Tenants guide

Contents

• Overview
• Concerns before your tenancy starts
• Fees and upfront costs
• Help with your rent
• Tenant responsibilities
• Landlord responsibilities
• Difficulties with your landlord
• Rent arrears
• Housing standards and repairs
  
• Ending your tenancy
• Eviction

Overview

Cheshire East has a significant shortage of social housing but has a large and thriving private rented market. Private renting is becoming a more affordable and accessible option for households.

Finding a property

Before you start looking for private rented accommodation, you need to carefully consider the following:

• type - the type of accommodation required you need depends on your circumstances, for example do you need ground floor access or a home with a garden
• size - think about how many people are in the household and how many bedrooms you will need
• affordability - you need to be sure that your rent is affordable before committing to a tenancy agreement. Make sure you have budgeted for Council Tax, water, electricity, gas and food, as well as any other financial commitments such as credit cards or loans that you have. Renting privately can be slightly more expensive than renting from a social landlord but there are                
• you can usually move in quickly
• the accommodation can come furnished, carpeted and decorated
• you can be more selective about the location and type of property you rent.

Places you can consider looking for available properties include:

• online letting and estate agency sites
• local letting and estate agency offices, their websites and social media
• Facebook marketplace
• Small ads in local newspapers and noticeboards in local shops

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 provides additional rights for private renting tenants and places a duty on us to investigate and enforce action against landlords and letting agents who do not comply with the new law. You can find out more about the Renters' Rights Act on the Government’s Housing Hub.    

The Act is being rolled out in stages so not all the measures are available now. See the Government’s timetable for implementation.

From 1 May 2026 the Renters’ Right Act 2025 introduced a ban on the following practices in the private rented sector:

• Rental bidding
• Rent payment in advance
• Discrimination against households receiving benefits or with children

For more information and if you are experiencing any of these banned practices, please visit the ‘Concerns before your tenancy starts' page.

Before you sign a tenancy, it’s important that you understand what type of tenancy agreement you have so that you know your rights. Use Shelter tenancy rights checker to help.  

On or from 1 May 2026 if you are renting a private rent property, your tenancy will probably be an assured periodic tenancy. There are a few exceptions, such as if you live in purpose-built student accommodation. If your prospective or existing landlord has offered you a different type of tenancy (for example a fixed term, or assured shorthold tenancy) and you think this is incorrect you can complete the form below to report your issue:

Report difficulties with your landlord

Your landlord could receive a Civil Penalty Notice if they have not offered the correct tenancy.