Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026: landlord guide

What is the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026?

The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 is an official four-page PDF written by the government. It tells tenants how the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 changed a tenancy that was already running when the new rules started on 1 May 2026. You do not write it or edit it. You give tenants the government’s own document.

People search for it under several names: the tenant information sheet, the government information sheet for tenants, or the renters’ rights information sheet. They are all the same document. GOV.UK first published it on 20 March 2026.

The sheet is a summary. It covers the end of fixed terms, the end of the name ‘assured shorthold tenancy’, the new rent increase process, how a landlord or a tenant can end the tenancy, the right to ask for a pet and a note for students. It says plainly that the new rules apply automatically, even if the tenancy agreement is not updated, and that a landlord cannot put anything into a tenancy agreement to change or disapply them. It also describes itself as a summary only, so it does not replace advice on a particular tenancy. Our guide to what an assured periodic tenancy is explains the change the sheet describes.

Sources: GOV.UK: The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026

Who had to give the tenant information sheet?

Most private landlords and letting agents in England had to give it. GOV.UK says that if a letting agent manages the property for you, the agent must have given the sheet to the tenant. It is still worth asking your agent for proof, because the record you will want later is about your tenancy.

The duty applies where the tenancy is an assured or assured shorthold tenancy that began before 1 May 2026 and has a wholly or partly written record of its terms, such as a written tenancy agreement. A copy must go to every tenant named on the agreement, not just the lead tenant. You do not need to give it to lodgers.

Two groups get something different. If an existing tenancy was agreed only by word of mouth, with nothing in writing, you had to give certain written information about the tenancy by 31 May 2026 instead of the sheet. If the tenancy began on or after 1 May 2026, the sheet is not required: you give written information about the key terms before the tenancy is agreed. See written tenancy terms or the Information Sheet for the difference.

Sources: GOV.UK: The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 · GOV.UK: written information you need to give to your tenant

The 31 May 2026 deadline, and the one exception

The deadline for most tenancies was 31 May 2026, one month after the main reforms started. That date has passed.

There is one group with a later date. If you gave your tenant a valid section 8 or section 21 notice before 1 May 2026, the tenancy may have stayed under the old rules while that notice or the court case ran its course. If the notice is no longer valid, or the court proceedings have ended, and the tenancy has become an assured periodic tenancy, you then have one month from that point to give the Information Sheet.

If you are in that position, work out the exact date the old notice stopped being usable and count one month from there. Our guide to the end of section 21 covers what happened to notices served before the changeover.

Sources: GOV.UK: The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026

How must the information sheet be given?

There are two valid ways. You can print the PDF and post it or hand it to the tenants. Or you can send the PDF itself electronically as an attachment, for example attached to an email or a text message.

Sending a link is not valid. GOV.UK is direct about this: you must not email or text a link to the PDF, because that will not count. If your records show an email that said ‘see the sheet here’ with a web address, that email did not meet the duty, even if the tenant opened the link.

The reason is practical. An attachment or a printed copy puts the document itself in the tenant’s hands on a known date. A link depends on the tenant clicking it, and the page behind it can change. When you look back at what was sent in May, open the email and confirm the PDF file is attached to it.

The government also publishes large print and easy read versions, and Braille on request. If you give a tenant one of these accessible versions, you must also give them the official PDF. The government does not provide the sheet in other languages.

Sources: GOV.UK: The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 · GOV.UK: Information Sheet 2026 alternative formats

Where to download the official Renters’ Rights Act information sheet

Download it free from the Information Sheet page on GOV.UK. The file is called ‘The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026’ and is a four-page PDF of about 282 KB. Nobody should charge you for the document itself.

Use the file from GOV.UK rather than a copy passed on by someone else or retyped into a letter. The duty is to give the official PDF, so a summary in your own words does not replace it. Save a copy of the exact file you sent alongside your proof of sending.

Sources: GOV.UK: The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026

What happens if a landlord missed the deadline?

You could be fined up to £7,000. Fines under the Renters’ Rights Act are civil penalties issued by the local council, and the government’s guidance for councils sets £7,000 as the maximum for this kind of breach. The council decides the amount in each case.

GOV.UK does not describe a way to put a missed deadline right, and it does not say the duty disappears once the date has passed. Giving the sheet now, in one of the two valid ways, means your tenants have the information. It does not change the date it was due. Record the real date you gave it. Never backdate a covering letter or a record.

The duty was easy to get wrong in three ways. Some landlords emailed a link instead of attaching the PDF. Some gave one copy to a household of joint tenants instead of one to each named tenant. And some assumed a letting agent had dealt with it when the agent was only collecting rent and not managing the property. Check your own tenancies against each of these before you decide everything is in order.

First check whether you really missed it. A missing file is not the same as a missed duty. Look for the sent email with its attachment, a certificate of posting, or your agent’s record. If the sheet was late, was sent as a link, or did not reach every named tenant, get advice before you take any other formal step on that tenancy, such as serving a section 8 notice.

Sources: GOV.UK: The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 · GOV.UK: civil penalties under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025

How to record that the information sheet was given

Keep enough to show, tenancy by tenancy, that the official PDF reached each named tenant by a valid method on a known date. GOV.UK does not prescribe a record, so these are practical steps. TenancyDesk includes a free Information Sheet serving log where you can note who was given the sheet, when and how.

• List every tenant named on each tenancy agreement, and tick off each one separately.
• Write down the date the sheet was given and the method: by hand, by post, or as an email or text attachment.
• For email, keep the sent message with the PDF attached, not a screenshot of the subject line.
• For post, keep a certificate of posting. For hand delivery, keep a dated note of who handed it to whom.
• Save the exact PDF file you used with the record.
• If an agent gave it, ask for their evidence and file it with the tenancy.
• If it was late or sent as a link, record what really happened and file the advice you receive.
• Add the sheet to your wider Renters’ Rights Act paperwork checklist so every property is reviewed the same way.

Sources: GOV.UK: The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026

Do new tenancies need the information sheet?

No. The sheet was written for tenancies that existed before 1 May 2026. For a tenancy agreed on or after that date, you must give the tenant written information about the key terms before you sign a tenancy agreement or agree the tenancy. GOV.UK says you could be fined up to £7,000 if you do not.

That written information can sit inside the tenancy agreement or be given as a separate document. If you are letting again, our tenancy agreement template guide explains what a new agreement needs, and the timeline of new landlord rules shows what else is coming.

Sources: GOV.UK: written information you need to give to your tenant

Common questions