You Have Two Days Left to Provide Your Tenants with the Renters Rights Act Information Sheet

If you are a landlord in England with an assured or assured shorthold tenancy that began before 1 May 2026 and includes written terms, you now have just two days left to give your tenants the official Renters Rights Act information sheet.

This is not something you can ignore. Failing to provide the information sheet by 31 May, Sunday, can lead to civil penalties of up to £7,000, with fines potentially rising to £40,000 for serious or repeated non-compliance.

Rather than repeating what the Renters Rights Act information sheet is, in this article, we explain which tenancies are affected by the requirement to serve this sheet, who is responsible for serving it, how it must be delivered, and what proof landlords should keep in case compliance is later questioned.

Which Tenancies are Caught by the 31 May Deadline?

The deadline applies to assured and assured shorthold tenancies in England that already existed before 1 May 2026 and have any written record of terms, even if only part of the agreement is written down.

In simpler terms, a tenancy must meet all three of the following conditions for the Renters Rights Act information sheet obligation to apply:

• The tenancy must be an assured tenancy or assured shorthold tenancy
• The tenancy must have existed before 1 May 2026
• The tenancy must have a wholly or partly written record of terms

The third condition is likely to catch the most landlords out. If there is a written tenancy agreement, or even a partial written record covering some of the terms, the information sheet must still be provided. Government guidance also notes that social landlords granting non-social tenancies may fall within the rules.

There is, however, one important exception. If the tenancy is based entirely on a verbal agreement made before 1 May 2026, the information sheet requirement does not apply. Instead, landlords must provide tenants with a Written Statement of Terms setting out the key tenancy terms, again by 31 May 2026. However, according to the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), this situation is expected to affect very few landlords in practice, as most tenancies have at least some written record.

The rules are also different for newer tenancies. Where a tenancy is entered into on or after 1 May 2026, landlords do not use the information sheet at all. Instead, they must provide tenants with the mandatory written statement of terms and other prescribed tenancy information before the tenancy is entered into.

Who Must Deliver the Renters Rights Act Information Sheet?

Who is responsible for delivering the Renters Rights Act information sheet depends on how the tenancy is managed, and in many cases, both landlords and letting agents may have practical obligations.

Where a landlord self-manages the tenancy, the landlord is responsible for providing the information sheet to every tenant named on the tenancy agreement. However, where a letting agent manages the property on the landlord’s behalf, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s statutory guidance states that, “the agent must provide the Information Sheet to the tenant, even if the landlord has also provided it.”

This wording has led to widespread interpretation that landlords and managing agents can hold overlapping responsibilities rather than the obligation transferring entirely from one party to the other. Guidance from local authorities and landlord organisations such as the NRLA has reiterated the same position, with many warning landlords not to rely solely on an agent’s assurance that the sheet has been served.

In other words, both landlords and letting agents should provide the information sheet to the tenants without expecting the other to.

Every tenant named on the tenancy agreement must receive a copy of the information sheet. Whoever serves it should also retain clear evidence of delivery, including the date served, the tenants served, and the method used. This is especially important for landlords and agents managing multiple tenancies, as any civil penalty can apply separately to each tenancy.

How Should the Information Sheet Be Delivered & What Does Not Count?

The information sheet must be provided in its official form as published by the government on GOV.UK on 20 March 2026. It must not be altered, reformatted, or branded in any way. Any changes to the document may mean it is no longer treated as the valid prescribed version.

Valid delivery methods for the information sheet include:

• Printing a hard copy and handing it to the tenant or sending it by post
• Attaching the PDF to an email and sending it to the tenant

The key requirement is that the tenant receives the full document. Simply sending a link to the information sheet, whether by email, text message, or any other channel, is not considered sufficient because it does not amount to providing the document itself.

This position is reflected in government guidance and echoed in industry commentary. A record showing only that a link was sent is unlikely to be accepted as evidence of compliance.

These delivery rules, as with the entirety of this Renters Act, are stricter than many landlords and agents think, and getting them wrong is treated the same as not delivering at all.

What Proof Must You Keep After Delivery of the Information Sheet?

For email delivery, landlords and agents should retain the sent email showing the official PDF attached, together with timestamps and the email addresses of all named tenants. For hard copy delivery, stronger evidence includes a signed tenant acknowledgement, a certificate of posting, or a recorded delivery log.

Sending a link to the information sheet is not sufficient on its own, as it does not demonstrate that the document itself was provided. Email read receipts or open tracking should also not be relied on as standalone proof of compliance.

Where a letting agent is involved, the agent should keep a separate compliance record for each tenancy they manage. This should show the date the information sheet was served, the method of delivery, and confirmation that every named tenant was included. This ensures the agent can evidence compliance independently of the landlord’s records.

Conclusion: The Renters Rights Act Information Sheet is the First Test, Not the Last

The 31 May, Sunday deadline for the Renters Rights Act information sheet is the most immediate compliance obligation under the Renters Rights Act and relative to what follows, it is a straightforward one. Deliver the right document to every named tenant via a valid method and keep the proof. That is the whole process.

What comes behind it is far more complex. The abolition of fixed-term tenancies, the end of Section 21, reformed possession grounds, new rules on rent increases, restrictions on pre-tenancy payments, and the extension of Rent Repayment Orders all carry implications that go well beyond a compliance checklist. Many landlords have not yet worked out what the Act means for their portfolio structure, their tax position, or their letting strategy.

Getting the information sheet out this week is necessary. Understanding the full picture before problems arise is essential.