With the first phase of the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) now in force since May, there are concerns about websites containing abolished practices. In addition to these digital content concerns, landlords are being warned that they could face penalties if they failed to provide tenants with the Renters’ Rights Act information sheet before the 31 May 2026 deadline which has now passed.
Website concerns
Propertymark has released a call to action which is strongly urging letting agents across England to re-evaluate all of their accessible consumer-facing digital content in order to avoid compliance risks.
It is said to be likely that some landlords still have misinformation from outdated and now abolished practices on their site, including information surrounding Section 21 notices and fixed-term tenancies.
Displaying the correct information is important as inaccuracies can cause confusion among landlords and tenants, which in turn increases the likelihood of complaints or breaches of compliance.
Agents need to complete a thorough audit
Th first step that agents should perform is an in-depth "safety net" check across all communication channels to delete or properly manage redundant webpages, broken links, old guidance notes, and outdated terms and conditions.
The search engine issue
However, removing outdated live pages isn't enough anymore as the information is still discoverable elsewhere, so extra steps need to be taken.
The Landlord Association says that Content Management Systems (CMS) and search engines often continue to cache and index legacy pages and archived PDF files, meaning wrong or misleading information remains publicly accessible.
Information Sheet penalties
Alongside digital compliance, landlords and letting agents were made aware that they must ensure all tenants received the official Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet. This deadline has now passed and those who failed to provide the Sheet may be at risk of fines of up to £7,000.
To ensure landlords are not at risk of this fine, they should have issed the Information Sheet as a physical hard copy or via an electronic attachment (like a PDF via email.) Legal standards say that simply providing a website link to the document does not meet requirements.
Every named tenant must have been sent the information individually. For more details, visit GOV.UK.
