Two updated Home Office codes of practice for Right to Rent checks came into force in England on 1 October 2026. One is the seventh version of the code for the scheme itself, issued under section 32 of the Immigration Act 2014. The other is an updated code on avoiding unlawful discrimination when carrying out checks, issued under section 33. A landlord's guide to Right to Rent checks, dated 1 October 2026, sets out the detail. The scheme applies in England only.
Checking digitally is optional, and there are two digital routes. One is a Digital Verification Service Provider (DVSP): if you choose to use one, it must be on the government register. A DVSP can check valid British or Irish passports, or Irish passport cards, including ones up to 6 months past their expiry date. If an app or service does your checks, confirm the provider is registered before the next one. The other is the Home Office online check below, a separate route that does not use a DVSP.
Tenants with an eVisa prove their status with a share code. You enter it, with the tenant's date of birth, on the Home Office service "Check a tenant's right to rent in England: use their share code"; the code is valid for 90 days. Where you do that online check, you do not need to see the documents on the acceptable lists. The 1 October 2026 guide reflects the move away from visa vignettes from 1 July 2026 and the wider use of eVisas.
For manual checks, the acceptable document lists, List A and List B, can now include the authoritatively digitally issued version of a document, where one exists. Our Right to Rent checks guide sets out the steps.
The penalties are not new. For breaches on or after 13 February 2024, a civil penalty can be up to £10,000 per occupier for a first breach and up to £20,000 per occupier for a repeat breach, with lower maximums for lodgers. What changed on 1 October 2026 is how checks are carried out, not the penalty.
ONS published Private rent and house prices, UK at 9:30am on Wednesday 21 October 2026, and HM Land Registry published the UK House Price Index for August 2026 the same day.
The private rent figures in this edition are the ONS figures to September 2026, published 21 October 2026: the UK average was £1,406 a month.
The house price figures in this edition are HM Land Registry's to August 2026.
UK HPI estimates for recent months are provisional and are revised as more transactions register.
The UK average house price reached £273,037 in August 2026, a rise of 0.3% month-on-month, according to HM Land Registry (UK House Price Index). That is up £891 from July's £272,146 (UKPP calculation from HM Land Registry data). On a twelve-month view, prices grew 0.9% from August 2025 — slower than the 1.2% annual growth reported for July 2026. HPI estimates for recent months are provisional and are revised as more transactions register.
For the property you already own, this movement is your equity position, not a market signal. A 0.9% annual gain preserves value in real terms for many owners, but the direction — annual growth easing from 1.2% to 0.9% month to month — is what matters at your next remortgage, when your lender will revalue the property and recalculate your loan-to-value. A lower or flat valuation can push you into a higher LTV band and a less competitive rate; a rising valuation does the opposite.
The Bank Rate stands at 3.75%, as of 22 October 2026. The Bank of England monthly average mortgage rates for September 2026 show a two-year fix at 5.13% and a five-year fix at 4.98%. The five-year fix is currently the cheaper of the two, by 0.15 percentage points (15 basis points) — a UKPP calculation from Bank of England data. The average variable rate for September 2026 stands at 6.58%, which is 1.60 percentage points (160 basis points) above the five-year fix and 1.45 percentage points (145 basis points) above the two-year fix (UKPP calculations from Bank of England data). These are monthly averages, not today's live market quotes.
If your current fix is coming to an end, the gap between the average variable rate and either fix illustrates the cost of doing nothing. On your own outstanding balance, rolling onto the average variable rate rather than a new fix adds a material amount each month. The five-year fix locks in your rate for the full five-year term, which removes uncertainty if Bank Rate moves again. SONIA stands at 3.734%, as of 21 October 2026 — that is the overnight rate the market is actually clearing at, and it sits close to the Bank Rate, suggesting the market is not pricing in an immediate sharp move in either direction.
Among English regions in August 2026, the North East recorded the strongest annual growth at 3.2%, with an average price of £165,640. The North West followed at 2.2% (average £220,393) and the West Midlands at 2.0% (average £236,039). Yorkshire and The Humber grew 1.8% annually (average £209,266), the East Midlands 0.5% (average £241,955), and the East of England 0.2% (average £337,848). The South West was flat year-on-year at 0.0% (average £304,139). London fell 2.2% on the year (average £554,430) and the South East fell 0.8% (average £379,953). All figures are from HM Land Registry (UK House Price Index) and are provisional.
If you own in London or the South East, a year-on-year fall in average prices is a change in your equity, and it is what a lender will look at when they revalue at remortgage. It does not mean your specific property has fallen by that amount — valuations vary by street and property type — but the regional trend sets the context. If you own in a northern English region, the annual growth in average prices has moved in your favour on the equity calculation. Wales reported 3.1% annual growth (average £216,363) and Scotland 2.9% (average £198,397). Northern Ireland's figure is a quarterly series, not a monthly one, and is not comparable to the monthly regional readings above.
