The Renters' Rights Act and gas safety: what changes, and what the penalties are now

What has the Renters' Rights Act changed so far?

The Act received Royal Assent in October 2025, and the first phase took effect on 1 May 2026: Section 21 is abolished, tenancies are periodic rather than fixed-term assured shorthold, there's an annual cap on rent increases, and rental bidding is banned. The government's roadmap then splits what's left across two more phases: the Private Rented Sector Database rolls out from late 2026, mandatory sign-up to a landlord ombudsman is expected in 2028, and the extension of Awaab's Law and a Decent Homes Standard to private rentals sits in a third phase with no date set. So the Act is not one change on one date; it lands in layers, and the compliance-heavy layers are still coming.

Do gas safety rules change under the Renters' Rights Act?

No, and that is the reassuring part. The annual gas safety check, the tenant's copy, the two-year record-keeping, all still come from the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, enforced by the HSE, exactly as before. You don't need to learn a new set of gas rules. What the Act changes is the context around them: who can investigate, how much a breach can cost, and how visible your compliance record becomes.

What are the penalties for gas safety failures now?

Two separate things, and they get muddled. The penalty for a gas safety failure is what it has always been: a breach of the 1998 regulations is a criminal offence the HSE can prosecute, with an unlimited fine and, in serious cases, imprisonment. The Renters' Rights Act's civil penalties, up to £7,000 for an initial breach and up to £40,000 or criminal prosecution for continuing or repeated ones, are council fines for breaching the Act's own duties: letting without registering on the Private Rented Sector Database, failing to join the ombudsman, the Decent Homes Standard, and rental discrimination or bidding. GOV.UK's guide to the Act does not mention gas safety at all. The connection that matters is indirect. An out-of-date record is a breach whether you forgot or ignored it, the database is expected to hold safety information, and possession now runs on evidenced grounds, so a missed renewal that would once have been an awkward scramble is now a visible mark on a compliance history that councils, tenants' advisers and the courts can all see.

What does losing Section 21 mean for compliance?

With Section 21 gone, you can no longer rely on a no-fault route out of a difficult tenancy. Every possession case now runs on grounds you have to evidence, so your own conduct as a landlord gets examined, and safety obligations are the obvious place a tenant's adviser will look first. Keeping every gas record current, delivered and provable is no longer just about avoiding a fine. It's part of keeping your position clean if a tenancy ever turns into a dispute.

What is the Private Rented Sector Database?

A mandatory register of landlords and properties, rolling out from late 2026, that will hold safety information alongside the basics. The government's roadmap says registration will be compulsory for every private landlord, will carry an annual fee set nearer launch, and will require at minimum each property's address and details plus its gas, electrical and energy performance certificates. The regulations that pin down the exact fields haven't been made yet, so there is nothing to file today. The practical read: if your gas records are already digital, dated and findable, whatever the database ends up requiring will be an afternoon's job. If they're spread across a drawer, a glovebox and an old email account, it won't be, and the deadline for sorting that is now a real one rather than a someday.

What should landlords do now?