The Renters' Rights Act has passed into law, with its core provisions taking effect from May 2026. If you rent privately in Kingston upon Thames — and tens of thousands of households do — this changes the legal ground beneath your feet in ways that are genuinely significant.
This is not a minor tweak to the rulebook. It abolishes a mechanism landlords have used for decades to end tenancies without giving a reason. It changes how your tenancy works from day one. And it gives you new tools to challenge rent increases you believe are unfair.
Here is what you need to know, in plain language.
The old position: Under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, a landlord could serve you a two-month notice to leave your home without having to give any reason at all. No rent arrears required. No breach of tenancy required. You could be a model tenant of ten years and still receive a Section 21 notice.
The new position: Section 21 is abolished. From May 2026, your landlord cannot evict you without a legal reason — what the law calls a 'ground for possession.'
Landlords still have legitimate grounds to regain their property. If you fall into serious rent arrears, they can pursue that. If they are genuinely selling the property or moving a close family member in, those are permitted grounds. But they must state that reason, and in most cases they must go through the courts to enforce it.
This matters enormously in a borough like Kingston, where private rents are high and the fear of a retaliatory Section 21 notice — served after a tenant complains about disrepair, for instance — has historically kept many renters silent.
The old position: Most private renters in England signed an Assured Shorthold Tenancy with a fixed term — typically six or twelve months. At the end of that fixed term, the tenancy either rolled into a periodic tenancy or was renewed.
The new position: Fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies are abolished for new tenancies from May 2026. All new private tenancies will be periodic from the start — meaning they roll on a month-by-month basis with no fixed end date.
For existing tenancies, the government has confirmed a transition period, but the direction of travel is clear: your tenancy continues until you choose to leave or until your landlord successfully relies on a legal ground for possession.
This is more security for tenants. It also means that renewing your tenancy agreement every twelve months — with the associated fees and anxiety about whether the landlord will offer renewal — should become a thing of the past.
The Act does not cap rents. Landlords can still increase rents. But the process for doing so has been tightened, and your rights to challenge an increase have been strengthened.
What landlords must now do: A landlord can only increase your rent once per year, and must give you at least two months' written notice using a specific legal form. They cannot insert rent-review clauses into tenancy agreements that allow increases on different terms.
What you can now do: If you believe a proposed rent increase is above the market rate for similar properties in your area, you can refer it to the First-tier Tribunal (the body formerly known as a Rent Assessment Committee) for an independent determination. Crucially, the Act removes a previous disincentive — the risk that the tribunal could set your rent higher than what the landlord asked for. That risk is gone.
This is a meaningful protection. It does not mean rents in Kingston will fall. Kingston remains one of the more expensive boroughs in outer London. But it does mean a landlord cannot simply announce a rent rise of 30% and expect you to accept it or leave quietly.
For the first time, private rented properties in England will be required to meet a Decent Homes Standard — the same baseline that has applied to social housing for years. This covers the condition of the property, heating, and freedom from serious hazards.
This is where Kingston Council's enforcement role becomes directly relevant to you.
Local councils are the enforcement body for most of the Act's provisions at street level. Kingston Council's Housing team has responsibilities including:
The question residents should be asking: Does Kingston Council have sufficient enforcement capacity to handle an increased caseload as more tenants feel empowered to make complaints? Enforcement requires officers, time, and money. The council is projecting an £18 million budget gap over its Medium Term Financial Strategy to 2030. Residents have every right to ask which services that gap will squeeze.
Council tax has risen to £2,608.12 per year for a Band D household in 2026/27 — up £119.77 on last year. Some of that money funds housing enforcement. The question is whether it funds enough of it.
With full council elections taking place on 7 May 2026, candidates across all 19 wards and all 48 seats will be seeking votes from renters. Kingston has a significant private rented sector. How councillors — incumbent and new — prioritise housing enforcement is a legitimate question to put to every one of them.
Check your tenancy type. If you signed your tenancy before May 2026, you are likely still on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy during a transition period. Note when your fixed term ends and keep records of all correspondence with your landlord.
Keep written records. Emails and texts now. For everything. If your boiler breaks, report it in writing. If your landlord proposes a rent increase, ask for it in writing.
Know who to call. Kingston Council's housing team can investigate serious disrepair. Shelter's free helpline (0808 800 4444) handles urgent housing problems. The First-tier Tribunal handles rent challenges.
Do not assume your landlord knows the new rules. Some will not. If you receive what looks like a Section 21 notice after May 2026, take legal advice immediately — it may well be unlawful.
The Renters' Rights Act creates rights on paper. Whether those rights are enforced in practice in Kingston depends partly on political will and partly on resources — and both of those things are determined by the people you elect.
If you are a private renter in Kingston, you deserve to know how your councillors plan to resource housing enforcement, whether the council will establish proactive inspection programmes rather than waiting for complaints, and how they will publicise these new rights to the many residents who will not read government press releases.
Use Council Clarity to send a message directly to your local councillors and ask them these questions. It takes two minutes, it goes on the record, and it is exactly the kind of pressure that produces real answers. Your tenancy security may depend on the answers.
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