Rent in advance and rental bidding: the 2026 rules

Rent in advance: what a landlord can ask for now

The amount of rent in advance a landlord can ask for is now one month at most, and only after the tenancy agreement has been signed. Before both sides sign, GOV.UK says a landlord or letting agent must not accept, ask for or encourage a tenant to pay any rent.

Between signing and the day the tenancy starts, you can ask for the first rent payment. If the rent is paid monthly, that is up to one month’s rent. If the rent is paid on a shorter cycle, such as weekly, it is up to 28 days’ rent. This first payment is the limit, however good the tenant’s reasons for offering more.

The government’s stated aim is to end the practice of landlords demanding large amounts of rent in advance. The rule applies to assured periodic tenancies in the private rented sector in England.

Sources: GOV.UK: rent in advance and deposits (landlord guide) · GOV.UK: rent in advance and deposits (tenant guide) · GOV.UK: guide to the Renters’ Rights Act

Can a landlord ask for 6 months’ rent in advance?

No. Asking for six months’ rent in advance, or three, or two, is prohibited. The most you can request is one month’s rent after the agreement is signed.

A tenant offering does not make it lawful before signing. GOV.UK tells tenants they can still complain to the council if they offered to pay rent in advance and the landlord or agent accepted it. The Renters’ Rights Act wrote this into the Tenant Fees Act 2019: a landlord or agent must not invite or encourage such a payment, accept an offer to make one, or accept the payment itself.

Once the tenancy is running, the position is different in one respect. The government’s guide to the Act says landlords cannot include terms that make rent due before the rent period it relates to, but tenants remain free to pay before the due date if they wish. So you cannot require early payment or write it into the agreement. If you want reassurance about affordability, use referencing and income checks, applied in the same way to every applicant.

Sources: GOV.UK: rent in advance and deposits (tenant guide) · Legislation: Renters’ Rights Act 2025, section 9 (rent in advance before a tenancy) · GOV.UK: guide to the Renters’ Rights Act

Exceptions, and how deposits fit in

There are two exceptions on GOV.UK. You can ask for more than one month’s or 28 days’ rent in advance if the tenancy was arranged by the local council because the tenant was legally homeless, or if the property will be let as social or supported housing.

Deposits are separate from rent in advance and keep their own limits. Before signing you can take a holding deposit of up to one week’s rent to reserve the property while checks are done: see holding deposit rules. The tenancy deposit is capped at five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000 and six weeks’ rent where it is £50,000 or more, and it must go into a government-approved scheme: see tenancy deposit protection.

Label every payment you receive as rent, holding deposit or tenancy deposit, with the date. If a council ever asks what a payment was for, the label and the date against the signing date answer the question.

Sources: GOV.UK: rent in advance and deposits (landlord guide)

Rental bidding: one advertised rent and no offers above it

Rental bidding is banned. A landlord or letting agent cannot ask for, encourage or accept an offer that is higher than the advertised rent. The rent in an advert must be a specific amount. GOV.UK says a price range is not allowed.

A written advert includes an online listing, a printed advert, a social media post and any digital message such as an email, a text or a direct message. A ‘to let’ board outside the property is not a written advert. So if you tell an enquirer the rent by text message, that figure counts.

After advertising you must not publish a range for people to bid within, hint that other applicants have offered more, or behave in a way that suggests a tenant needs to offer more to be chosen. The rules apply to your agent as much as to you, so check how your agent words listings and handles competing applicants.

In practice this makes it unsafe to use phrases such as ‘offers over’, ‘from’ a certain figure or ‘best and final offers’ in a listing, because each invites a tenant to name a higher rent. Do not tell one applicant that another has offered more. Where several people want the same property, choose between them on the criteria you would normally use, such as the results of referencing and when they can move in, at the rent you advertised.

Sources: GOV.UK: rental bidding

Can landlords accept offers above asking rent?

No. You cannot accept an offer above the advertised rent, even where the applicant suggests it without being asked. GOV.UK’s wording covers asking for, encouraging and accepting a higher offer.

The practical answer is to set the asking rent carefully before you advertise, because that figure is your ceiling for the letting. Look at what similar homes nearby are actually let for. Once the tenancy has begun, rent can only go up through the yearly section 13 process: see how much a landlord can increase rent.

A council can investigate a report after the agreement has been signed. GOV.UK says councils can ask for evidence including the original advertised rent, the tenancy agreement and statements. Keep a dated copy of each advert.

Sources: GOV.UK: rental bidding

The ban on discriminating against tenants with children or on benefits

Since 1 May 2026 you must not do anything to make someone less likely to rent your property, or stop them renting it, because they have children or receive benefits. The government’s guidance gives withholding information about a property, stopping someone viewing it and refusing to grant a tenancy as examples. Blanket policies of that kind are unlawful.

You can still check affordability. The guidance says landlords can take a tenant’s income into account when deciding whether the rent is affordable, as long as all forms of income, including benefits and pensions, are counted and treated as equal in value. An income requirement must not be a cover for refusing people on benefits.

There are narrow exceptions. A landlord may restrict children where that is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, for example where a property would be unsafe for children. An insurance contract signed before 1 May 2026 that excludes children or benefit claimants is an exception until it is renewed or ends. Terms in a mortgage or lease that ban tenants with children or on benefits no longer have any effect, so they cannot be used as a reason.

The protection covers both prospective and sitting tenants, and it reaches anyone acting for the landlord. The guidance says a person can be liable whether formally contracted or just a family member acting informally. If a relative handles viewings for you, they need to know these rules as well as you do.

Sources: GOV.UK: rental discrimination under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025

The penalties

These rules are enforced by local councils with civil penalties. The council decides the amount, up to the maximum.

For rent in advance, the Tenant Fees Act 2019 sets the maximum financial penalty for a breach at £5,000, and the council can also require the landlord to repay the prohibited rent to the tenant. For rental bidding and for discrimination, GOV.UK gives £7,000 as the maximum for a first breach.

Sources: Legislation: Tenant Fees Act 2019, section 8 (financial penalties) · GOV.UK: guide to the Renters’ Rights Act · GOV.UK: rental bidding · GOV.UK: rental discrimination under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025

A letting checklist that keeps you inside the rules

Follow the same steps for every letting, and keep the evidence with the tenancy file. If you are new to letting, our how to become a landlord checklist puts these steps in order with the rest.

• Decide one asking rent and state it as a single figure in every advert and message.
• Save a dated copy or screenshot of each advert.
• Remove wording such as ‘no children’ or ‘no benefits’ from adverts, and ask your agent to do the same.
• Apply the same affordability and reference checks to every applicant, counting all lawful income equally.
• If two applicants compete, choose between them on your usual criteria. Do not tell either what the other offered.
• Take no rent until the agreement is signed by both sides. A holding deposit of up to one week’s rent is the most you can take before then.
• After signing, ask for no more than one month’s rent (or 28 days’ rent) before the tenancy starts.
• Give the written information about the key terms before the tenancy is agreed. Our tenancy agreement template guide explains what it must cover.

Sources: GOV.UK: rent in advance and deposits (landlord guide) · GOV.UK: rental bidding · GOV.UK: rental discrimination under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025

Common questions