Guides

Renters' Rights Act advert wording for letting agents

Stating the rent, the ban on inviting higher offers, and the phrases about children and benefits that became unlawful on 1 May 2026, with the penalties.

8 min readLast verified: 2026-09-02

Renters' Rights Act advert wording for letting agents

Since 1 May 2026 a written advert for an assured tenancy in England and Wales must state a proposed rent, and the landlord or agent must not invite, encourage or accept an offer above it. Wording that discourages families with children or benefit claimants is separately unlawful. Both sit in the Renters' Rights Act 2025, sections 33 to 35 and section 56, brought into force by regulation 3 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026. A local housing authority can impose a penalty of up to 7,000 pounds for each breach.

What changed for rental adverts on 1 May 2026?

Chapter 3 and Chapter 6 of Part 1 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 both commenced on 1 May 2026. Chapter 6 is short, 2 sections, and it does something the private rented sector had never had: it makes the advertised rent a ceiling rather than an opening position. Chapter 3 is longer and covers rental discrimination, including terms buried in superior leases, mortgages and insurance policies, which are rendered ineffective rather than merely unenforceable.

Neither chapter is a code of practice. They create civil breaches enforced by local housing authorities on the balance of probabilities, with penalties of up to 7,000 pounds under section 40 for discrimination and section 57 for rental bidding, and a further penalty available where the same subsection is breached again within 5 years. There is no warning stage written into the Act.

The scope is narrower than the headlines suggest. Chapter 6 applies to England and Wales and bites on lettings that may give rise to an assured tenancy under the Housing Act 1988, excluding social housing and supported accommodation. A relevant person is the prospective landlord or anyone acting directly or indirectly on their behalf, which is the agent, the negotiator and, on the government's reading, a family member helping informally.

Do you have to publish an asking rent?

Yes, in any written advert or written offer of the letting. Section 56 provides that a relevant person must not advertise in writing, or otherwise offer in writing, the proposed letting unless a specific rent amount exists and the advertisement or offer states it. The single exception is a sign at the property indicating it is available to let, so a board can stay silent on price and a portal listing cannot.

That closes the door on the qualifiers agents used to reach for. No rent on application, no offers invited, no guide rent, no range from one figure to another. Rightmove had already removed price on application and similar qualifiers from new listings added since 1 July 2022 as a commercial rule. Section 56 makes the same thing a legal duty for lettings, and it applies to your own website and your printed particulars as much as to the portal.

What counts as inviting or encouraging a higher offer?

The government guidance for local authorities, published on 13 November 2025, is more specific than the Act and it is the document an enforcement officer will be working from. Landlords and agents must not invite, encourage or accept a higher offer, must not tell someone other bids have been received in order to draw a higher one, and must not act in any way that leads a person to believe they need to bid above the advertised price.

The examples given are the practices that were normal in a hot market. Running a group chat that asks prospective tenants to make offers starting at the advertised rent. Saying that best and final offers above the advertised figure will be considered. Ringing an applicant after their application to ask whether they would like to increase it. Accepting an unsolicited offer above the advertised rent, which is a breach even though you did nothing to invite it. Inviting several people to view at the same time and then asking for competitive offers falls in the same category.

Block viewings themselves are not banned. The prohibition attaches to what is said and accepted, so the workable version is a scheduled open viewing where nobody is told about the level of interest and every application is taken at the advertised rent. If demand is genuinely above the price, the answer is to advertise a different price next time rather than to run an auction on this one.

Which words about children and benefits are now unlawful?

Section 33 prohibits preventing a person, on the basis that a child would or may live with or visit them, from enquiring about availability, accessing information, viewing, or entering into a tenancy. It also prohibits applying a provision, criterion or practice designed to make such people less likely to take the tenancy. Section 34 does the same for benefits status. Section 35 voids discriminatory terms in the tenancy itself.

Wording to removeWhy it failsWhat to write instead
No DSS, no housing benefit, working tenants onlySection 34, applying a practice that makes benefit claimants less likely to letNothing. Apply the same income test to every applicant and every form of income
No children, suitable for professionals only, adults onlySection 33, preventing enquiry or viewing on the basis of a childDescribe the property. 1 bedroom on a third floor describes itself
Rent on application, offers overSection 56, no stated rentThe proposed monthly rent as a figure
Best and final offers invitedSection 56(3), inviting an offer above the stated rentApplications accepted at the advertised rent until a stated closing time
Landlord's insurance excludes childrenIneffective from 1 May 2026 unless the policy genuinely contains itCheck the policy. Section 38 strips the term at renewal

2 exceptions exist and they are narrower than they look. Conduct relating to children can be defended as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, which the guidance illustrates with retirement housing, student accommodation and genuine safety grounds. That defence is not available for benefits status at all. A landlord may also rely on an insurance term that genuinely restricts children until the policy renews.

What remains lawful is the ordinary business of referencing. You can assess affordability, set an income requirement, and ask for a guarantor, provided you set the same requirement for every applicant and treat every form of income equally, including benefit income. Websites that only host adverts are outside the restrictions, so the duty falls on you rather than on the portal.

What does a compliant advert look like in practice?

Start with a rent figure and keep it in one place. State it per calendar month, state the deposit, and if the property is offered with a rent free period, show the full monthly rent with the offer explained in the body text rather than an averaged headline. That is a Rightmove requirement on Primary Authority advice as well as the honest reading of section 56.

Strip the eligibility language out of every template you own, including the branch window card, the automated response your CRM sends to applicants, and the wording in the Tenancy Info field. The Act catches the agent as a relevant person, so a negotiator's email saying the landlord would prefer no children is a breach even when the portal listing is clean. The broader rules on how a description is written are in property description rules for UK estate agents, and the field by field list is in what must be included in a UK property listing in 2026.

Keep a note of the advertised rent, the date it was set, and the landlord's written instruction to set it. If a landlord later asks you to take a higher offer, the note is what shows you declined.

Paste the listing, get the whole kit

Throw in whatever you already have, the text and the photographs, exactly as they are. A full marketing kit comes back formatted for Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket, screened against the material information fields, in under two hours. The first one is free.

Get your first kit free

Frequently asked questions

Can a tenant still offer more than the advertised rent by themselves?

They can offer. You cannot accept. Section 56(3) prohibits accepting an offer above the stated rent, and the government guidance lists accepting an unsolicited higher offer as a breach in its own right. The offer being volunteered is not a defence.

Does the rent bidding ban apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Chapter 6 extends to England and Wales and works through assured tenancies under the Housing Act 1988. Scotland has its own rental market rules and its own commencement instrument for the discrimination provisions, and Northern Ireland sits outside this Act's tenancy provisions. Check the local position before reusing English templates.

Can we still ask for 6 months rent in advance?

Rent in advance is restricted separately, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published guidance for local authorities on asking for rent in advance on 8 May 2026. Treat a large advance demand as a practice that has to survive section 34 as well, because requiring it of benefit claimants only is precisely the pattern the section targets.

Who enforces this, and how would they find out?

Local housing authorities, in their own areas, and a council that is not a housing authority may also enforce. In practice the evidence is a screenshot of your listing, an email from a negotiator, or a tenant's account of a phone call. All 3 are easy to obtain and none of them require an inspection.

Sources

Last verified: 2026-09-02