Renters’ Rights Act 2025: how it affects shared owners

The Renters’ Rights Act introduces some important new benefits for shared owners. But it also creates additional complexities for shared owners who are currently subletting their home or hope to do so in the future. Sue Phillips of Shared Ownership Resources sets out what’s changed and the impact on shared owners.
May 28, 2026
Renter's Right Act

‘Part buy, part rent’

  • Shared ownership is frequently described as ‘part buy, part rent’. However, this marketing slogan was never entirely accurate.
  • One of the criticisms of ‘part buy, part rent’ terminology was that shared owners had a tenancy arrangement – not only for the share they paid rent on, but also for the share they had ‘bought’.
  • This was because shared ownership was delivered under an assured tenancy, or an assured shorthold tenancy. Which meant that shared owners had fewer rights and protections than people who’d purchased their home under ‘conventional’ leasehold arrangements.
  • But things have changed under the new Renters’ Rights Act which came into force on 1st May..

Lease extension: shared owners have new rights

  • Prior to the Renters’ Rights Act, as assured tenants, shared owners didn’t have a statutory right to lease extension. They were reliant on the ‘informal’ route, which didn’t provide the same benefits as the statutory route available to other leaseholders.
  • The Renters’ Rights Act amends the law so that shared ownership tenancies are no longer classified as assured tenancies. Consequently, shared owners now have the same rights to a formal lease extension as any other leaseholder. In theory, at least.

Shared owners don’t have new lease extension rights yet….

In practice, the new right to lease extension isn’t available yet. It depends on secondary legislation to implement the Act.  It depends on secondary legislation to implement the Leasehold and Freehold Act.  In April 2026, in a keynote speech at the Institute for Government, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook announced that secondary legislation would be passed and there would be commencement dates for all parts of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act by the end of this Parliament (2029). 

  • A significant barrier to the new statutory right to lease extension is that housing association landlords may not have the power to be in a position to deliver it.
  • Under complex shared ownership arrangements, a housing association landlord often doesn’t hold the freehold. In this situation, the landlord may have a relatively short interest in the lease, meaning it is not able to offer the 90-year lease extension required under the statutory route.
  • In 2021, Shared Ownership Resources reported problems faced by one shared owner whose housing association landlord had a 125-year interest in the lease.

“It turns out there are four parties on the Land Registry title for my home: the freeholder, the head leaseholder, my housing association, and me. The head leaseholder has a 999-year interest in the lease. But my housing association only has a 125-year interest in the lease. Which means that if I go down the informal lease extension route they can only offer me an additional 25 years. The only way I can extend my lease by more than 25 years is to staircase to 100%. Then I could extend my lease under the statutory route, which would give me the right to a 90-year extension and a peppercorn ground rent. But, because my housing association isn’t my freeholder, this is complicated and expensive.

  • It seems likely that this loophole will be addressed as part of wider ongoing leasehold reform. But there is no definite date yet for when shared owners will be able to benefit from the new lease extension rights theoretically available under the Renters’ Rights Act.

Repossession for rent arrears

  • Prior to the Renters’ Rights Act, shared owners who fell into rent arrears faced a risk that their home could be repossessed. And, as assured tenants, repossession meant that they would lose, and had no right to compensation for, the equity they’d build up in their home.
  • Under the new Act, shared owners can still lose their home if they get into arrears. However, the process is now forfeiture – the same as for any other leaseholder.

The Renters’ Rights Act and subletting

  • As you’d expect, the Renters’ Rights Act introduces valuable new protections for tenants. But this has corresponding implications for shared owners who are subletting their homes.
  • From 1 May 2026, the legal framework for subletting changed substantially. Fixed term tenancies were abolished, and all subletting arrangements moved to periodic tenancies.
  • Shared owners who are subletting their homes need to be aware that the Act requires all landlords to send a Renters Rights Information Sheet to their tenants by 31 May 2026. Including shared owner landlords.
  • Shared owner landlords must also send additional information to their tenants about what happens if they evict tenants in order to sell, and the sale subsequently falls through. The same deadline applies for providing this additional information – 31 May 2026.

The bigger picture

  • What are the broader implications of the Act for shared owners who are subletting, or hope to sublet in the future? Housing associations sometimes offer the option of  subletting when a shared owner is unable to sell their share and the home has become increasingly unaffordable and/or unsuitable.
  • The new, more complex regime could discourage housing associations from approving requests to sublet on a short-term basis. And, where permission is granted, will housing associations help their shared owner landlords navigate increasingly complex landlord obligations?
  • What options will be available to shared owners in financial distress if they can’t sell, and they can’t move back into their home? What will happen, in practice, if both buyback and subletting are unavailable as exit routes? Will there be an upsurge in distressed sales and bankruptcies? Only time will tell….
  • In the meantime, shared owners who are currently subletting should pay close attention to any information sent by their housing association, or contact their housing association for guidance. 

Head to Shared Ownership Resources’ website for more detailed information on what shared owners need to know about the Renters’ Rights Act, and for signposting to government guidance and templates.


Shared Ownership Resources is registered with the Charity Commission as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO). The CIO publishes case studies; collaborates with housing, legal and financial experts to offer specialist information and signposting; advocates reform to drive better outcomes; and campaigns for improved transparency and against mis-selling and other poor practices in the sector.

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