Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs)

If you're a landlord with a Section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026, read this first

The 31 July 2026 backstop is now days away. If you served a Section 21 notice before 1 May 2026 and have not yet issued possession proceedings at court, you must do so by the earlier of (a) six months from the date the notice was served, or (b) 31 July 2026. After that date the notice lapses permanently — regardless of when it was served — and no Section 21 claim based on it can ever be brought. If you are in this position, treat it as urgent: see Section 21 abolition and Section 8 for what to do next, or move straight to a Section 8 notice if you have grounds.

What changed under the Renters' Rights Act 2025

Section 21 abolished. Fixed-term assured tenancies abolished — every assured tenancy is now open-ended. Ground 8 (mandatory rent-arrears possession) threshold raised from two months to three months' arrears (13 weeks for a weekly tenancy), with the notice period extended from two weeks to four weeks. A government Information Sheet (or, for oral tenancies, a written statement of terms) had to be given to every existing tenant by 31 May 2026. Read the full Renters' Rights Act 2025 guide.

Assured shorthold tenancies — ASTs — were the default form of private renting in England from 1989 until 1 May 2026, when they were abolished by the Renters' Rights Act 2025. If you are a landlord (or tenant) with a former AST, this page explains what happened to it, what a landlord must now do, and what replaced the AST for new lettings.

What was an AST?

An assured shorthold tenancy was the form of residential tenancy created by the Housing Act 1988 and made the default form of letting by amendments in the Housing Act 1996. Its defining feature was flexibility for landlords: after any fixed term ended, a landlord could recover possession using a Section 21 notice — without giving any reason — provided the procedural requirements were met.

For more than 35 years the AST shaped how rental property was let in England. Most six- or twelve-month tenancies signed during that period were ASTs. They were never the only form of tenancy — high-rent lettings, lodger arrangements, and tenancies granted by certain educational institutions and resident landlords sat outside the regime — but they were by far the most common.

What replaced the AST?

From 1 May 2026, every assured tenancy in the private rented sector is an open-ended assured periodic tenancy, with a rent period of one month or shorter and no fixed term. The tenancy continues until the tenant gives at least two months' written notice, or the landlord obtains a possession order using one of the statutory grounds in Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (as amended by the 2025 Act).

The change is structural, not cosmetic. A periodic tenancy under the new regime is not simply an AST without an end date — the framework around possession, rent, and contractual terms has changed throughout:

• Section 21 — the no-reason eviction route — no longer exists for any tenancy, old or new.
• Rent increases must follow the Section 13 procedure (Form 4), with a minimum of two months' notice and no more than one increase in any 52-week period.
• Tenants have a new statutory right to request permission to keep a pet, which a landlord cannot unreasonably refuse.
• "No DSS", "no children", and similar blanket exclusions in adverts or referencing criteria are now unlawful discriminatory practice.

For the mechanics of the new possession grounds, see the new Section 8 grounds. For what a compliant tenancy agreement looks like now, see what is a tenancy agreement.

What happened to my existing AST on 1 May 2026?

If you had a fixed-term (or expired-fixed-term, now-periodic) AST in place on 30 April 2026, it converted automatically to an assured periodic tenancy at midnight on 1 May 2026. Nothing needed to be signed and there was no break in the tenancy — the AST and the new periodic tenancy are treated as one continuous letting. Existing compliance documents (gas safety certificate, EICR, EPC) did not need to be re-served, and the deposit did not need to be re-registered.

The original written agreement was not invalidated. Most of its terms — rent amount, the property description, repairing obligations, the deposit clause — continue to bind both parties exactly as before. However, a small number of clauses that were standard in pre-2026 AST templates are now void or unenforceable, because the Act overrides them by operation of law. The main ones are:

• Fixed-term clauses. Any wording specifying a term of any length (for example "for a term of 12 months") has no effect. The tenancy is periodic and open-ended regardless of what the document says, and a landlord who tries to claim the tenancy is still fixed-term, or adds a purported end date, risks a civil penalty of up to £7,000 under the new enforcement regime.
• Contractual rent review clauses. Index-linked, agreed-formula, and "annual review" provisions in the original agreement no longer operate. Any rent increase after 1 May 2026 must go through the statutory Section 13 mechanism, whatever the tenancy agreement says about rent reviews.
• Landlord break clauses. Clauses letting a landlord end the tenancy early and without a Section 8 ground are now redundant — a landlord can only recover possession using a valid statutory ground, however the agreement is worded.
• Blanket pet-ban clauses. Tenants now have a statutory right to ask for consent to keep a pet, which a landlord cannot unreasonably refuse. A flat "no pets" clause in the agreement is overridden by this implied term.
• Clauses requiring the tenant to give more than two months' written notice. Two months is now both the statutory minimum and, for most tenancies, the practical maximum a landlord can hold a tenant to; any excess above two months in the old agreement is not enforceable.

