Landlord Responsibilities in England: 2026 Guide

Updated: 4 September 2026

Understanding your landlord responsibilities is essential if you rent out a property in England. Landlords have legal duties covering repairs, property safety, gas and electrical systems, deposits, energy performance and information given to tenants.

The rules also changed substantially on 1 May 2026 when the first major phase of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 came into force in England. Assured shorthold tenancies were replaced by assured periodic tenancies, Section 21 was abolished, and new rules took effect covering rent increases, rental bidding, pets, rent in advance and rental discrimination.

This article covers private renting in England. It should not be treated as a general UK landlord-law guide because different housing systems and requirements apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Landlord Responsibilities in England at a Glance

1. Landlord Responsibilities for Repairs

A landlord cannot transfer their core repair obligations to a tenant simply by putting different wording into a tenancy agreement.

GOV.UK says landlords are responsible for repairs to the property’s structure and exterior, sanitary fittings and associated pipes and drains, heating and hot water, gas appliances and installations for which the landlord is responsible, electrical wiring and damage caused while attempting repairs.

Landlords are also usually responsible for relevant common areas, such as staircases in a block of flats.

Tenants should report problems promptly, but they cannot be forced to undertake repairs that legally belong to the landlord.

This distinction matters when dealing with issues such as broken heating, defective windows, damaged external doors, electrical faults or plumbing problems.

For more detailed property-care advice, internally link this section to RentWizz’s Landlord Maintenance Guide: Essential Property Care.

2. Gas Safety Responsibilities

If gas equipment is provided for tenants, landlords must make sure it is safely installed and maintained.

A Gas Safe registered engineer must carry out the required annual gas safety check on relevant appliances and flues.

New tenants must receive the gas safety record before moving in, while existing tenants must generally receive a copy within 28 days of the check.

Landlords should also keep the required gas-safety records and arrange necessary maintenance and repairs.

Do not allow an unqualified person to undertake work on gas systems.

3. Electrical Safety Responsibilities

Electrical safety goes beyond simply making sure sockets appear to work.

Under the Electrical Safety Standards rules applying in England, electrical installations in rented homes must be inspected and tested by a properly qualified person at least every five years.

The landlord must obtain a report, commonly known as an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR).

A copy must generally be supplied to an existing tenant within 28 days of the inspection and to a new tenant before they occupy the property. Local authorities can also require a copy.

Any remedial work identified by the report should be dealt with in accordance with the applicable electrical-safety requirements.

Landlords must also ensure electrical equipment they supply is safe.

4. Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms

Landlords in England must meet specific alarm requirements.

At least one smoke alarm must be installed on every storey containing a room used as living accommodation.

A carbon monoxide alarm must also be installed in every room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance, with gas cookers excluded from that particular requirement. Examples can include boilers, wood-burning stoves and oil-fired appliances.

The landlord must ensure the prescribed alarms are working on the day a new tenancy begins.

During the tenancy, if the landlord is informed that a required smoke or carbon monoxide alarm is faulty, they are responsible for repairing or replacing it once the fault is established.

Larger HMOs and some converted buildings can have additional fire-safety requirements, so landlords should check the rules applying specifically to their property.

5. Energy Performance Certificates

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) provides information about a property’s energy efficiency.

Landlords are responsible for obtaining and providing the required EPC when letting an applicable property.

Under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards currently applying to relevant domestic private rentals in England and Wales, covered properties normally need either:

an EPC rating of E or above, or
a valid registered exemption.

A property rated F or G that falls within the regulations cannot simply continue to be let without the landlord taking the appropriate steps or registering a valid exemption.

Do not confuse proposed future energy-efficiency standards with the legal standard that actually applies in 2026. Future requirements should be checked against current government guidance before publishing claims that they are already mandatory.

6. Protecting Tenancy Deposits

For an assured periodic tenancy covered by the deposit rules, the landlord or letting agent must protect the tenant’s deposit using a government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme.

The deposit must generally be protected within 30 days of receiving it.

The landlord must also provide the tenant with the required information within that period. This includes information about how the deposit is protected, which scheme holds or protects it, how the tenant can recover it and how disputes are handled.

