Can My Tenant Refuse to Sign
the Renters' Rights Information Sheet?

Is a Signature Legally Required?

No. There is no legal requirement for a tenant to sign the Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet or to provide any written acknowledgement of receipt. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 requires landlords to provide the document — it says nothing about obtaining a signature.

A tenant who refuses to sign has not created any legal problem for you. They have been served. Your obligation is complete the moment you deliver or email the document. What you need is evidence that you did so — not evidence that the tenant agreed to it.

What Your Obligation Actually Is

The requirement under Section 14 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 is to provide the Information Sheet. In practice this means:

• Giving the tenant the complete unaltered PDF — as an email attachment or printed copy
• Doing so before the tenancy begins (for new tenancies) or by 31 May 2026 (for existing tenancies)
• Serving it on every named adult tenant individually

There is no requirement that the tenant read it, agree with it, sign it, or do anything at all with it. The obligation is entirely on the landlord's side — to get the document to the tenant.

What to Do If They Refuse to Sign

1. Do not withhold anything — give them the document regardless. Their refusal to sign does not change your obligation to provide it.
2. Note the date and method of service — write yourself a contemporaneous note: "Attempted to obtain signed acknowledgement from [tenant name] on [date]. Tenant declined to sign. Document provided by email / in person."
3. Send a follow-up email — even if you handed it over in person, follow up with an email: "As discussed, I am attaching the Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet which I provided to you today. Please keep this for your records." This creates a timestamped paper trail.
4. Keep everything — the sent email, your handwritten note, any text messages discussing the meeting. The more contemporaneous evidence you have, the stronger your position.

Evidence of Service Without a Signature

You do not need a signature to have strong evidence of service. In order of strength:

• Sent email with PDF attached — timestamp, correct email address, PDF attached. This is your primary evidence and is sufficient on its own.
• Read receipt — if your email client supports it and the tenant's does not block it, a read receipt shows the email was opened.
• Tenant's reply — even a one-word reply confirms receipt. If they reply saying they refuse to sign, that reply itself confirms they received the email.
• Follow-up email after in-person service — as described above, a contemporaneous email referencing the in-person service.
• Recorded delivery — for posted copies, delivery confirmation from Royal Mail.
• Your own contemporaneous note — a written note made on the day is admissible evidence of what happened.

If the Tenant Later Claims Non-Receipt

A tenant who later claims they never received the Information Sheet — whether in a dispute, a complaint to the local authority, or possession proceedings — faces your evidence of service. A sent email to their known address creates a presumption of receipt that they must rebut.

In practice, a tenant claiming non-receipt of an email you demonstrably sent to their address is a weak position. Courts and local authorities apply a practical standard: if the landlord can show the email was sent to the correct address at the relevant time, the burden shifts to explain why receipt did not occur.

The rare scenario where this causes a genuine problem is where you sent it to the wrong email address or where the tenancy agreement does not identify email as a valid method of service. Both are avoidable by using the email address the tenant uses for all tenancy correspondence and by ensuring your tenancy agreements confirm email as valid service.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the tenant says they already know about the changes and don't need the document?

Serve it anyway. The legal obligation is to provide the document — not to convince the tenant they need it. A tenant's claim that they already know about their rights does not discharge your obligation. Note their comment, serve the sheet, keep the evidence.

Does a tenant's refusal to sign affect any other rights?

No. A tenant's refusal to acknowledge the Information Sheet has no effect on their tenancy rights, their right to make a complaint, or any other aspect of the tenancy. The Information Sheet is a document explaining their rights — refusing to sign it does not change what those rights are.

Can I include an acknowledgement clause in the tenancy agreement instead?

You can include a clause in the tenancy agreement stating that the tenant acknowledges receipt of specified documents including the Information Sheet. This is good practice and provides contractual evidence of service. However, this only works for new tenancies — for existing tenancies, you need to serve the document separately with evidence.