Guide
Section 25 and section 26 notices: the 1954 Act renewal timetable
Updated
The renewal procedure begins with a notice, and the notice fixes the timetable everything else has to fit inside. Getting it wrong is expensive in a way that is difficult to undo.
The two ways a renewal starts
- The landlord's notice, section 25
- The landlord terminates the tenancy by notice in the prescribed form specifying the date of termination. Section 25(2) provides that the notice has no effect unless given not more than twelve nor less than six months before that date. Section 25(6) requires the notice to state whether the landlord opposes the grant of a new tenancy, and section 25(7) requires an opposing notice to specify one or more of the section 30(1) grounds (legislation.gov.uk).
- The tenant's request, section 26
- A tenant whose current tenancy was granted for a term of years certain exceeding one year may request a new tenancy. Section 26(2) provides that the request must specify a start date not more than twelve nor less than six months after the request is made, and section 26(3) requires it to be in the prescribed form and to set out the tenant's proposals on the property, the rent and the other terms (legislation.gov.uk).
- The landlord's counter notice, section 26(6)
- Within two months of the tenant's request the landlord may give notice that they will oppose an application to the court, stating which of the section 30 grounds will be relied on. Silence at that stage means the renewal is unopposed in principle, leaving the terms and the rent to be settled.
Why the timing decides the fee as well as the outcome
- Section 26 cannot be used once a section 25 notice has been given, and vice versa: section 26(4) provides that a request may not be made if the landlord has already served, and no such notice may be given afterwards. Whoever moves first shapes the timetable.
- The six to twelve month window is a planning tool. Advice taken a year out is cheap. Advice taken a fortnight before a deadline is not, and the options available are narrower.
- Prescribed form matters. A defective notice can be worse than no notice at all, and unpicking one is billable work that produces nothing of value.
- Rent is a separate track. A surveyor's valuation should be running while the notice timetable runs, not after it. See how the two fees fit together.
The deadline that catches people out
Section 29A of the 1954 Act provides that the court shall not entertain a renewal application made after the end of the statutory period, which ends on the date specified in the landlord's section 25 notice, or immediately before the date specified in the tenant's section 26 request (legislation.gov.uk). Section 29B allows the parties to agree an extension, and agreed extensions are ordinary practice where a negotiation is going well. What is not ordinary is letting the period expire without either an application or an agreed extension. Protective proceedings exist precisely to stop that happening, and their cost is small set against the alternative.
The intervals and requirements described here are taken from Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 as shown on legislation.gov.uk on 14 August 2026. They are general information rather than advice on your tenancy: take advice on your own lease and dates before serving or responding to anything.