No planning or housing-supply figures are available in the verified data this edition. This section draws only from sourced facts — no housing-target or planning-reform statistics are in the data for this cycle, so there is nothing to cite.
To check what is happening with local stock and planning activity in your area, your local planning authority's website publishes live applications, decisions and local plan updates. That is the most reliable place to see whether new supply is coming to your specific market.
Two obligations are in force now. The Renters' Rights Act took effect on 1 May 2026, abolishing Section 21 and converting all assured tenancies to periodic tenancies. Section 13 is now the only route to raise rent, and it requires at least two months' notice on Form 4A — getting the form or the notice period wrong produces no increase at all, not a smaller one. Every new tenancy requires a written statement of terms before the tenancy is entered into; there is no grace period on an ordinary new letting (Housing Act 1988, section 16D(4), as inserted). Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is also in force for landlords whose gross rental income — before expenses — exceeds £50,000 from 6 April 2026. That threshold drops to £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and to £20,000 from 6 April 2028; property and self-employment income count together. There are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline in the 2026-27 tax year, but the framework is live for those above £50,000 now. You can read more at /compliance/making-tax-digital-landlords.
Two obligations are proposed and not yet in force. First, the PRS Database: under the draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026, which are laid before Parliament and awaiting approval, registration is proposed to open in the West Midlands on 15 December 2026, with further regions following monthly across nine regions in total, to a proposed final deadline of 14 November 2027. The fee is proposed at £65 per property per year, determined by the Database operator by reference to its relevant costs (section 81(2)(b) of the Act), not set by the regulations themselves. Under the draft regulations, a landlord who had not registered would not be able to obtain a possession order on most grounds once the registration duty is in force — ground 7A and ground 14 (anti-social behaviour) would remain available, but rent arrears, selling and moving-in grounds would not. The proposed penalty tiers run up to £7,000 for an initial breach such as failing to register, rising to £40,000 — or criminal prosecution — for continuing or repeated breaches; GOV.UK has not yet published starting points for database offences. The schedule runs by region, not by local authority, so no per-authority date exists. Read the full picture at /compliance/prs-database-registration.
Second, the EPC C by 2030 standard: the government's confirmed proposal is that all private lets must meet EPC C equivalent by 1 October 2030 under a new dual-metric standard — a fabric performance metric first, then either the smart readiness metric or the heating system metric. This is not yet law. A property scoring C or above on the current Energy Efficiency Rating before 1 October 2029 would, under the proposal, stay compliant until that EPC expires; a qualifying certificate registered in 2028 could carry compliance beyond 2030, deferring but not removing the obligation. Importantly, a property at C on today's certificate is not automatically compliant under the proposed 2030 standard, because the new methodology — provisionally the Home Energy Model, still subject to consultation — weights fabric differently from today's SAP rating. The proposed maximum penalty under the amended PRS Regulations is £30,000 per property per breach; this is a different regime from the £40,000 maximum for offences under section 249A of the Housing Act 2004 and section 23 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, which a statutory instrument raises from £30,000 to £40,000 from 1 May 2026. The government's central cost estimate for the EPC upgrade is £5,400 average spend per property — an average across around three million very different buildings, not a quote for any specific property. Qualifying spend on relevant improvements proposed to count towards the £10,000 cost cap from 1 October 2025, so work done now is already on the proposed clock. See /compliance/epc-c-2030 for the full detail.
The UK average monthly private rent reached £1,406 in September 2026, up 3.8% on September 2025, according to ONS (Price Index of Private Rents). That is up £6 from £1,400 in August 2026 (UKPP calculation from ONS data). England's average stood at £1,466 a month, growing 4.0% on the year.
Among English regions, the picture varies considerably. The North West led with annual growth of 5.7%, and the North East was close behind at 5.3%. At the other end of the English range, London and the South East both grew at 3.5% — meaning the North West's rental growth is running notably ahead of London's and the South East's, though the actual rent levels remain higher in London at £2,338 a month. Yorkshire and The Humber grew 4.8% on the year, the West Midlands 4.4%, the South West 4.2%, Wales 4.1%, the East Midlands 3.8%, and the East of England 3.8%. Scotland's annual growth stood at 0.7%, well below the pace recorded in any English region. Northern Ireland's rent figure is not published for this period.
These ONS figures are useful context when you are thinking about whether your current rent is in line with your local market. GOV.UK says details from actual market rental agreements are usually stronger evidence for a Section 13 tribunal than housing association rents, previous fair rent decisions, or local housing allowance rates, and that evidence from actual agreed lettings (rental agreements) is stronger than information from letting agents or portal listings such as Rightmove and Zoopla, which can help. For your area's published figures, see /rent-guides; for the Section 13 process, see /compliance/section-13-rent-increases.
