Why your compliance record now matters more than it did before Section 21 was abolished.

Before the Renters' Rights Act 2025, a landlord who wanted to end a tenancy had a straightforward backstop: serve a Section 21 notice, wait two months, and apply to court if the tenant did not leave. The landlord did not need to give a reason, and the court was required to order possession if the notice was valid. Compliance failures — an expired gas safety certificate, an unprotected deposit, a missing How to Rent guide — could block a Section 21 notice, but a landlord who kept those basics in order could end almost any tenancy without difficulty. That backstop is now gone. This article explains why compliance record-keeping has become a core part of how a landlord manages risk under the new system. What changed when Section 21 was abolished The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. From the implementation date, Section 21 no longer exists. Every possession claim must be brought under Section 8, using one of the statutory grounds set out in Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988. (Source: Guide to the Renters' Rights Act, GOV.UK, published 6 November 2025.) This matters for compliance because several of the Section 8 grounds carry conditions that depend on a landlord's record. A landlord who has not met their legal obligations may find that certain grounds are unavailable to them, or that a court exercises its discretion against them. The Private Rented Sector Database and registration The Renters' Rights Act 2025 creates a new national Private Rented Sector Database. Landlords are required to register on this database. Registration is a condition of using certain possession grounds — a landlord who is not registered on the database will be unable to rely on those grounds in court. (Source: Guide to the Renters' Rights Act, GOV.UK.) The database is also intended to give local councils better information to target enforcement activity. A landlord with a history of compliance failures is more likely to attract council attention once their record is visible on a national database than they were when no such record existed. Rent repayment orders A rent repayment order (RRO) is a mechanism by which a tenant — or a local authority — can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a landlord to repay up to 12 months of rent. RROs apply where a landlord has committed one of a specified list of offences, including operating an unlicensed HMO, failing to comply with an improvement notice, and certain other housing offences. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 strengthens rent repayment orders in three ways. It doubles the maximum amount recoverable. It extends RROs to superior landlords, meaning a freeholder or head landlord can be pursued as well as the immediate landlord. And it requires that repeat offenders must repay the maximum amount — the Tribunal loses its discretion to award less where the landlord has previously been subject to an RRO. (Source: Guide to the Renters' Rights Act, GOV.UK.) A landlord who accumulates compliance failures is therefore not just at risk of a one-off penalty. Each failure increases the risk of a subsequent RRO being awarded at the maximum level. The Landlord Ombudsman The Act establishes a new mandatory Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman. All private landlords must join. The Ombudsman provides binding dispute resolution for tenant complaints. (Source: Guide to the Renters' Rights Act, GOV.UK.) Where a complaint reaches the Ombudsman, the landlord's conduct and compliance history will be relevant to the outcome. A landlord who can demonstrate a clear, documented compliance record — certificates in date, deposits protected on time, notices served correctly — is in a substantially better position than one who cannot. Discretionary grounds and judicial scrutiny Some Section 8 grounds are discretionary. This means that even where the ground is technically met, the court can decline to order possession if it considers eviction unreasonable in the circumstances. Under the old system, a landlord who failed on a discretionary ground could fall back on Section 21. That option no longer exists. Courts and tribunals are likely to consider a landlord's overall conduct when exercising discretion. A landlord who has consistently met their legal obligations — gas safety checks done on time, EICR in date, deposit protected within 30 days, How to Rent guide served — presents a different picture to a court than one whose compliance record is patchy. What a compliance record should contain A landlord's compliance record for each property should be able to demonstrate the following at any point in time. A valid Gas Safety Certificate (CP12) issued within the last 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer, with a copy provided to the tenant within 28 days of each annual check. (Source: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, Regulation 36, HSE guidance.) A valid Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) issued within the last five years by a qualified person, with a copy provided to the tenant within 28 days of the inspection. (Source: Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020.) A valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) with a minimum rating of Band E, provided to the tenant free of charge at the start of the tenancy. (Source: MEES Regulations guidance, GOV.UK.) The tenancy deposit protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receipt, with the prescribed information provided to the tenant. (Source: Housing Act 2004; tenancy deposit protection guidance, GOV.UK.) A copy of the current How to Rent guide provided to the tenant at the start of the tenancy or on renewal. (Source: How to Rent guide, DLUHC, October 2023.) Smoke alarms fitted on every floor and a carbon monoxide alarm in every room with a fixed combustion appliance, tested on the first day of the tenancy. (Source: Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022, GOV.UK guidance.) Right to Rent checks carried out for all adult occupants before the tenancy started, with copies of documents retained. (Source: Immigration Act 2014; GOV.UK right to rent guidance.) Why documentation matters as much as compliance It is not enough to have done the right things. A landlord who carried out a gas safety check but cannot produce the certificate, or who protected a deposit but cannot show the date it was protected, is in a weak position if challenged. The compliance record needs to be documented, dated, and retrievable. Under the new system, where every possession claim goes through a court and every dispute may reach the Ombudsman or the Tribunal, the paper trail is the difference between a landlord who can demonstrate they acted correctly and one who cannot. What this means for landlords Section 21 was, for many landlords, a safety net that made compliance failures less consequential. That safety net is gone. Every route to possession now goes through a court, and a landlord's conduct and compliance record are relevant to how that process unfolds. The PRS Database will make compliance history visible to local authorities and, in time, to tenants. Rent repayment orders can now be awarded at double the previous maximum, and repeat offenders face mandatory maximum repayment. The Landlord Ombudsman will adjudicate complaints with binding decisions. Keeping a clear, dated, property-by-property compliance record is no longer just good practice. Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, it is a practical requirement for managing a rental property with confidence. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.