The Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026 — and with it, a quiet obligation that carries a serious penalty. Every landlord in England must serve the official GOV.UK Information Sheet to all existing tenants by 31 May 2026. Fail to do so and you face a civil penalty of up to £7,000 per tenant.
That's not per property. It's per tenant. If you have a house share with three tenants and you miss the deadline for all of them, you're looking at up to £21,000 in fines before you've done anything else wrong.
Most landlords have heard about this requirement by now. But what most forums and Facebook groups are getting wrong is how you're supposed to serve it. Emailing a link to the GOV.UK page is not valid service. This post walks you through exactly what you need to do — and how to keep proof that actually holds up.
Who Needs to Do This?
This obligation applies to every private landlord in England with tenants on an assured tenancy (including assured shorthold tenancies). If you had tenants in place before 1 May 2026, you must serve them the Information Sheet by 31 May 2026.
Specifically, this applies to you if:
- You let residential property in England (not Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland — they have separate housing legislation)
- Your tenants are on an assured tenancy or assured shorthold tenancy (this covers the vast majority of private lets)
- The tenancy was already in place before 1 May 2026
It does not apply to:
- Lodgers (you live in the same property)
- Social housing tenants (local authority or housing association)
- Licences that aren't tenancies (e.g. some HMO room licences, depending on structure)
- New tenants from 1 May 2026 onward — they should receive the Information Sheet at the start of the tenancy as part of their tenancy pack, but they're covered by a different provision, not the 31 May deadline
If you're unsure whether your arrangement is an assured tenancy, it almost certainly is. The vast majority of private lets in England are ASTs.
The Deadline and the Fine
The key dates and penalties:
- 1 May 2026: The Renters' Rights Act commenced. All new tenants must receive the Information Sheet at the start of their tenancy.
- 31 May 2026: Deadline for serving the Information Sheet to all existing tenants whose tenancies were created before 1 May 2026.
- Up to £7,000: The civil penalty per tenant for failure to comply.
GOV.UK states that local authorities are the enforcement body. They can issue a notice of intent to impose a civil penalty without prior warning — there's no "first offence" leniency written into the Act. The penalty amount is determined by the local authority, up to the £7,000 maximum, taking into account factors like the severity of the breach, the landlord's compliance history, and whether the failure was deliberate.
The Information Sheet itself is published by the government and is titled "The Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026". It must be the exact PDF published on GOV.UK — GOV.UK explicitly states it "must not be changed or altered in any way".
Why Emailing a Link Doesn't Count
This is the detail that catches most landlords out. You can't just email your tenant a link to the GOV.UK page and call it done.
GOV.UK guidance states that the Information Sheet can be served by sending it "as an email or text attachment." The critical word is attachment. The tenant must receive the actual document — the PDF file — not a URL they might or might not click on.
Why does this matter?
- A link is not the document. If the tenant never clicks the link, they never received the Information Sheet. You've sent them a URL, not a document.
- Links break. GOV.UK can change URLs, restructure pages, or update the PDF. If the link stops working a month after you sent it, the tenant has nothing.
- No proof the tenant received the document. Even if the tenant does click the link, you have no way to prove they actually downloaded the PDF. With an email attachment, the document is in their inbox whether they open it or not.
- The Act says "give." The Renters' Rights Act uses the word "give" — the landlord must give the tenant the Information Sheet. Pointing someone to a website is not giving them a document. It's telling them where to find one.
This distinction has been confirmed in landlord forums, by the NRLA, and by GOV.UK's own guidance. If you've already sent a link, you need to re-serve the actual PDF before 31 May.
The 4 Valid Methods of Service
Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, you can serve the Information Sheet to your tenant by any of these methods. What matters is that the tenant receives the actual GOV.UK PDF and that you can prove they received it.
1. Handing It to the Tenant in Person
Print the GOV.UK PDF and hand it directly to the tenant. Ask them to sign and date a simple receipt:
"I, [tenant name], confirm I received the Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet on [date] at [property address]."
Keep the signed receipt. This is the strongest form of proof because the tenant has acknowledged receipt in writing.
Practical tip: If you're doing an inspection or meeting the tenant for any other reason, bring a printed copy and the receipt. Two birds.
2. Posting It
Print the PDF and post it to the tenant at the property address. Use Royal Mail Signed For (recorded delivery) so you have a tracking reference proving the item was delivered.
