By now, your landlord or letting agent should have dropped the government’s Renters’ Rights Act information sheet through your door (or inbox). The Act came into force on 1 May 2026, and it changes quite a bit about how renting in England works. The leaflet covers the legal side, but what it doesn’t tell you is how any of this plays out when you’re actually trying to move.

So if you’re renting in England and a move is on the cards, let’s go through what’s different now, and how it affects you.

Notice periods on rented properties are now two months

Fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies are gone. All tenancies in the private rented sector, including existing ones, have converted to rolling periodic tenancies, and if you want to leave, two months’ notice is all you need to give. No fixed end date to wait for, no complicated notice clauses to unpick.

Two months sounds like plenty of time, and it can be, but once you’re in it and juggling a big move on top of your daily life, it’ll fly by. Getting removals booked early is the first thing to sort, because slots fill in fast. After that, get a proper declutter in, because the less you’re moving, the quicker and cheaper it’ll be. Then you need to leave plenty of time to pack.

How to plan your move within the 2-month period

In our experience, most people underestimate almost every step. The declutter alone, done properly, takes a weekend. Packing a typical family home, even with good organisation, can easily run to a week of evenings, and that’s before you’ve chased up references for the new place, arranged a meter reading, or worked out what to do with old furniture. Map it backwards from your notice end date and it gets tighter than you’d expect, but two months with a solid plan should be comfortably doable.

And don’t underestimate the end-of-tenancy clean. Too often, people leave it until two days before key handover when energy is at its lowest. That’s when corners get cut and deposits get docked. If you’re concerned about this, our guide to what landlords expect from your end of tenancy clean covers how to go about it in an organised way, and what people most commonly miss.

But what if you are evicted under the new Renters’ Rights Act?

If you’re on the receiving end of a notice rather than giving one, the Act changes your rights significantly. Section 21 no-fault evictions are gone. A private landlord can no longer ask you to leave a privately rented property without a reason backed by legal grounds (for example, selling the property, significant rent arrears, or anti-social behaviour), and they must issue a Section 8 notice citing that.

The notice period for that is normally 4 months, which gives people a lot more time to find a new home and get things in order than before. If you’ve recently moved into somewhere new, there’s also a rule that a landlord can’t seek possession back in the first 12 months of the tenancy, except under specific grounds, giving you some baseline certainty. But if you do receive a Section 8 notice and you want to know where you stand and what to do, homelessness charity Shelter has laid out all of the specifics.

Bridging a gap between properties

One thing that will never change is the struggle to get two tenancies to line up. Whether or not you’re leaving on your terms, there’s often a few days or more where your belongings need to go somewhere while you wait for the new place to be ready. If that’s you, we’ve written a guide to renting a storage unit when moving home, without it being a logistical headache.

A note for landlords planning a move

If you’re a landlord who needs a property back, the end of Section 21 means building your timeline around Section 8 grounds. We recommend reading the GOV.UK overview on the changes under the Renters’ Rights Act for landlords, if you haven’t already.

If you’re coordinating a sale, a refurbishment, or a move-in for yourself or a family member, factor that window in when you’re talking to a removal company about dates. Leaving it until the notice period is nearly up will mean fewer options and more stress on everyone involved.

Don’t leave it all to the last week

Whether you’ve got two months or four, the same principle applies: moving is more manageable when you plan ahead, because trust us, every step of the process takes longer than you think. If something crops up with the new property, you don’t want to be scrambling at the final hour.

But we know things happen to the best of us, so if you’re caught out, we’ve got some rapid-fire tips for packing in a hurry.

We’ve been helping thousands of people in and around Bristol settle into their new homes with confidence for nearly 20 years. If you’ve got a move coming up, get in touch. Our friendly team will talk through what you need and when, and provide you with a free, competitive quote.