The RRA trap: Why decent landlords are about to get a £7,000 wake-up call

Following on from last week’s theory about the purging of small landlords from the private rented sector (PRS), here comes the first trap.

It’s obvious that many landlords don’t engage closely with the sector since best estimates put the number of private landlords in England at around 2.6 million, but a significant chunk will not have heard of the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA).

Just this week, Property118 reported that only 153,000 downloads of the RRA Information Sheet had been made with nine days left.

To underpin this, my oldest friend has several flats, and he looked at me askance last week when I raised some of the changes that are now law.

The rent money lands every month, he is known as a good landlord, but I fear that he, and many other decent landlords, are in for a huge shock.

Information Sheet deadline

Landlords must provide all tenants named on a written tenancy with a copy of the government-produced Information Sheet by 31 May – that’s this Sunday.

Miss that deadline and the usual fine is £4,000, rising to a maximum of £7,000 depending on aggravating factors.

But let’s face it, there’s no chance a council will miss this opportunity to open our wallets.

It gets considerably worse: if the breach continues beyond 28 days, or if a landlord commits a second offence within five years, penalties can reach £40,000.

That’s simply ludicrous, but it tells us three things: the government, both Labour and Conservative, has never really liked landlords; neither party has ever genuinely understood the private rented sector or shown any appetite to; and millions of landlords are about to receive their first RRA spanking with a fine for not telling tenants they are now, effectively, in charge.

The RRA is a missed opportunity to truly level the playing field.

As usual, things have gone off half-cocked.

If landlords can accept that there are bad apples in our ranks, and most of us can, then surely everyone can accept that there are bad tenants too?

Non-payers, late payers, tenants wrecking properties and simply walking away. But we can’t say that out loud, can we?

More rules and regs

It is estimated that there are already more than 170 rules and regulations applying to the private rented sector: Gas Safe certificates, electrical inspections, deposit schemes, licensing, EPC requirements, and yet the political conversation treats landlords as if they operate in a regulatory (and moral) vacuum.

If you are a landlord reading this column because you have searched Google for something like ‘fine for not giving Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet’ then welcome.

You are probably bewildered at being threatened with a fine for not handing over a piece of paper.

I have this to say to you: I am sorry. Sorry you are a landlord.

Sorry you were just getting on with your life and providing a quality home.

I’m sorry your career, your family, your actual existence distracted you from the relentless tide of legislation.

You must now appreciate that keeping your head down and just getting on with it means you are late to the party.

To bring you up to date: We have been royally turned over, and no one in Westminster cares.

We can’t manage tenant risk

The loss of Section 21, which I will wager you will have never used, the move to periodic tenancies, two months’ notice required from day one and near-impossible possession grounds grinding through overwhelmed courts: these aren’t minor tweaks.

They are a structural dismantling of the small landlord’s ability to manage tenant risk.

And the fines are absurdly disproportionate to reality.

Up to £7,000, that’s PER PROPERTY, for not posting or emailing a PDF?

If you own several properties and missed the memo, the maths gets very quickly brutal.

If you don’t know where to look for the tenant’s Information Sheet, then it’s on the .Gov website.

No one likes landlords

Obviously, no one is making the case for the decent majority of landlords.

No one in power is interested in the landlord who keeps the boiler running, accepts the occasional late payment and has never seen the inside of a courtroom.

The system is now designed around the bad actor, and the rest of us have become unimaginable collateral damage.

You are not a villain.

You are just a person who bought a property, gave someone a home, and hoped to bolster their pension in the process.

Unfortunately, in 2026, that’s akin to being the country’s current pantomime villain.

Until next time,

The Landlord Crusader