Agricultural workers and the Renters' Rights Act: what landlords need to know

Key points: at a glance

• Assured agricultural occupancies remain largely unchanged by the Renters' Rights Act and they continue to offer better protection to agricultural workers living in accommodation arranged by their employers.
• However, with the abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and 'no fault' evictions, even if an assured agricultural occupancy is 'opted out', it will still be comparatively difficult for a landlord to regain possession.
• Assured agricultural occupancies (whether or not 'opted out') fall within the new requirements of the Renters' Rights Act. Landlords now face heightened responsibilities to provide information to tenants, limits on rent increases, restrictions on terminating the tenancies, and criminal sanctions for non-compliance.

What is an assured agricultural occupancy?

"Assured agricultural occupancies" (AAOs) are a special sort of assured tenancy which can apply to agricultural workers living in accommodation provided or arranged by their employers. To qualify:

• The worker must be living in accommodation owned or arranged by the employer
• The worker must at some point during the tenancy have been employed in agriculture full-time or as a permit worker for at least 91 of the last 104 weeks; and
• The tenancy must have begun after 15 January 1989, wasn't the result of an agreement before that date, and didn't replace a tenancy which existed before that date.

AAOs are intended to give tenants better security of tenure, allow continued occupation during relevant agricultural injuries or following retirement, and allow a form of succession to partners and family if the worker dies.

Importantly, AAOs were by default excluded from the 'no fault' eviction regime. A landlord who wanted to end an AAO had to establish one of the grounds set out in the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988), such as a breach of the tenancy by the worker. This made them comparatively difficult to end, when compared to ordinary residential tenancies.

Landlords could 'opt out' of the AAO regime by serving a "Form 9" notice before the tenancy started. This meant that the tenancy would become an ordinary assured shorthold tenancy instead, which could be ended on just 2 months' notice using a 'no fault' eviction. It was therefore very important for landlords to 'opt out' if they wanted to regain possession of the accommodation more easily.

What's changed under the Renters' Rights Act 2025?

AAOs still exist largely unchanged following the Renters' Rights Act. Workers still benefit from improved security of tenure, rights to occupy following injury or retirement, and succession by partners and family members of death.

Landlords can still 'opt out' of the AAO regime by serving a new "section 24A" notice (existing "Form 9" opt outs will continue to apply). However, as assured shorthold tenancies no longer exist, any 'opted out' AAO will become a new assured periodic tenancy instead.

What is the practical impact for landlords?

The distinction between AAOs and 'opted out' tenancies is more limited.

The main impact for landlords is that 'opted out' AAOs no longer become assured shorthold tenancies. This means that 'opted out' AAOs can no longer be terminated easily using a 'no fault' eviction.

Instead, an 'opted out' AAO will become an assured periodic tenancy, which can only be terminated by establishing one of the grounds set out in the HA 1988.

In practice, therefore, there may now be less of a distinction between an AAO tenancy and a tenancy that has been opted out (i.e. an APT). In both cases, the landlord will have to establish one of the grounds set out in the HA 1988 if they want to bring the tenancy to an end. This is a radical change for landlords who are used to opting out.

There are still some advantages to landlords of opting out: some of the grounds in the HA 1988 are not available when dealing with an AAO, and AAOs retain their protections in cases of injury and retirement and succession to partners and family. Opting out therefore still has a place and should continue to be considered.

Landlord duties under the Renters' Rights Act apply to AAOs

As mentioned above, AAOs are a special form of assured tenancy. The Renters' Rights Act (the Act) has imposed additional duties and restrictions on landlords of all forms of assured tenancies. Landlords of AAOs are therefore required to comply with the new rules introduced by the Act.

These include new landlord registration requirements; limits on the frequency of rent reviews and market caps on rents; a requirement to provide prescribed information to tenants (and by 31 May 2026 for existing tenants); a requirement to provide a written statement of terms for all tenancies; and new criminal sanctions for non-compliance.

What about other forms of agricultural accommodation?

For better or worse, the Act does not affect protected agricultural occupancies (which remain covered by the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976), accommodation let within a wider agricultural holding or farm business tenancy (which remain covered by the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 and Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 respectively), or true service occupancy agreements (for workers who may not be employed in relevant agriculture, such as gamekeepers).

What should landlords do now?

Landlords of existing agricultural workers should:

1. Consider the accommodation arrangements in place for those workers and identify any AAOs or tenancies which have been 'opted out' of the AAO regime
2. Serve the required government information sheet on the worker by 31 May 2026
3. If the tenancy isn't in writing, serve on the tenant a written statement setting out the key terms of the tenancy.

Employers who are considering accommodation for new agricultural workers should:

1. Make sure the tenancy is in writing or that the tenant is provided with a written statement of the key terms of the tenancy
2. Before the tenancy starts:
   1. Serve a section 24A 'opt out' notice before the start of the tenancy (unless for any reason the landlord is happy to grant an AAO)
   2. Serve the required government information sheet on the worker
   3. Serve notice of any HA 1998 grounds which the landlord may wish to rely on and which require prior notice (some grounds will not be available at all if the AAO has not been opted out).

All landlords of agricultural workers should also stay up to date on regulations added through the Renters' Rights Act and secondary legislation, such as a future requirement for landlords to be registered.

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If you provide accommodation to agricultural workers, or are thinking about doing so, and would like advice on accommodation agreements and changes brought about by the Renters' Rights Act, please contact Philip Sheppard in our Real Estate team.