Renters' Rights Act: How to Write a Compliant Lettings Advert (England)

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 changed what a lettings advert in England can say. Most of the first phase took effect on 1 May 2026, and several of the changes land directly on the advert: the rent you quote, the phrases that used to be routine ("offers invited", "No DSS", "12-month minimum") and what you ask for up front. This guide goes through an advert line by line, with wording you can adapt.

Scope: these rules apply to assured tenancies in the private rented sector in England. Scotland and Wales have their own regimes, and social and supported housing is treated differently. This is general information, not legal advice.

1. One asking rent, stated in the advert

The government's rental bidding guidance says a landlord or agent advertising in writing must include an advertised price, and must not:

• publish a price range for the property;
• publish another advert for the same letting at a higher price;
• invite, encourage or accept an offer above the advertised price;
• tell someone they have received other bids to push them to offer more.

"In writing" is broad. The guidance lists online portal adverts, printed adverts, social media posts, emails, texts, direct messages and handwritten adverts. A "To Let" board outside the property is the one listed exception. So the rent you quote in a WhatsApp reply to an applicant is covered just as much as the Rightmove listing.

Two points that are allowed, per the same guidance: accepting an offer below the advertised rent, and advertising genuinely different offers at different prices (its example is furnished and unfurnished versions of the same flat).

Rewrite these phrases:

• "£1,100–£1,200 pcm" → pick one figure: "£1,150 pcm".
• "Offers invited" / "Offers over £950 pcm" / "Best and final by Friday" → "£950 pcm".
• "From £1,300 pcm" → the actual rent for this property.
• "High demand, multiple applicants, please make your best offer" → delete. Saying a property is popular is not banned, but using other interest to prompt a higher offer is exactly what the guidance describes.

Councils can issue a civil penalty of up to £7,000 for a breach, with a further penalty for a repeat breach within five years. Price it right first time, using comparable lets on the same street or postcode, because you can no longer let applicants push it up.

2. No "No DSS", no "no children" — in any form

From 1 May 2026 landlords and letting agents in England must not discriminate against prospective tenants because they receive benefits or have children. The government's guide to the Act says this covers overt practices such as "No DSS" adverts and less obvious ones. Sections 33 (children) and 34 (benefits) of the Act cover preventing someone from enquiring, getting information about the property, viewing it or taking the tenancy, and applying a "provision, criterion or practice" that makes them less likely to get it.

Phrases to remove from adverts and screening templates:

• "No DSS", "No housing benefit", "No Universal Credit", "Working professionals only".
• "No children", "Not suitable for families", "Adults only", "Ideal for a professional couple — no kids".
• Indirect equivalents: "Must be in full-time employment", or a rule that applicants on benefits need a homeowner guarantor when others don't. The Act targets any "provision, criterion or practice" applied to make claimants or families less likely to get the tenancy, so blanket screening rules like these are a risk even where the advert itself is clean.

There are narrow exceptions. A restriction relating to children can be lawful where the landlord can show it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, and both prohibitions have an exception for certain insurance terms. These are for the landlord to justify case by case; they don't make a blanket "no children" line acceptable.

What you can still do: assess affordability and references for each applicant, and describe the property factually. "Two-bedroom second-floor flat, no lift, no private garden" tells applicants what they need to know without excluding anyone. The government's guide also confirms that landlords can still consider individual circumstances such as overcrowding limits.

For wording around protected characteristics under the Equality Act more generally, see our guide to avoiding discriminatory language in property ads.

3. Drop "12-month minimum" and "fixed term"

Since 1 May 2026, new assured tenancies in England are periodic (rolling). GOV.UK's landlord guidance is blunt: you cannot create an assured tenancy with an end date, and if you try, the end date does not apply. Existing assured shorthold tenancies converted automatically on the same day.

So an advert that promises or demands a "12-month fixed term", "6-month minimum" or "long let only, minimum 2 years" describes something the tenancy cannot legally be. Tenants can end a periodic tenancy with two months' notice. Better wording:

Available 1 November. Periodic (rolling monthly) assured tenancy.

