Week one of the Renters' Rights Act: the five things your agency should have done by now (and how to catch up if you haven't)

It is 5 May 2026. The Renters’ Rights Act Phase 1 came into force four days ago. Some agencies spent months preparing. Others are opening this blog because something has already gone wrong.

Either way, here are the five things that should be done by now, and a quick catch-up fix for each one if they are not.

1. Your existing tenancies have converted to periodic. Check your systems reflect that.

Every Assured Shorthold Tenancy in England automatically became an assured periodic tenancy on 1 May. No paperwork needed. No action from the tenant. It just happened.

The tenancies themselves are fine. The issue is your property management software. If your system tracks tenancy end dates and triggers alerts when a fixed term is about to expire, it may now be showing dozens of tenancies as “expired”, “ended”, or “pending renewal”. None of that is accurate anymore.

Catch-up fix: Log into your property management system today. Check how it is handling the transition. Remove or update any fixed-term end dates that are now irrelevant. If your software has not been updated to account for the RRA, contact the provider. Do not let incorrect system alerts drive decisions about tenancies that are still very much active.

2. The Information Sheet must be served on all existing tenants by 31 May. That is 26 days away.

The government’s Information Sheet is a prescribed document that tells existing tenants about their rights under the new legislation. Every tenant who had a tenancy in place before 1 May must receive it by 31 May 2026.

This is not optional. Failure to serve it carries a penalty of up to £7,000 per tenancy.

If you manage 100 properties, that is 100 documents to serve with proof of delivery. If you manage 500 properties, that is 500.

Catch-up fix: Download the Information Sheet from the government website if you have not already. Set up bulk electronic delivery with read receipts or delivery confirmation. If your system does not support that, use email with a request for acknowledgement, and follow up by post for any tenant who does not respond. Log every delivery with a timestamp. Tools like OdjoAI can automate the bulk serving and track acknowledgements across your entire portfolio, but even a spreadsheet is better than nothing. Start today.

3. New tenancies must include the Written Statement of Terms.

Any tenancy agreement signed from 1 May onwards must be accompanied by the government-prescribed Written Statement of Terms. This is a separate document from the tenancy agreement itself. It summarises the key terms of the tenancy in a standardised format.

If your agency has signed any new tenancies since Thursday without including the Written Statement, those tenancies are non-compliant.

Catch-up fix: If you have already signed tenancies without it, serve the Written Statement retrospectively as soon as possible. It does not fix the initial failure, but it demonstrates good faith if a local authority investigates. For all tenancies going forward, add the Written Statement to your onboarding checklist immediately. Do not sign another tenancy without it.

4. Your entire team needs to know that Section 21 is gone.

This sounds obvious, but it is the one that causes the most real-world damage in the first few weeks.

A landlord calls in and says they want a tenant out. A member of your team, out of habit, mentions Section 21 as an option. The landlord proceeds on that basis. Weeks later, everyone realises it is not possible. The landlord is angry, the tenant is confused, and your agency looks incompetent.

Section 21 notices can no longer be served. Full stop. Any S21 served before 1 May must have court proceedings issued by 31 July 2026, or the notice expires worthless.

Catch-up fix: Send an internal memo today. Brief every team member, from senior negotiators to reception staff. If a landlord asks about eviction, the answer is Section 8, and they should speak to the property management team for guidance on which ground applies. Print a one-page summary of the key Section 8 grounds (Ground 1 for landlord occupation, Ground 1A for sale, Grounds 8/10/11 for rent arrears, Ground 14 for antisocial behaviour) and put it next to every phone in the office.

5. You need a process for tenant pet requests. Now.

From 1 May, tenants can formally request permission to keep a pet. The landlord must respond within 28 days. No response means automatic approval.

If a tenant emailed your office on 1 May with a pet request and nobody has logged it, you are already losing days on the 28-day clock.

Catch-up fix: Set up a pet request process today. Designate who handles them, create a standard information form for tenants to complete (animal type, breed, size, insurance status), and build a tracking log with 28-day deadline alerts. Forward any existing requests to the responsible person immediately. Brief landlords on the new rules now, before the first request reaches them. OdjoAI’s case management can log requests and set deadline reminders automatically, but even a shared spreadsheet works if you act today.

Quick reference checklist

• Periodic tenancy conversion: systems updated?
• Information Sheet: bulk serving started?
• Written Statement: added to new tenancy onboarding?
• Section 21: team briefed it no longer exists?
• Pet requests: process in place with 28-day tracking?

If all five are ticked, you are in good shape. If not, the catch-up fixes above will get you there. None of them take more than a day to implement if you start now.

The agencies that handle this transition smoothly will keep their landlords. The ones that fumble it will start losing them. If you want tools to help manage the transition, visit odjoai.com.