Current deposit limits also need to be respected.

For most applicable tenancies, the maximum tenancy deposit is five weeks’ rent where annual rent is below £50,000 and six weeks’ rent where annual rent is £50,000 or more. A holding deposit is generally limited to one week’s rent.

Failure to comply with deposit rules can create serious problems for a landlord, including when seeking possession.

7. Right to Rent Checks — England Only

Right to Rent applies in England.

Before an applicable new tenancy begins, landlords must check adults who will use the property as their only or main home.

This can include people aged 18 or over even where they are not named on the written tenancy agreement.

Checks must be applied consistently. Landlords must not check only people they believe are foreign nationals or otherwise make assumptions based on someone’s nationality or appearance.

Depending on the person’s status, the check may be completed digitally, through the Home Office service or using eligible documentation.

Some people have a permanent Right to Rent, while others have a time-limited right requiring appropriate follow-up checks.

The Home Office has also published a revised Right to Rent code scheduled to apply from 1 October 2026, so landlords carrying out checks after that date should use the latest version of the official guidance.

8. Renters’ Rights Act Changes From 1 May 2026

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 fundamentally changed most private assured renting in England.

From 1 May 2026, existing assured shorthold tenancies automatically became assured periodic tenancies.

Landlords can no longer create a new conventional AST for properties falling within the new assured tenancy regime.

Assured periodic tenancies operate on a rolling basis rather than having a fixed end date.

Section 21 was also abolished for these tenancies from 1 May 2026.

If a landlord needs possession, they must rely on an appropriate legal possession ground and follow the correct Section 8 process. Examples can include the landlord genuinely intending to sell, wanting to live in the property, serious rent arrears, breach of the tenancy or antisocial behaviour.

Landlords should therefore stop relying on old AST templates, Section 21 procedures or pre-May 2026 assumptions about fixed tenancy end dates.

9. Written Tenancy Information

The Renters’ Rights reforms introduced important written-information requirements.

For relevant tenancies created on or after 1 May 2026, the landlord must provide specified information about the key terms of the tenancy in writing.

That information must be provided before the tenancy agreement is signed or otherwise agreed.

It can be incorporated into a written tenancy agreement or supplied separately. Failure to comply can result in a civil penalty of up to £7,000.

There were also transitional requirements for tenancies that already existed before 1 May 2026.

Where an existing tenancy already had a written agreement, landlords were required to provide the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 by 31 May 2026.

Where an existing tenancy was only agreed orally, the landlord was required to provide the relevant written information by that date.

10. Rent Increase Rules

For assured periodic tenancies in England, landlords now have a clearer statutory route for increasing rent.

A landlord can generally increase the rent only once a year and cannot increase the rent during the first year of a new tenancy.

The landlord must use Form 4A: Landlord’s notice proposing a new rent and give the tenant at least two months’ notice before the increase is intended to take effect.

The tenant may be able to challenge the proposed amount through the First-tier Tribunal if they believe it exceeds the open-market rent.

Old tenancy wording allowing automatic or more frequent rent rises should therefore not be assumed to override the current statutory procedure.

11. Tenant Requests to Keep Pets

From 1 May 2026, landlords of applicable assured tenancies must properly consider written requests from tenants who want to keep a pet.

The landlord cannot refuse without a fair reason.

Once a request is received, the landlord normally has 28 days to respond in writing.

If more information about the animal is genuinely needed, the landlord can ask for it. Once that information is supplied, additional time may be available under the detailed rules.

If a request is refused, the landlord should explain why.

Reasonable grounds might include circumstances such as a property being unsuitable for a large animal, another occupier having a serious allergy, an animal being illegal to own, or a superior lease genuinely preventing pets.

Simply disliking pets is not normally enough.

12. Rental Discrimination

The 2026 English reforms introduced specific rules concerning rental discrimination against people who have children or receive benefits.

A landlord, letting agent or other person acting on the landlord’s behalf must not make somebody less likely to access or rent an applicable property because of either circumstance.

This can include restricting access to information, refusing viewings or rejecting an applicant for that reason.

