Landlords and letting agents are facing a sharper enforcement framework after the government published fresh guidance on how councils can use investigatory powers under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.
The guidance sets out when officers can enter business premises, when they can seek a warrant, and when they can seize documents during an investigation. For landlords, the practical point is that record-keeping and day-to-day administration are becoming a bigger compliance risk in their own right.
What the new guidance lets councils do
The new guidance says councils can use these powers for businesses connected with letting, licensing, marketing or managing residential accommodation in England. It also draws an important boundary: the business premises power cannot be used to enter premises that are wholly or mainly used as a home.
Where a non-routine inspection cannot be carried out with 24 hours’ notice, councils can apply to a justice of the peace for a warrant. The guidance says they must show written evidence that entry has been refused, is likely to be refused, that notice could lead to evidence being hidden, or that waiting for an occupier would defeat the purpose of the visit.
The same guidance confirms that officers can seize and detain documents they reasonably suspect may be needed as evidence in proceedings, and can require electronic records in a form that can be taken away. That matters for landlords using agents, outsourced admin or cloud-based systems, because incomplete records may become the easiest route into wider enforcement action.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s report on councils receiving £41 million ahead of tougher landlord enforcement, which showed local authorities were already being given more money and more cover to step up activity. The latest guidance matters because it turns those broader powers into a more practical process on the ground.
Why paperwork is becoming a bigger landlord risk
Well-run landlords with orderly files may not see this as a dramatic change. But for many investors, the weak point is not whether a rule exists. It is whether they can prove what happened, when documents were served, who instructed an agent and where the records sit.
That is why the guidance matters beyond headline enforcement stories. Councils do not need a major prosecution before asking for evidence. They need grounds to inspect and, if necessary, a route to secure documents that may support a case later.
What this means for landlords
- If you use a letting agent: make sure the agent can produce safety, tenancy and rent records quickly if a council asks for them.
- If you manage properties yourself: keep compliance documents, prescribed information and communication logs in one place rather than across phones, inboxes and paper files.
- Watch for: councils using the new guidance alongside wider RRA enforcement work once local policies bed in.
- Bottom line: weak administration is becoming an easier target for councils now that the process for inspection and evidence-gathering is clearer.
Editor’s view
The main shift here is not theatrical enforcement. It is procedural confidence. Once councils know exactly how to inspect, obtain records and justify a warrant, landlords with patchy administration become much easier to pursue than those who keep clean, accessible files.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 13 May 2026
Sources: GOV.UK investigatory powers guidance for the Renters’ Rights Act 2025
Related reading: Councils get £41m ahead of tougher landlord enforcement
📘 Renters’ Rights Act: Complete Landlord Guide
Everything you need to know about the new rules – 1 May 2026
