A shifting landscape – managing accommodation for agricultural workers

The Renters Rights Act 2025 was passed in October last year, with the most relevant changes, including those for landlords of agricultural workers, coming into force on 1 May 2026. As has been widely publicised, the changes include:

• the abolition of “no-fault” evictions under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988;
• the replacement of fixed term with rolling monthly tenancies;
• a different process for rent increases.

For those housing agricultural workers, the good news is that the Act recognises the realities of agricultural employment. The new rules balance the rights of tenants to a home life by removing the option to terminate tenancies using section 21’s flexible process, but they introduce new possession grounds for landlords to use under section 8 of the Housing Act 1988.  These are aimed at helping landlords to control who lives in their accommodation and retain it for farm use.

That said, these new grounds are not available in every case. Assured Agricultural Occupancy (AAO) rights for certain workers will continue largely as they are now.  These provide the occupant with rights to continue living there after employment and allow a wider list of family members to live there after them.

The new grounds will only apply if the right steps have been taken at the outset. In practical terms, these new grounds will only apply if the landlord opted the tenancy out of the AAO rules before the tenancy started so that the tenancy is a ‘normal’ assured tenancy.  They must have done this using either the Form 9 Notice before May 2026 or a new opt-out notice (new Form 9A) procedure post-1 May 2026.  Landlords must always serve notices and comply with time limits with care.

Grounds that are most likely to assist agricultural landlords with opted-out tenancies after 1 May 2026 are:

• Ground 1A – this allows a landlord to obtain possession from an assured tenant if the landlord intends to sell the residential property 
• Ground 2ZA – this allows for the termination of a residential sub-tenancy when there is a headlease coming to an end. So, this could apply if there is an FBT or AHA tenancy that includes the relevant agricultural worker’s house and that head tenancy is ending. 
• Ground 5A – if the residential property is needed to house another agricultural worker employed by the landlord or working for another agricultural business.
• Ground 5C – if letting the property to an agricultural worker was as part of their employment and either:

• the worker stops being employed by the landlord; or 
• the tenancy was granted for the purpose of providing accommodation during the “early period” of their employment, that purpose has been “fulfilled” and the accommodation is needed for another current or future employee.  It is unclear what the “early period” or fulfilment of its purpose means, so landlords may prefer to rely on other grounds.

There are interim rules governing section 21 notices served up to 1 May 2026 and the timescales for issuing claims based on such notices. Notices must be served before 1 May 2026 and proceedings issued before 31 July 2026.

It is also important to remember that genuine service occupation agreements are not tenancies and will not be affected by the changes to residential tenancies. Employers of agricultural workers should continue to exercise caution in entering into service occupancies given the potential for these to be tenancies on the facts.  Most residential occupiers will expect a reasonable amount of privacy in their home and so many arrangements will be tenancies even if called licences.

If you would like to understand more about the changes and how they affect agricultural tenancies, please contact Katharine Danks, James Hordern or Chris Brand.

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