The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and Wales: extending protections from discrimination to Welsh contract-holders

Sarah Salmon and Alistair Cantor dissect the forthcoming anti-discrimination measures due to be introduced by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 to landlord and tenant legislation in Wales, consequential changes to fundamental terms applicable to occupation contracts, and implications for stakeholders in the Welsh private and social rented sectors.

As flagged in December’s edition of the Cornerstone Housing Newsletter, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (“RRA 2025”) will extend protections against rental discrimination to Wales as well as England. As promised in the Newsletter, this article covers the detail of those RRA 2025 provisions due to take effect in Wales. RRA will seek to address rental discrimination in Wales via two methods: reflecting the position in England, discrimination by landlords against contract-holders is to be criminalised via the introduction of novel criminal offences; and new ‘fundamental provisions’ will be introduced, making prohibition of discrimination a term of most occupation contracts in Wales.

New criminal offences

Broadly mirroring the legal developments in England, section 44 RRA 2025 will introduce to Wales a range of new criminal offences aiming to prevent discrimination against benefits claimants and those with children. It will do so by inserting new sections 8A to 8J into the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 (“the 2019 Fees Act”). The offences are punishable on summary conviction by fines. These reforms will come into effect on 1 June 2026.

What are the new fundamental provisions?

From 1 June 2026, the following new sections of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (“the 2016 Act”) (inserted by the RRA 2025) will come into force in Wales, establishing new ‘fundamental provisions’ which must be incorporated as ‘fundamental terms’ into all occupation contracts (save where limited exceptions apply).

Section 54A

This section creates a fundamental provision to the effect that a contract-holder may permit a person who has not reached the age of 18 to live in or visit the dwelling and the landlord must not interfere with or restrict that right, unless the interference or restriction is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

This fundamental provision must be incorporated into all occupation contract, except where:

1. the landlord or a superior landlord is insured under a contract of insurance that was not entered into or extended in duration after the date on which the section comes into force (presently, 1 June 2026),[1] and which contains a term which makes provision (however expressed) requiring the insured to prohibit or restrict the contract-holder from having a person who has not reached the age of 18 live with or visit them at the dwelling: see section 54A(3)(a)-(b).
2. the contract is a supported standard occupation contract: regulation 4 of the Renting Homes (Model Written Statements of Contract) (Wales) (Amendments etc.) Regulations 2026 (“the 2026 Amendment Regulations”).

Section 54B

This section creates a further fundamental provision to the effect that a landlord must not prohibit a contract-holder from being a “benefits claimant”, as defined by section 8J of the 2019 Fees Act, namely a person who:

1. is entitled to payments (including those made directly to the landlord) under, or by virtue of, the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 or the Welfare Reform Act 2012, or would be so entitled were the person to become a contract-holder under an occupation contract;
2. is entitled to payments (again including payments made directly to the landlord) under, or by virtue of, the Jobseekers Act 1995, the State Pension Credit Act 2002, the Tax Credits Act 2002, the Welfare Reform Act 2007 or the Pensions Act 2014;
3. is in receipt of a reduction in the amount of council tax payable in respect of the person’s current home under a scheme made by a billing authority under or by virtue of section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, or
4. would be entitled to a reduction in the amount of council tax payable in respect of the dwelling in question under a scheme made by the billing authority in whose area the dwelling is situated under or by virtue of section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, if the person were to rent the dwelling under an occupation contract, and if an application is a precondition of entitlement, apply to the billing authority for a reduction under the scheme.

This provision must be incorporated into all occupation contracts, save where the landlord or a superior landlord is insured under a contract of insurance not entered into or extended in duration after the date on which the section comes into force, and which contract contains a term which makes provision (however expressed) requiring the insured to prohibit the contract-holder from claiming payments to which a benefits claimant would be entitled.

What about occupation contracts?

The Model Written Statements of Contracts produced by the Welsh Government are to be amended. Draft regulations – the 2026 Amendment Regulations – have now been made available by the Senedd Cymru (see here). The Regulations come into force on 1 June 2026 and amend the existing Renting Homes (Model Written Statements of Contract) (Wales) Regulations 2022 so that the template model written statements for secure, periodic standard, and fixed term standard occupation contracts scheduled to them include these new provisions.

However, many landlords in Wales use modified versions of the model written statements, or entirely bespoke template contracts.

Comment

In addition to appreciating that they risk criminal consequences for breaches of the new legislation, most pressingly landlords will need to ensure their written statements comply with the law. When granting new contracts to which the new terms apply, landlords will have to ensure their written statements include them. Anyone employing the model written statements produced by the Welsh Government need not be concerned about omitting them, given the 2026 Amendment Regulations, but any landlord employing their own bespoke contracts will need to ensure there are amended to include the new terms.

There is a potential standing issue over how the new terms may apply to existing occupation contracts. There is nothing explicit in the legislation stating they are to have retrospective effect. However, there is similarly no express clarification of how existing contracts are affected, and if these new terms do not apply to such contracts there will be an interesting disparity with England, where RRA 2025 will expressly override any terms of existing assured tenancies discriminating against people with children or benefits claimants.

Landlords should take advice wherever there is any doubt about how these new fundamental terms apply to existing and new contracts.

If amending existing contracts and when creating new templates, landlords in Wales may also want to think about other amendments that might be needed in light of new legislation and regulation including, for example, heat network regulation (see here for more information).

---

[1] I.e. to use the actual wording from the 2016 Act, a contract of insurance to which section 8H of the Renting Homes (Fees, Discrimination etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 does not apply.

Share this