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May 1 2026 - Renters' Rights Act Commencement Day

You have 0 days to:

Serve any final Section 21 notices

Stop accepting above-asking rent offers

Prepare for the rental bidding ban

Remove “No DSS” from adverts

Remove “No Children” from listings

Show one clear rent price

Stop using fixed-term agreements

Switch to periodic tenancy templates

Check which tenancies go periodic

Stop taking rent before signing

Take no more than one month’s rent

Move all evictions to Section 8

Train staff on new notice rules

Create Section 13 process flow

Add two months to rent reviews

File court claims for Section 21s

Update landlord move-in grounds

Update landlord selling grounds

Send the RRA Information Sheet

Create written terms where missing

Update How to Rent processes

Review tenant screening questions

Update pet request processes

Stop backdating rent increases

Discuss rent protection backbooks

Act now before it is too late...

Act now!
Goodlord Rental Index
Goodlord Rental IndexMay 2026
Monthly key figures for the private rented sector

Welcome to Goodlord's May 2026 Rental Index.

Jack Wilson headshot

Every month, Goodlord reveals key figures for the private rented sector based on tenancies processed through our platform, including average rents, void periods, and more.

The latest Rental Index from Goodlord found that that rents in England saw a slight uptick in May, with prices down by 0.5% compared to April's figures. Year-on-year, rents are up by 1.7%.

Jack Wilson
Data Analyst, Goodlord

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1. Annual rent inflation at lowest level in ten months

The average cost of a rental property in England during May 2026 was £1,211. This is a 1.7% increase on prices recorded at the same time last year, when rents were £1,191 per property, on average.

The new data sees rental inflation continue to sit well below both the latest Consumer Price Inflation figures, which fell slightly to 3% in April, and wage growth, which stood at 3.4% in April.

The three regions which saw the greatest year-on-year price increases in May 2026 were Greater London (5.6%), the North East (3.9%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (3.2%).

Click on region names to toggle them on and off

Average monthly rent across UK regions since January 2020.

2. Rents begin to bounce back after April price drop

Month-on-month, May rents grew by 0.5% compared to April. Rents rose from £1,205 to a new average of £1,211.

Despite this rise, average rents across England remain marginally lower than they were in March of this year, when they stood at £1,212. This makes 2026 the first year since COVID hit the market in 2020 that prices have been lower in May than they were two months earlier in March.

In 2025, the month-on-month rental inflation from April to May was 2.1%. This year’s comparatively low rise is reflective of the slow growth we’ve seen throughout 2026 so far.

Click on region names to toggle them on and off

Average void periods in days across UK regions since January 2020.

3. London leads in rental inflation

After recording the highest year-on-year rental inflation of any region in April (4.8%), Greater London topped the charts again in May. This comes as construction in London stalls, with the capital building just 7% of the 88,000 homes it was targeting last year.

Inflation across the North of England had been significantly outstripping price rises seen across the rest of the country in the first quarter of 2026. After cooling off in April, May’s figures for the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber stood at 3.9%, 1.6% and 3.2% respectively.

3. Tenant salaries see uplift

Average tenant salaries rose by 0.8% this month, increasing from £29,637 in July to £29,883 in August.

The age of tenants dipped slightly, taking the average down to 32. The last time the average age was this low was August 2021, reflecting the number of student renters signing tenancies in the summer months.

William Reeve, CEO of Goodlord, says:

 

“A month on from the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act, it’s clear the market is still recalibrating. Whether the new legislation will bring the widespread disruption and price volatility many have predicted remains to be seen. Nonetheless, the overall picture is one of a rental sector that has fundamentally changed.

“While average prices have recovered slightly from their drop in April, this is the first time since 2020 that rents in May have been lower than they were in March. These figures reflect a market being pulled in two directions: on one hand, reduced net migration is easing demand-side pressure; whilst the Renters Rights Act and continued underdelivery in housebuilding particularly in London, is constraining supply on the other. How these forces play out over the coming months will be critical in determining the trajectory of rental prices.”