One important exception — rent paid in advance. Unlike the clauses above, an existing requirement to pay several months' rent in advance (common in some pre-2026 AST agreements) is not automatically void. The one-month rent-in-advance cap introduced by the Act applies only to tenancies entered into on or after 1 May 2026. If your original AST required, say, six or twelve months' rent up front, that term continues to apply for the life of that specific tenancy. It only becomes unenforceable if the tenant enters into a genuinely new tenancy after 1 May 2026 (for example, moving to a different property you own).

If your former AST contains any of the now-void clauses, they simply have no legal effect — the tenant cannot be held to them, but they cause no problem sitting unused in the document, and there is no legal requirement to reissue the agreement.

What landlords with former ASTs must do

1. Confirm you gave every existing tenant the government Information Sheet by 31 May 2026. This was the single most important short-term obligation created by the Act. If your former tenancy was wholly or partly in writing, you were required to hand or send every named tenant a copy of the government-produced Information Sheet. If it is now overdue, provide it immediately — the exposure does not disappear with time. A local authority can impose a civil penalty of up to £7,000 for the breach, rising to a maximum of £40,000 if the failure continues or is repeated. If your former tenancy was wholly verbal, you were instead required to provide a written statement of the main terms by the same date — see our guide on verbal tenancies under the new regime. Always check the current penalty bands on gov.uk, as enforcement guidance can be updated.
2. Stop relying on Section 21 — and if you already served a notice, watch the 31 July 2026 deadline. No new Section 21 notice can be served on or after 1 May 2026. A notice served before that date remains usable only while it is within six months of its service date and before 31 July 2026, whichever comes first. Miss that window and the notice lapses permanently. For live possession matters, see Section 8 notice to quit and when a landlord should use a Section 8 notice.
3. Review your tenancy template before granting any new letting. A tenancy granted on or after 1 May 2026 must comply with the post-reform framework in full, including the one-month rent-in-advance cap (which does not apply retrospectively to older tenancies). The standard pre-2026 AST template is not fit for a new letting. See how to write a tenancy agreement now.
4. Switch your rent-increase process to Section 13. Increases must use Form 4, give at least two months' notice, and cannot happen more than once every 52 weeks. See rent increases and Form 4 — landlord's notice proposing a new rent if a rent review is due.
5. Check any rent-arrears cases against the new Ground 8 threshold. The mandatory rent-arrears ground now requires three months' arrears (13 weeks for a weekly tenancy) at both the date of notice and the date of hearing, up from two months, and the notice period is four weeks rather than two. See dealing with rent arrears and Section 8 grounds for possession.
6. Audit advertising and referencing criteria. "No DSS" and "no children" restrictions, even informal ones in listings or referencing criteria, are unlawful discriminatory practice under the reformed regime.

Common questions about former ASTs

Do I need to issue a new tenancy agreement?

No. The existing agreement remains valid and binding for everything that has not been overridden by the Act. Issuing a new agreement is optional, and in many cases unwise — a new agreement could be treated as creating a new tenancy, which can reset certain protected periods against some possession grounds (for example, the 12-month restriction on using the sale or moving-in grounds against a newly-created tenancy).

My tenant paid several months' rent in advance. Is that still allowed?

For a tenancy entered into before 1 May 2026, yes — the rent-in-advance cap does not apply retrospectively. Existing arrangements continue on their original terms. If the same tenant later signs a genuinely new tenancy with you, that new tenancy is subject to the one-month cap.

My old AST said the tenant must give two months' notice. Is that still binding?

Two months from the tenant matches the statutory minimum under the new regime, so a clause requiring exactly two months continues to operate as a matter of practice. If your AST required more than two months from the tenant, the excess is not enforceable — the tenant cannot be held to anything beyond the statutory two months.

Are old AST templates still useful for anything?

Only as a historical reference or for tenancies that genuinely still predate 1 May 2026 and have not been varied. Pre-reform AST templates contain fixed-term, rent-review and notice provisions that are void or unenforceable if used for a new letting, and using one risks the £7,000 civil penalty regime for failing to meet the current written-statement requirements. Always use a template designed for the post-1-May-2026 regime for any new tenancy.

What is Ground 8 and why does the threshold matter?

Ground 8 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988 is the mandatory rent-arrears possession ground — if the tenant meets the arrears threshold at both notice and hearing, the court must grant possession. From 1 May 2026 that threshold rose from two months' to three months' rent arrears (13 weeks for a weekly tenancy), and the minimum notice period rose from two weeks to four weeks. This gives tenants materially more time to clear arrears before a mandatory ground becomes available. See gov.uk's grounds for possession guidance.

Authoritative sources

• Renters' Rights Act 2025 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Housing Act 1988, as amended (legislation.gov.uk)
• Guide to the Renters' Rights Act (gov.uk)
• Enforcement measures for landlords: Renters' Rights Act 2025 (gov.uk)
• Grounds for possession: guidance for landlords and letting agents (gov.uk)

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This is legal information, not legal advice. It explains the law of England & Wales in general terms current as at 17 July 2026 and does not take account of your specific circumstances. Reading it does not create a solicitor–client relationship. TenancyAgreementService.co.uk is not a law firm and is not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. For advice on your own situation, consult a regulated solicitor or check the current position on gov.uk before acting, particularly on the 31 July 2026 court deadline and any penalty figures.