What must a letting agent website in England show after the Renters' Rights Act in 2026?

Why does the second half of 2026 change what your website has to say?

GOV.UK's overview for landlords sets out what happened on 1 May 2026: all existing assured shorthold tenancies converted to assured periodic tenancies that roll on with no end date, section 21 'no fault' evictions were abolished so possession now needs a section 8 ground, rent increases are limited to once a year using Form 4A with at least two months' notice, tenants gained the right to request a pet that can only be refused for a valid reason, and landlords cannot discriminate against prospective tenants who are on benefits or who have children.

That is a lot of process for a landlord with two flats and a day job. It is also why a meaningful number of self-managing landlords are pricing up full management for the first time, and why landlords already with an agent are checking whether that agent has kept up. Both of those decisions happen on your website before anyone rings the office. Meanwhile, any landlord page still describing how you 'serve a section 21 notice' is describing a route that no longer exists - and a landlord who spots that will assume the rest of your process is equally out of date.

What does the law require a letting agent to publish on its website?

This is the part most agents get wrong, because the duties sit in three different places and only bite on the website. Section 83 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires a letting agent to publish a list of its relevant fees on the agent's website if it has one. The list must describe each fee well enough to understand what it covers, state whether it applies per dwelling or per tenant, and give the amount inclusive of any applicable tax - or, where the amount cannot reasonably be determined in advance, describe how it is calculated. Where you advertise on a third-party site, that site must either carry the fee list or link to the part of your website that does.

The same section requires a statement of whether you are a member of a client money protection scheme, naming the scheme, and a statement that you are a member of a redress scheme, naming that scheme. GOV.UK's client money protection guidance goes further on format: if you hold clients' money you must display your membership certificate in any office where you deal with the public and on your website. Failing to join a scheme carries a penalty of up to £30,000, and failing to display the certificate or provide it on request carries up to £5,000. Redress scheme membership has been mandatory for lettings agency and property management work in England since 1 October 2014, with two approved schemes - The Property Ombudsman and the Property Redress Scheme - and a penalty of up to £5,000 for not belonging to one.

• A fees page that is reachable in one click from the footer and from every landlord and tenant page, not buried in a PDF or a terms document.
• Landlord fees and tenant fees separated clearly, with the tax position stated, so nobody has to work out whether a figure includes VAT.
• Your client money protection certificate displayed as a readable image or document on the site, with the scheme named in text as well.
• Your redress scheme named in text, with a link to the scheme, rather than only a membership logo in the footer.
• The same fee list, or a link to it, wherever you advertise on a portal or third-party site.
• Your ARLA Propertymark, RICS or other membership shown only where it is current, and pointing at the register a landlord can search.

What changed in how a property to let can be advertised?

The advertising rules are the change most likely to be sitting broken on a website right now, because they live in listing templates rather than in policy documents. GOV.UK states that landlords must publish an asking price when advertising, that it is illegal to encourage people to bid and offer to pay higher rent, and that offers above the advertised rent cannot be accepted. A listing that says 'rent on application', 'offers invited' or 'highest offer secures' is no longer a negotiating tactic - it is a compliance problem published under your brand.

The discrimination provisions land in the same place. 'No DSS', 'no benefits', 'professionals only' used as a proxy, and 'not suitable for children' are all wording that a listing template will happily reproduce across every property until someone changes it. Pets need a different fix: because a tenant can now request a pet and be refused only for a valid reason, a blanket 'no pets' line is both inaccurate and a lost enquiry. Replacing it with a short explanation of how a pet request is considered is more honest and converts better.

• Every listing carries a stated monthly rent, and no template field invites offers, bids or 'best and final' amounts.
• Benefits, employment-status-as-proxy and children exclusions removed from listings, tenant criteria pages, application forms and any automated filters.
• 'No pets' replaced with how a pet request is made and considered, and what the landlord may reasonably need to know.
• Up-front costs shown plainly: the holding deposit is capped at one week's rent and the tenancy deposit at five weeks' rent where annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks where it is £50,000 or more, and the rules on rent in advance changed on 1 May 2026 when GOV.UK's Tenant Fees Act guidance was updated.
• Material information handled to the National Trading Standards standard - council tax band, rent, deposit, tenure and availability in Part A, then property type, utilities, parking and room detail in Part B, with Part C items where they apply.
• Listing copy checked against the unfair trading rules, which moved from the 2008 Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 on 6 April 2025.

How should the landlord side of the site win instructions?

A landlord choosing an agent is not comparing photographs of front doors. They are trying to answer three questions: what do you actually do for the money, what happens now that the rules have changed, and how much of this comes off my plate. Most agent websites answer none of them and offer a 'landlords' page that says 'we offer a range of services tailored to your needs'.

• Name the service tiers the way landlords say them - tenant find only, rent collection, fully managed - and put the fee against each one.
• Show what is included and what is extra for each tier: marketing, viewings, referencing, right to rent checks, inventory, deposit registration, statements, arrears chasing, contractor management, and possession work.
• Say plainly what you handle under the current rules: serving the correct notices, Form 4A rent increases once a year, pet requests, repair reporting and the compliance certificates a let needs.
• Add a page for landlords switching agent - what notice they usually need to give, how keys, deposits, statements and tenancy files transfer, and how long a handover takes.
• Publish real local evidence: average time to let in the towns you cover, current portfolio size, and how long your managed landlords stay, only where you can stand behind the numbers.
• Give a compliance overview page rather than a blog archive - certificates, deposit protection, right to rent, and how you track renewal dates - because that is what a nervous self-managing landlord is searching for.