Keep the Royal Mail tracking receipt and the delivery confirmation. Standard first-class post works legally, but without a tracking reference you can't prove it arrived.
Cost: Around £2.50 for Signed For delivery. A small price for proof.
3. Emailing the PDF as an Attachment
This is the most common method and the one most likely to go wrong. The rules:
- Download the PDF from GOV.UK to your computer
- Attach the PDF to an email — the actual file, not a link
- Send it to the tenant's email address
- Keep a record of the sent email, including the attachment indicator
The problem with doing this manually is that your "proof" is a screenshot of your sent folder. It proves you sent an email with an attachment — but not that the attachment was the correct, unmodified GOV.UK PDF. If you sent the wrong file or an older version, you wouldn't know.
This is where tools like Doorkeep help. Doorkeep fetches the official PDF directly from GOV.UK's servers at the time of sending, attaches it to the email, and logs the send with a record that confirms the GOV.UK PDF was attached. If the fetch fails, the email is blocked — it's never sent without the document.
4. Leaving It at the Property
The Act permits leaving the document "at the dwelling-house" — i.e. posting it through the letterbox or leaving it in a common area. This is the weakest method because you have no way to confirm the tenant picked it up.
If you use this method, take a timestamped photo of the document at the property (showing the address) and keep it on file. It's not as strong as a signed receipt or tracked delivery, but it's better than nothing.
Keeping Proof of Service
Whichever method you use, the proof needs to answer five questions:
- Who did you serve? (Tenant name and email address or postal address)
- What did you serve? (The exact GOV.UK PDF, unmodified)
- When did you serve it? (Date and time)
- How did you serve it? (Email attachment, post, in person, left at property)
- Can you prove the document was attached? (Not just linked)
If a local authority contacts you after the deadline, these are the questions they'll ask. A vague "I think I emailed it" won't cut it. You need records.
Doorkeep creates this evidence trail automatically. Every email sent through Doorkeep is recorded in the Evidence Vault with the recipient, timestamp, delivery method, and confirmation that the GOV.UK PDF was attached. If you served some tenants manually (in person or by post), you can log those in the Evidence Vault too.
The Evidence Vault record for an email service looks like this:
- Document: Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026
- Served to: tenant@example.com
- Method: Email with GOV.UK PDF attached
- Date & time: 15 May 2026, 14:32
- Proof: Sent via Doorkeep — GOV.UK PDF attached, delivery logged
That's the kind of evidence a council enforcement officer wants to see. Not a screenshot of your Gmail sent folder.
Start a Doorkeep trial for 99p and serve every tenant in under 2 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if my tenant doesn't have an email address? Serve them in person (with a signed receipt) or by post (Signed For delivery). In Doorkeep, you can record manual deliveries in the Evidence Vault by selecting "Hand delivered" or "Post" as the service method.
Do I need to serve the Information Sheet to tenants who moved in after 1 May 2026? Yes, but under a different provision. New tenants from 1 May onward must receive it at the start of their tenancy — not by the 31 May deadline. The 31 May deadline only applies to tenancies that existed before 1 May.
What if GOV.UK updates the PDF after I've served it? You may need to re-serve the updated version. GOV.UK hasn't confirmed this yet, but the safest approach is to monitor for changes and re-serve if the document is updated. Doorkeep monitors the GOV.UK PDF and will notify you if it changes.
I already emailed a link — do I need to re-serve? Yes. A link is not the document. You need to serve the actual PDF as an attachment (or by another valid method) before 31 May.
Does this apply in Scotland or Wales? No. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 applies to England only. Scotland and Wales have separate housing legislation.
What if I have a letting agent — is it their responsibility? The obligation is on the landlord, not the agent. Your agent may serve it on your behalf, but if they don't, the fine lands on you. Confirm with your agent that they've served the actual PDF (not a link) and ask for proof of delivery.
The Bottom Line
The deadline is 31 May 2026. The fine is up to £7,000 per tenant. The most common mistake is emailing a link instead of attaching the actual PDF. Don't be that landlord.
Serve the GOV.UK PDF. Keep proof. Move on.
If you want to do it in under 2 minutes with an evidence trail that holds up, start a Doorkeep trial for 99p.
Published 2 May 2026. Based on GOV.UK guidance current at the date of publication. This is informational content, not legal advice. Always check the latest version on GOV.UK.