RRA first weekend tenant survival guide: 5 things you can ignore, 3 you must do (Saturday 2-Sunday 3 May 2026)
The Renters' Rights Act took effect on Friday 1 May 2026. By this morning, your inbox probably has 2-5 letters from your landlord, letting agent, or some insurance pitch. Take a breath. This is the calm tenant triage for the first weekend: 5 things you can safely ignore, 3 things you must do, and the Monday-morning checklist that stops anything from biting you.
Form 4A served on 1 May 2026: the tenant validity-check playbook for the new prescribed rent increase notice
From 1 May 2026, every Section 13 rent increase notice must be on Form 4A — the new prescribed form. The old Form 4 is invalid. Form 4A has 9 mandatory fields, prescribed wording on tenant rights, and a fixed 2-month minimum notice period regardless of payment frequency. Any defect = the notice is invalid and the rent doesn't increase. This is the tenant playbook with a 9-field validity check, three response templates, and the tribunal route.
Section 21 abolished: the tenant's Section 8 grounds decoder for the post-RRA regime (May 2026)
Section 21 ended at 00:01 on 1 May 2026. From now on, every assured tenancy in England can only be ended via Section 8, with a specific ground and supporting evidence. This is the tenant decoder for the 17 grounds: mandatory vs discretionary, new notice periods (2 weeks to 4 months), the GBP 10,000 evidence threshold, the Ground 1A 12-month relet trap, and three response templates for the day a notice arrives.