A group of friends signing for a Lewes Road house in January and a couple moving to a Hove flat for a new job in September want very different things from a tenancy. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 is designed to work for both, and since 1 May 2026 it has changed how almost every private tenancy in England starts, continues and ends.

The main reforms are already live. Your rights now depend less on when the law arrives and more on the type of property you rent, the ground your landlord relies on and the paperwork you were given at the outset. For students in shared houses, there are specific arrangements built around the academic year, and they come with conditions worth checking before anyone signs.

The headline change is the end of fixed terms. Assured periodic tenancies have replaced the previous Assured shorthold tenancies with fixed end dates. Almost all existing agreements converted automatically on 1 May 2026. If you signed a twelve-month contract in 2025 or before 1st May 2026, you are almost certainly on a periodic tenancy now, whatever the paperwork in your drawer says.

That means your tenancy rolls on from one rent period to the next until you give notice or your landlord uses a valid legal ground for you to leave. 

This helps if your plans change. You need to give at least two months’ notice, and the end date has to line up with the end of a rent period, so it still pays to plan ahead and check the dates carefully.

Most shared houses are let on a joint tenancy, where everyone is named on a single agreement and liable for all terms and conditions. If you are on a joint tenancy, notice from one tenant ends the tenancy for the whole household, even if everybody else wants to stay. The others do not have to agree. Once notice is served all tenants and the landlord need to agree not to enforce the notice for the group to remain in the property.

If the rest of the group wants to carry on in the property, that has to be a new tenancy agreed with the landlord. It is not automatic. In practice this rarely comes as a surprise, but it is worth raising a possible departure with your landlord or agent early rather than serving notice.

Section 21 no-fault evictions are gone. A landlord can no longer regain possession simply by serving notice at the end of an arrangement. Landlord’s have to rely on a specified ground: selling the property, moving in themselves, serious rent arrears, a breach of the tenancy, etc. 

Two key grounds for most to settled tenants is if your landlord wants to sell or move in. Your landlord must give four months’ notice, and they cannot use either ground during the first twelve months of your tenancy. There are also restrictions on re-letting the property afterwards.

That does not mean a tenancy can never end at a landlord’s request. It means the reason has to be clear and the process has to be followed. If you receive a possession notice, do not ignore it and do not assume you have to leave immediately. Read it properly, and get advice quickly if anything looks unclear.

Landlords and agents also can no longer refuse tenants because you have children or claim benefits. Blanket “no DSS” or “no children” policies are unlawful, and so are less obvious practices designed to achieve the same result.

Rent is the biggest concern for most people looking in Brighton & Hove, where demand for well-located homes stays high.

Landlords are now limited to one rent increase a year, using the formal Section 13 process, with notice given in advance. If you think the proposed figure is above the local market rate, you can challenge it at the First-tier Tribunal. A challenge is not a way to avoid a rent increase. Rents can still rise where the evidence supports it. 

Rental bidding is banned. A property has to be advertised with a clear asking rent, and you should not be invited or encouraged to outbid anyone.

There are also limits on rent in advance. A landlord or agent cannot require or accept more than one month’s rent before a tenancy begins. A large upfront payment should never be presented as the only route to securing a home.

When you are budgeting, remember the advertised rent is one part of the picture. Ask about the deposit, bills, council tax, broadband, parking and any shared costs before you apply. Students who are all in full-time education are usually exempt from council tax, but a mixed household may not be. Getting this clear at the start avoids a difficult conversation later

The move to periodic tenancies raises a fair question about shared houses: how does a property get ready for a new group each summer?

The Act includes a possession ground, Ground 4A, for qualifying student HMOs. Landlord are able to recover the property so it can be let to the next cohort of full-time students. There are specific conditions that must be met for the ground to be applicable:

• Your landlord must provide you a written statement at the start of the tenancy saying they may use this ground. No statement, no ground.
• You must be given four months’ notice, and that notice has to expire between 1 June and 30 September.
• The ground cannot be used if the tenancy was signed more than six months before you were entitled to move in, unless signed before the 1st May 2026.

That last point is worth pausing on. Brighton student groups often sign in the autumn for the following September. If you sign that far ahead, your landlord loses the use of Ground 4A on that tenancy.

If you are arranging a shared house, ask early. Check if everyone will be a full-time student, whether the property qualifies, whether you have been given the Ground 4A statement, and what date your landlord expects the tenancy to end. 

A periodic tenancy is useful, but it asks more of a group. As above, on a joint tenancy one person’s notice ends it for everyone, so if a housemate is thinking of leaving, a conversation needs to be had with all tenants and the agent before any notice is served. Finding a suitable replacement and agreeing the arrangements is a possible route. Never assume a friend can take over a room without a written agreement — responsibility for the rent and the condition of the property stays with the legally named tenants.

Two things landlords cannot do in regards to pets: require you to take out pet insurance, or charge you a larger deposit because you have a pet. The deposit cap is unchanged at five weeks’ rent for most tenancies. Any genuine pet damage is dealt with from that deposit at the end of the tenancy.

Property standards are the part of the reform still to come. The Decent Homes Standard for private renting and the extension of Awaab’s Law, which sets fixed timescales for dealing with damp, mould and other serious hazards, are not yet in force for the private sector. The government has not confirmed a date that these laws will come into effect.

None of that changes your landlord’s existing repair obligations, and none of it changes the practical advice: report disrepair as soon as you spot it through the appropriate channels. You will need to include the date, a short explanation and clear photographs. Do not wait for a small maintenance issue to escalate into something bigger. Keep copies of your messages and allow reasonable access for inspections and repairs.

A good letting relationship is not about waiting until something goes wrong. At SJ Property Services we would always rather hear about a concern early, whether it is a maintenance issue, a question about a shared tenancy or uncertainty about a document.

Not everything in the Act landed on 1 May. The national database of private landlords and properties begins rolling out from late 2026, and a new PRS Landlord Ombudsman, is expected in 2028. These will give tenants better information before they rent and a free route to redress afterwards.

The Act improves tenants rights; it does not remove the need to read your tenancy agreement.

Before you commit to a property, make sure you know who the named tenants are, the rent due date, the deposit arrangements, what is included and how repairs should be reported. For a group house, agree between yourselves how you will split bills and what happens if someone leaves early.

Keep your own record from day one. Save the inventory, take dated photographs, note the meter readings and report anything inaccurate straight away. These habits are worth the same whether you rent a Kemptown flat, a Hove family home or a student house near Lewes Road.

The Renters’ Rights Act should make renting more predictable, but the best protection is still knowing where you stand before a decision becomes urgent.

Questions about your tenancy? Talk to the SJ Property Services lettings team