For renters receiving benefits, affordability assessments must not simply disregard benefit income because it is benefit income.

Landlords also cannot simply advertise properties as excluding families with children without a legitimate basis allowed under the rules.

Civil penalties can reach £7,000 per offence.

These protections sit alongside existing Equality Act obligations concerning protected characteristics such as disability, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation.

This makes it particularly important to review older property-advert templates and screening criteria.

13. Advertising Rent and Rental Bidding

Rental bidding rules changed substantially on 1 May 2026.

When a landlord or letting agent advertises an applicable rental property in writing, the advert must state a specific amount of rent.

Advertising a range and then inviting applicants to bid is not allowed.

The landlord or agent must also not ask for, encourage or accept an offer above the advertised rental amount.

For example, telling applicants that someone else has offered more in order to encourage a higher bid can breach the rules.

The restriction covers online listings, printed adverts, social media and digital communications such as emails or messages.

A first offence can result in a civil penalty of up to £7,000.

This means RentWizz property adverts should show a clear rental amount and should never encourage “offers over” or rental auctions for properties covered by the rules.

14. Rent in Advance

The Renters’ Rights reforms also introduced restrictions on demanding rent in advance.

Before the tenancy agreement has been signed by both sides, the landlord or letting agent must not ask for, accept or encourage rent in advance.

After the agreement is signed but before the tenancy begins — the pre-tenancy period — a landlord can usually request no more than one month’s rent for a monthly tenancy, or 28 days’ rent for tenancies using shorter rental periods.

There are limited exceptions, including certain arrangements involving councils dealing with homelessness and some social or supported housing.

Once the tenancy has begun, a tenant may voluntarily choose to pay rent early, but the landlord generally cannot contractually require rent to be paid before it falls due.

This is particularly important for landlords who previously requested six or twelve months of rent upfront from applicants with limited credit history or without a guarantor.

Landlord Responsibilities Are More Than Paperwork

Compliance is not simply about having the correct documents.

A landlord is responsible for maintaining a safe property, responding appropriately to repairs, keeping required safety checks current and managing the tenancy according to current law.

Accurate record keeping is increasingly important.

Keep copies of safety reports, deposit information, tenancy documents, repair correspondence, rent notices, pet requests and other significant communications.

England’s private rental framework is also continuing to change.

The government’s implementation roadmap provides for the Private Rented Sector Database to begin rolling out from late 2026. Registration is intended ultimately to become mandatory for private landlords as the regional rollout progresses. The separate Landlord Ombudsman is planned later, with mandatory membership currently expected in 2028.

Do not present those later measures as already applying to every landlord until the relevant implementation stage has actually begun.

Additional Rules for HMOs and Some Properties

This guide covers the main landlord responsibilities affecting typical private rentals in England.

Additional rules may apply where a property is a House in Multiple Occupation, requires local licensing, sits within a selective licensing area, is leasehold, contains particular fire risks or is subject to other local requirements.

Landlords should therefore check both national rules and the requirements of the local authority where the property is located.

Final Thoughts on Landlord Responsibilities

The legal framework for private landlords in England changed significantly in 2026.

Since 1 May 2026, landlords have had to work within the assured periodic tenancy system and comply with new rules covering rental bidding, rent increases, pet requests, discrimination, written tenancy information and rent in advance.

Those reforms sit alongside long-standing landlord responsibilities for repairs, gas and electrical safety, alarms, EPCs and deposit protection.

The safest approach is to treat compliance as an ongoing process rather than something checked only when a new tenant moves in.

Keep documentation up to date, use current government forms and guidance, respond promptly to property problems and review your tenancy and advertising procedures whenever the law changes.

For further RentWizz reading, link this article to Landlord Maintenance Guide: Essential Property Care, Finding the Perfect Tenant: Landlord Screening Guide and the Tenant Rights guide.

This article provides general information about private renting in England and does not constitute legal advice. Housing law is different in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and additional rules may apply depending on the property and tenancy type. Always check current GOV.UK, Home Office, HSE and local-authority guidance for your circumstances.