Deregulation Act 2015: Section 21 Reforms — Landlord Guide
← Part of Landlord Laws & LegislationThe Deregulation Act 2015 introduced substantial reforms to the Section 21 procedure under the Housing Act 1988. Three provisions were particularly consequential — section 33 (retaliatory eviction protection), section 38 (prescribed legal requirements: EPC, gas safety record, How to Rent guide), and section 39 (Form 6A as the prescribed Section 21 form). With the abolition of Section 21 by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, these provisions now apply only to transitional notices served before 1 May 2026. This page covers each section, the prescribed requirements, the operation of the retaliatory eviction protection, and how the Act fits into the broader reform trajectory that culminated in the 2025 Act.
What the Act did and why landlords still need to know about it
The Deregulation Act 2015 was an omnibus statute covering many policy areas. For residential landlords, three sections were particularly consequential — sections 33, 38, and 39, which together substantially reformed the Section 21 procedure under the Housing Act 1988. The reforms came into force on 1 October 2015 for new tenancies and were extended to all assured shorthold tenancies on 1 October 2018. They reshaped the way Section 21 worked for the period 2015 through to its abolition by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 on 1 May 2026.
In 2026, the Deregulation Act 2015 has historic significance rather than ongoing direct relevance for new tenancies — Section 21 has been abolished and the Act's reforms apply to a procedure that no longer exists for new tenancies. But the Act remains directly relevant in two ways. First, transitional Section 21 notices served before 1 May 2026 are still being processed through the courts, and those notices are subject to the Deregulation Act's procedural requirements. Second, several provisions outside the Section 21 framework — particularly the section 33 retaliatory eviction protections — operated as an early indicator of policy direction that has now been substantially adopted in the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Understanding the Act helps a landlord understand the wider reform trajectory.
This page covers the Deregulation Act 2015 sections most relevant to landlords, with a focus on what continues to apply through the transitional period and what has effectively been superseded.
Section 33 — retaliatory eviction
Section 33 was the most innovative part of the Act. It introduced statutory protection against "retaliatory eviction" — the practice of serving a Section 21 notice in response to a tenant's legitimate complaint about housing conditions. Before section 33, a landlord could lawfully serve Section 21 even where the tenant had recently complained about disrepair; the new section made this unlawful in defined circumstances.
The protection operated as follows:
- A Section 21 notice was invalid if served within six months of a written tenant complaint about housing conditions, where the local authority had subsequently served an improvement notice or emergency works notice on the landlord.
- The protection lasted six months from the local authority notice.
- The protection applied regardless of the landlord's actual motivation — once the technical conditions were satisfied, the Section 21 was invalid.
Section 33 was a significant tenant protection but its operation was technically narrow. It required local authority involvement (a tenant's complaint alone was not sufficient), and it covered only Section 21 notices (Section 8 grounds remained available). For landlords with poor properties whose tenants complained, the protection produced predictable results: improvement notices served by councils led to invalid Section 21s, with the landlord then facing the choice of remediating and waiting six months, or attempting Section 8 grounds with their own evidential challenges.
Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025's post-1 May 2026 framework, the section 33 mechanism is largely redundant — there is no Section 21 to be invalidated. The Act's broader protection against retaliation comes through the limited grounds for possession (the landlord must establish a Schedule 2 ground regardless of motivation) and the local authority's civil penalty powers under the new Information Sheet and written-statement regime.
Section 38 — prescribed legal requirements
Section 38 of the Deregulation Act 2015 introduced a series of "prescribed legal requirements" that the landlord must satisfy before a valid Section 21 notice can be served. The Section 21 notice itself was unaffected by these requirements; but where they had not been complied with, the Section 21 was invalid. The requirements were set out in regulations made under section 38 — the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015.
The principal prescribed requirements were:
- Provision of an Energy Performance Certificate to the tenant before the tenancy started.
- Provision of a current Gas Safety Record (where there was gas at the property) before the tenancy started.
- Provision of the government "How to Rent" guide at the start of the tenancy.
These requirements were procedurally narrow but substantively meaningful. A landlord who had failed to provide any of the three documents at the right time could not serve a valid Section 21 notice until the failure was remedied — typically by serving the missing document and then waiting a defined period before issuing the notice. The principle was simple: landlords who had not complied with their basic obligations to tenants could not use the no-fault route to recover possession.
In 2026, these requirements remain relevant only for transitional Section 21 notices served before 1 May 2026 that are still being processed. For new tenancies under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, the equivalent requirements (EPC, gas safety record, written statement, Information Sheet, How to Rent guide) continue to apply but the procedural consequences are different — they affect the validity of Section 8 claims rather than barring Section 21 service (since Section 21 no longer exists).
Section 39 — Form 6A
Section 39 standardised the form of Section 21 notices. Before October 2015, landlords used a wide variety of formats, often drafted by hand or copied from outdated templates. The variation produced regular technical challenges to notice validity at court. Section 39 enabled the Secretary of State to prescribe a standard form — Form 6A — which became mandatory for all Section 21 notices served on or after 1 October 2015.
Form 6A standardised the content of the notice (parties, property, date by which possession is required, references to relevant legislation) and reduced the technical drafting errors that had previously defeated Section 21 claims. It did not change the substantive notice requirements (the period of notice, the conditions for service) — it simply made the form consistent.
Like the rest of the Section 21 framework, Form 6A is now relevant only to transitional notices served before 1 May 2026. New possession claims under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 use Form 3 (the new prescribed form for Section 8 notices under the post-1 May 2026 framework).
Other landlord-relevant provisions
A few other Deregulation Act provisions had specific landlord relevance:
Section 36 — accelerated possession procedure
Section 36 made minor adjustments to the accelerated possession procedure (the procedure under which uncontested Section 21 claims could be processed without a court hearing). The procedure has been abolished by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 — every possession claim now requires a hearing — so section 36 is no longer of practical relevance.
Section 40 — extension of tenancy deposit protection
Section 40 made certain technical adjustments to the deposit protection regime under the Housing Act 2004 — including clarifying the position on deposits taken on tenancies that had since renewed, and addressing complications where deposit protection paperwork had been served late. The provisions remain relevant to ongoing tenancies that started in the 2010s and have continued through changes in tenant or scheme.
Smoke and CO alarm provisions
Section 150 of the Deregulation Act enabled the regulations that became the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015. The substantive content of those regulations — covered in our Smoke and CO Alarm Regulations guide — remains live and important.
How the Deregulation Act fits into the broader reform trajectory
Looking back from 2026, the Deregulation Act 2015 reforms can be seen as the first wave of substantive reform that culminated in the Renters' Rights Act 2025. The 2015 Act's focus on landlord compliance prerequisites for Section 21 — EPC, gas safety, How to Rent guide — recognised the principle that the no-fault route should not be available to landlords who had not met their basic obligations to tenants. The 2025 Act took the principle further by abolishing the no-fault route entirely, but the underlying philosophy — landlords who comply have access to procedures, those who don't face barriers — has been consistent across the decade-long reform programme.
Similarly, section 33's protection against retaliatory eviction was an early statement of the principle that tenants should not face possession claims as a consequence of legitimate complaints about housing conditions. That principle is now embedded in the Renters' Rights Act 2025's framework through the absence of any "no-fault" route at all. Tenants in 2026 can complain freely about housing conditions without fear that the landlord will respond with a Section 21 notice — because there is no Section 21 to respond with.