Letting agent enquiry form: Renters' Rights Act 2026 deposit and rent-in-advance check
For letting agents and landlords in England. From 1 May 2026 you cannot ask for, encourage or accept rent above the advertised rent, and rent in advance is capped at one month.
£2,569.23 taken above the caps
Rent accepted £1,300.00 is £50.00 a month above the advertised £1,250.00. That is a rental-bidding breach: up to a £7,000 civil penalty (first breach), up to £40,000 if repeated.
| Check | Legal cap | You ask | Above the cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holding deposit (1 week's rent) | £288.46 | £300.00 | £11.54 |
| Tenancy deposit (5 weeks' rent) | £1,442.31 | £1,500.00 | £57.69 |
| Rent in advance (1 month) | £1,250.00 | £3,750.00 | £2,500.00 |
Weekly rent = £1,250.00 × 12 ÷ 52 = £288.46. Annual rent £15,000.00 is under £50,000, so the deposit cap is 5 weeks. Tenant Fees Act 2019 breaches: civil penalty up to £5,000 each for a first breach, up to £30,000 if repeated.
Full version — $60 onceCheck your own rent here first, free and without signing up. The full version is the WordPress plugin with a viewing-request form that has no offer box and shows these rules above the form. Each applicant is emailed a written copy of the rules. You can export every request as a CSV with its date and time. One payment, not a subscription.
Your numbers
Why a free form builder is not enough
A free form builder gives you a blank form. Nothing stops a colleague from adding a "your offer" box. It also does not show your deposit caps, and it does not send applicants the rent rule in writing. This plugin has no offer field at all. It prints your advertised-rent, rent-in-advance and deposit rules above the form and keeps a log of every viewing request.
Yardstick: Gravity Forms, a general WordPress form builder, costs $59 to $259 per year (gravityforms.com/pricing, September 2026) and ships no lettings wording. A first rental-bidding breach can cost a £7,000 civil penalty.
Free plugin vs full version
Free: a 9-field viewing-request form with no rent-offer box, your rules printed above it, spam protection, and every request listed in admin (50 per page).
Full version: each applicant is emailed a copy of their request plus your rules, and new requests are emailed to your branch. You also get a CSV of every request with its date and time, search by property, and a separate form for each property or branch.
Install (2 minutes)
- WordPress admin ▸ Plugins ▸ Add New Plugin
- Upload Plugin ▸ choose the .zip
- Install Now ▸ Activate, then paste
[letting-enquiry-renters-rights]into an Elementor Shortcode widget or any page.
Elementor is not required. Menu names can differ slightly by WordPress version and admin language. Needs PHP 7.4 or newer. England only: Wales and Scotland have their own rules. This checker applies the published caps; it is not legal advice.