdoor evictions, rent increases by any other means – such as rent review clauses – will not be permitted. This will also ensure all parties are clearer on their rights and responsibilities.”
(Guide to the Renters’ Rights Act
Published 6 November 2025)
The fee to challenge a rent increase will be 47 quid. Cases have been taking 6 months. So they can challenge for 6 months and thereby avoid paying any increase for that time for an outlay of £47. So it’ll be in the interest of almost every tenant to challenge increases even if these are as low as 9 quid a month. Of course many won’t because it’s an instant way to destroy their relationship with the LL and they will still fear the LL will find a way to evict them even without s21
But you have to balance the gain from increasing to market rent vs the risk they challenge it and pay no increase for 6 months
Good luck
I would like to clarify… In your post, you stated that “When a tenant wants to end a periodic tenancy, they are usually required to give at least one month’s notice for monthly rentals or four weeks’ notice for weekly rentals, with the tenancy concluding at the end of the rental period.” Meaning the tenant needs to give at least 1 month notice to terminate their tenance. However, in the government website Guide to the Renters’ Rights Act - GOV.UK It is stated that :
- A tenant will be able to end a tenancy by giving 2 months’ notice. The end date of the tenancy will need to align with the end of a rent period.
Which is it? 1 month notice or 2 months notice?
Thank you!
@M-J my understanding is that the RRA specifies it’s a max of 2 months and that’s the default if a contract doesn’t specify but that doesnt prevent LLs and OR specifying a shorter period if they want to agree that with tenants and give them even more flexibility.
@David122 will tell me if I’ve got that wrong
There’s good reason to set it at 1month as that’s what tenants may expect as they pay monthly and it’s what already happens when ASTs become periodic with OR ASTs after eg 12 months. If everyone used 2 months then it will hold up moves -tenants won’t give notice till they’ve secured a place and probabky end up paying for 2 places for longer or LLs have longer void periods neither good for anyone. Of course does mean a risk they move out after just 1month not 2 and less time to find a new tenant.
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No, and there are different opinions on whether it’s worth getting this from a T. It’s not legally required, but some feel that it might be best practice. I’ve had all my Ts acknowledge receipt by email. Although I’m only required to give it to them, I now also have their word that I did which I find reassuring.
Whether they read it is entirely up to them though.
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I believe its a minimum of 2 months notice, not a maximum, so in practice it could be nearer 3 months.
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@David122 if its a minimum that doesn’t make sense. Then tenants who can current give one month notice because it’s already periodic have to give more so are tied in for longer. And if more than 2 months were allowed in a contract a LL could set it at say 12 months and tenants would be tied in for a long time just the same way they are tied in to 12m fixed terms at the moment. The whole point of the change is for tenants not to be tied in for long periods because their circumstances can change (a breakup.etc)
Do you have something saying it’s a min?
I thought the landlord specifies the notice period in the AST and can only require a max of 2 months. It doesn’t stop the LL and tenant specifying less or the tenant giving more than the required notice
- The guidance says
“How will a tenant end a tenancy once the reforms are implemented?
A tenant will be able to end a tenancy by giving 2 months’ notice. The end date of the tenancy will need to align with the end of a rent period.”
(Guide to the Renters’ Rights Act nov2025)
which implies you can’t have an ast clause requiring 3 month or 4 months etc as they have a right to end it more quickly?
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Thanks @David204 Our current contract with the TT is minimum 2 months notice. Does that mean with the new Act, it would be max 2 months or should we renegotiate the notice period as long as it is no more than 2 months? My TT is getting a bit nervous as they just have a baby and considering moving to a bigger place and don’t want to get tie down if they find something sooner.
@M-J i ‘think’ under new act its 2 months (but ending on the end of a rent payment period - so.if payment is normally on 1st of month and they pay on 1st May then gave notice on say 3rd May, they would have to pay up till end 31st July so 2 months plus nearly a month). So it’s exactly what you have at moment already. Max here is referring to what the LL can require in the contract.
I think you are fine and don’t need to renegotiate unless you want to as whatever is in your contract gets replaced under the act by the 2months anyway, unless you specify something different.
If you wanted to offer TT more flexibility you could renegotiate it to be less. Gives you less time to market and find a new tenant and more chance of a void perhaps. But a happier current tenant.
Good luck
If you used OR for your tenancies then there is a clause that states that the T agrees to recieving notices to their registered email address with OR. IF they change their email and they have not formally noticed you of this change then this is not on you.
I would also comfortably assume that considering all OR notices to the T copy in the LL, This would be standard practice for the info sheet as well.
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Yes, I think that’s the idea, to make them give landlords more notice given that the fixed term is ending. Landlords are not at liberty to specify a longer period of tenant notice in the contract as its set by common law and now by the RRA and Protection from Eviction Act. Its a minimum because the tenants can choose to give longer if they wish.
The date the notice can expire is still a bit of a grey area as the Government have said it should expire the day before a rent day after at least 2 months. I raised this point with N R L A a few months ago because landlords often vary the rent day based on requests from their tenants. The common law says it must be the last day or first day of a tenancy period, so its not clear what date is correct. I read Tessa Sheperson’s Landlord Law blog this morning and she also raises this issue. Hopefully this will get resolved soon, but in most cases the two dates will be the same and the tenant can then serve a correct notice.
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So I haven’t been copied on any email regarding open rent sending the renters right 2026 pdf? When will this be done exactly?
@mod_harry can you advise on timescales for OR sending the info sheet to tenants please and confirm LLs will be cc-d ?
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