If you want long-staying tenants, say what makes the home suit someone who stays: storage, a second bedroom for working from home, a garden. That attracts them without promising a term you can't enforce.

4. Ask for no more than one month's rent in advance

The government's rent in advance guidance says landlords and agents must not ask for, encourage or accept rent before the tenancy agreement is signed. Between signing and the start date they can ask for the first month's rent (or up to the first 28 days, where rent is paid more often than monthly). Councils can fine up to £5,000 for a breach. Adverts that said "6 months' rent in advance considered" or "students must pay the year up front" need to go.

The deposit caps under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 still apply alongside: a tenancy deposit is capped at five weeks' rent where annual rent is under £50,000 (six weeks at £50,000 or more), and a holding deposit at one week's rent. Quote the actual deposit figure in the advert; it is material information a renter needs.

5. Pets: describe the process, not a blanket ban

Tenants can now ask to keep a pet, and a landlord can only refuse with a valid reason. The roadmap gives landlords an initial 28 days to consider a request. The Act does not, in so many words, ban the phrase "no pets" in an advert, but a blanket ban no longer reflects how a tenancy works, and it puts off applicants who are entitled to ask. A fair, accurate line is:

Pets: requests considered individually.

If there is a real constraint — a head lease that prohibits pets, for example — say so plainly. The government's guide gives a superior landlord's prohibition as a reason a refusal can be reasonable.

Before and after: one advert rewritten

Before (typical pre-2026 wording):

Stunning 2-bed flat, Didsbury. £1,250–£1,350 pcm, offers invited — strong interest, best offers by Monday. Professionals only, no DSS, no children, no pets. 12-month minimum term. 3 months' rent in advance required.

After:

Two-bedroom second-floor flat in Didsbury, five minutes' walk from the Metrolink. Rent £1,300 pcm. Deposit £1,500. Available 1 November, unfurnished. Periodic (rolling monthly) tenancy. Council tax band B; EPC C. Pets: requests considered individually. Gas central heating, allocated parking space, no lift.

The "after" version is shorter, carries more useful facts, and every sentence is checkable. (Figures are illustrative; the deposit shown is within the five-week cap for that rent.)

Lettings advert checklist (England, from 1 May 2026)

• One asking rent, stated in every written advert and message, with no ranges, "from" prices or "offers over".
• No invitation to bid, and no mention of other applicants' offers.
• No "No DSS", "professionals only", "no children" or "not suitable for families", and no screening rule that does the same job.
• No fixed term or minimum term; the tenancy is described as periodic.
• Rent in advance capped at one month, and nothing taken before the agreement is signed.
• Deposit quoted, within the Tenant Fees Act cap.
• Pets described as considered on request, unless there is a genuine documented restriction.
• Material information included: rent, deposit, council tax band, EPC, and anything else a renter would reasonably need (see our material information guide).
• Your screening templates, auto-replies and social posts updated too, not just the portal listing.

Once the terms are right, the description still has to make people want to view. Our guides to writing lettings descriptions and advertising a rental property cover that side. ListSmith's "To Let" mode writes the description, key features, social post and applicant email from the facts you enter, and it doesn't add terms you didn't give it. You still need to check the output against the rules above before you publish. Try it free.

Sources

• MHCLG, Rental bidding: a guide for local authorities and councils
• MHCLG, Guide to the Renters' Rights Act
• MHCLG, Implementing the Renters' Rights Act 2025: our roadmap
• GOV.UK, Renters' Rights Act: an overview for landlords
• Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 34 (legislation.gov.uk)
• GOV.UK, Tenant Fees Act 2019: statutory guidance (as amended by the Renters' Rights Act)
• MHCLG, Asking for rent in advance: guidance for local authorities

This is general information about the rules in England as published by the government, not legal advice. Check the current GOV.UK guidance or take advice for a specific letting.