Estate and letting agents face fines of up to £7,000 per breach under the Renters’ Rights Act, rising to £40,000 for repeat offences, with Alto warning many firms may break the rules without realising.

The CRM platform’s Chief Revenue Officer, Nick Shaw (main picture) says: “We’re already seeing agents underestimate how exposed they are. It’s not one big failure; it’s small gaps in how the business runs day-to-day. A process that isn’t quite right. A safeguard that’s missing. A system that doesn’t fully support the new rules.

Risk multiplies

“On their own, those don’t always get picked up. But under the Renters’ Rights Act, they carry real financial risk – and that risk multiplies across every tenancy you manage.”

The Act introduces periodic tenancies, removes Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, tightens rent controls and raises expectations around compliance and record keeping.

Alto has launched a free Renters’ Rights Risk Calculator to help agents assess their exposure ahead of the rule changes.

The challenge isn’t understanding the rules — it’s applying them consistently across hundreds of tenancies.”

According to Alto, the tool asks practical questions on tenancy structures, rent controls, audit trails and compliance processes, identifying gaps and estimating potential fine exposure.

Owen Rogers, Product Director at Alto, says: “The challenge isn’t understanding the rules – it’s applying them consistently across hundreds of tenancies. If your system doesn’t support that, your team ends up carrying the risk. And that’s where mistakes happen.”

Shaw adds: “The agents who get ahead of this now will be in a much stronger position – not just from a compliance point of view, but commercially as well.”