First, your rent against the local market. If your rent has not been reviewed for over a year, the ONS figures in Rental Intelligence give you a regional benchmark. Your own local market may differ — the rent guides at /rent-guides carry figures by area — but even checking whether your rent is broadly in line with the regional average is a useful starting point. A Section 13 notice needs to be right first time: two months' notice minimum, on Form 4A, and only once in any twelve-month period.
Second, your fix. The Bank of England monthly average five-year fix for September 2026 sits at 4.98%, below the two-year fix at 5.13%. If your current deal is expiring, the five-year fix is currently the cheaper of the two average products and locks in your rate for the full five-year term — worth weighing against the average variable rate of 6.58%, which is 1.60 percentage points higher than the five-year fix (UKPP calculation from Bank of England data).
Third, your EPC position. Under the government's confirmed proposal — not yet law — any property achieving a C or above on the current rating before 1 October 2029 would have its compliance deferred until that certificate expires. A qualifying certificate registered in 2028 could carry beyond 2030, but it defers the obligation, it does not remove it. The 2030 standard is proposed as a dual-metric one, so today's certificate rating alone does not confirm you would be compliant under the new methodology. Acting early on fabric improvements — insulation in particular — is worth considering because the proposed cost cap's ten-year window is already running from 1 October 2025 under the draft framework: work done now is proposed to count towards the £10,000 cap.
1. Check your Right to Rent provider. If you use a Digital Verification Service Provider for tenant document checks, confirm it is on the government register before your next letting. Two updated codes of practice have been in force in England since 1 October 2026. If you let to eVisa holders, use the Home Office share-code service — you do not need to see the acceptable document lists when you do so.
2. Check whether Making Tax Digital applies to you now. If your gross rental income — before expenses — exceeds £50,000 this tax year, you are in scope from 6 April 2026. There are no penalties for a missed quarterly update in 2026-27, but you should be filing. Joint owners: count only your own share, not the property's total rent. Detail at /compliance/making-tax-digital-landlords.
3. If your property is in the West Midlands, prepare for PRS Database registration. Under the draft regulations, the proposed opening date for the West Midlands is 15 December 2026, with a three-month window to register closing on 14 March 2027 (UKPP calculation from the draft regulations). The record covers your landlord contact details, full property details, a copy of the gas safety record (where there is a gas supply and one exists) with its issue date, a copy of the EICR (or an EIC) if one exists with its expiry or issue date, and EPC details. The draft regulations set no renewal interval for those documents and no test of whether they are satisfactory; the entry itself must be renewed every 12 months (draft regulation 10). These are proposed requirements, not yet in force. See /compliance/prs-database-registration.
4. If your fix is expiring, speak to a whole-of-market mortgage broker. This is the one point in this edition at which that advice applies. The average five-year fix is currently the cheaper of the two average fixed products, and both sit well below the average variable rate — but your own LTV, lender and property type will determine what is actually available to you.
5. Pull your EPC. If you do not know your current rating, find it on the government register now. Under the government's confirmed proposal — not yet law — the 2030 standard will use a new dual-metric calculation, not today's rating. A property at C on today's certificate may not automatically comply. The proposed cost cap is already proposed to be running from 1 October 2025 under the draft framework, so upgrades done now are proposed to count. Guide at /compliance/epc-c-2030.
10 reference periods remain provisional and can still be revised: 2025-11, 2025-12, 2026-01, 2026-02, 2026-03, 2026-04, 2026-05, 2026-06, 2026-07, 2026-08. UK House Price Index estimates have a standard 12-month revision period (HM Land Registry's guidance), and the ONS treats the latest 12 months of HPI estimates as provisional and subject to revision, during which figures can be restated as more transactions register.
The next window closes on 2026-11-01, for 2025-11. Until then every figure in it is subject to change, including ones already quoted elsewhere as final.
The figures below have been restated since they were first published. Each line states the date UKPP first recorded the restated figure and the change, so a restatement that missed an earlier edition's cut-off is still placed on record rather than left unreported.
The average UK house price for Jul 2026 was first recorded by UKPP on 22 October 2026 as £272,146, from £272,611.
UK house price annual growth for Jul 2026 was first recorded by UKPP on 22 October 2026 as 1.2%, from 1.4%.
UK house prices month-on-month for Jul 2026 was first recorded by UKPP on 22 October 2026 as 0.5%, from 0.7%.
The UK House Price Index for Jul 2026 was first recorded by UKPP on 22 October 2026 as 104.3, from 104.5.
£273,037 as of August 2026 — the latest available figure — +0.9% year-on-year and +0.3% month-on-month (HM Land Registry / ONS UK House Price Index).
3.75% (Bank of England, as of 22 October 2026).
5.13% (Bank of England average, September 2026).
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