What should the landlord enquiry form ask?

A landlord enquiry is worth far more than a tenant enquiry and deserves its own form. The aim is not a quote from the form - it is enough detail to call back with a real number and to know whether this is one flat or a portfolio worth chasing.

• Name, phone, email and the full property postcode, because fees and demand vary street by street.
• How many properties they own or want managed, which is the single strongest qualifier on the form.
• Property type, number of bedrooms and whether it is furnished, because it changes the achievable rent and the inventory work.
• Current status: empty now, tenanted and self-managed, tenanted with another agent, or being bought.
• Which service they think they want, with a 'not sure - please advise' option that usually converts best.
• Whether the tenancy is an existing one that converted on 1 May 2026, since the handover work is different from a fresh let.
• Which compliance documents are in place - gas safety, EICR, EPC, deposit protection - as a simple checklist rather than an interrogation.
• When they want it let or handed over, and the best time to call.
• A short privacy note explaining how the property address and contact details are used to answer the enquiry.

What should the tenant side of the site do?

The tenant side of a letting agent website is not a marketing channel, it is a workload valve. Every question it fails to answer becomes a call to a negotiator who should be doing viewings. It is also where the fee transparency duties are most visible to a prospective tenant deciding whether you are a serious operation.

• How to apply, what referencing involves, what the holding deposit is and the circumstances in which it is retained or refunded.
• The total up-front cost for a typical let, itemised, so nobody discovers a figure at the point of signing.
• How to report a repair, with an online form, and a separate out-of-hours emergency route that says what counts as an emergency.
• What a rolling assured periodic tenancy means for them in practice, including that a tenant can end the tenancy with two months' notice.
• How a rent increase is handled, since it now happens by Form 4A with at least two months' notice and no more than once a year.
• How to make a pet request, and what the landlord is likely to consider.
• Your complaints procedure and the redress scheme a tenant can escalate to, which you have to name anyway.

What is coming next that the site can get ahead of?

GOV.UK says phase two of the Renters' Rights Act begins from late 2026, with the Private Rented Sector Database rolled out gradually by area rather than as a single national switch-on, and a Private Landlord Ombudsman to follow. Registration will be a new administrative job that lands on landlords, which means it is also a service an agent can sell before anyone else has a page about it.

Do not invent dates or fees for something that has not launched. A short, honest page saying what the database is, that rollout is expected by area from late 2026, that details are still to be confirmed, and that your managed landlords will be handled as part of the service, is enough to catch the searches and to look like the agent who is paying attention. Update it when the detail lands rather than guessing now.

How do you get found for the searches that matter?

Tenant searches mostly end up on the portals. Landlord searches do not - they end up on Google, and they are far more specific: 'letting agent fees in [town]', 'fully managed letting agent [town]', 'switch letting agent', 'do I need a letting agent after the Renters' Rights Act'. Those are the pages worth having, and they are exactly the pages a portal profile cannot give you.

For the local side, Google Business Profile guidance says to set specific, accurate service areas, and a branch with a walk-in office should be listed at its real address with hours that are actually kept. Give each branch its own page with its own team, phone number and covered postcodes rather than cloning a template across thirty town names, and keep the business name, address, phone number and service wording identical across the website, the Google profile and any directory listing.

Which legal and privacy basics should not be missing?

If the agency is a UK limited company, GOV.UK says company websites must show the registered company number, the registered office address, where the company is registered and the fact that it is a limited company. For a letting agent that sits alongside the fees, client money protection and redress statements, and it is quick for an enforcement officer or a cautious landlord to check.

A letting agent site also collects unusually sensitive data: property addresses, tenancy details, referencing information and repair reports that describe someone's home. The ICO says the right to be informed is about giving people clear and concise information about what is done with their personal information, so the privacy notice has to match what the landlord form, the tenant application and the repair form actually collect - not a template written for a shop.

How would LESTO build this for a letting agent?

LESTO would split the site down the middle from the first screen: landlords one way, tenants the other, with the branch phone number and the fees link visible on both. The landlord route would carry the service tiers with fees against them, a compliance overview, and a switching page for landlords leaving another agent. The tenant route would carry applying, up-front costs, repairs and the out-of-hours emergency line. The fees page, client money protection certificate and redress scheme statement would sit one click from every page, and the listing template would be built so that an asking rent is required and bidding, benefits, children and blanket pet wording cannot be reintroduced by accident.

You send LESTO your current website, your fee structure, your client money protection and redress details, the branches and postcodes you cover, and the kind of landlord you want more of. The first draft is free and arrives within 24 hours. If it fits, the UK website is £99 per month ex VAT, with no setup fee, monthly cancellation, and later changes handled by WhatsApp or email - which matters when a rule changes and a line of copy has to be corrected the same day.

The takeaway

Most letting agent websites were written for a market that ended on 1 May 2026. The tenancy they describe no longer exists, the notice they promise landlords cannot be served, and the fees, client money protection certificate and redress scheme that the law says must be on the site are often three clicks deep or missing. Fixing that is not only a compliance job. It is the cheapest instruction-winning work available this year, because every landlord in England is currently re-reading their arrangements and deciding whether their agent is on top of it. Publish the required detail properly, rebuild the listing template, and give landlords a straight answer about what you do for the money.