What is a Tenancy Agreement?

A tenancy agreement is the legal contract between a landlord and a tenant that creates the right to occupy a residential property in exchange for rent. Since 1 May 2026, the form, content, and effect of tenancy agreements in England have been transformed by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. This page explains what a tenancy agreement now is, what it must contain, and where it differs from the assured shorthold tenancy that preceded it.

The current form: assured periodic tenancy

For private rentals in England, the only form of assured tenancy now available is the assured periodic tenancy. It has these defining features:

• It is open-ended — there is no fixed term and no end date.

• It runs in periods of one month or less, matching the rent payment cycle. Most agreements have monthly periods.

• The tenant can end it at any time by giving at least two months’ written notice (less by mutual agreement).

• The landlord can only end it by serving a Section 8 notice based on one of the statutory grounds in the revised Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988, and obtaining a possession order at court.

Older tenancy types — assured shorthold tenancies, statutory periodic tenancies, contractual periodic tenancies — were swept aside on 1 May 2026. Every assured tenancy now in existence is an assured periodic tenancy, whether granted before or after that date.

What the agreement must contain

For tenancies granted on or after 1 May 2026, landlords must provide tenants with a written statement of terms. The statement can be a standalone document or built into the body of the tenancy agreement; what matters is that the prescribed information is in writing and provided to the tenant before the tenancy is entered into.

The required content is set out in secondary legislation but, in summary, includes:

• The names of all parties — landlord and tenant — and a service address for each.

• The full address of the property let.

• The rent and the rent period (typically monthly).

• The deposit amount and the protection scheme used.

• The date the tenancy is to begin.

• Confirmation that the tenancy is an assured periodic tenancy under the Housing Act 1988 (as amended).

• The key statutory rights of the tenant, including the right to request a pet, the right not to be discriminated against, and the right to challenge a rent increase at the First-tier Tribunal.

In addition, the landlord must provide the tenant with the government’s Information Sheet, a separate document that explains the legal framework. For tenancies entered into before 1 May 2026, the Information Sheet must be provided to the tenant by 31 May 2026 — see our guide for landlords with former ASTs.

What cannot be in the agreement

Several provisions that were standard in pre-RRA tenancy agreements are now void. They cannot lawfully be included in a new agreement, and where they appear in an existing one they have no effect:

• A fixed term. Six-month, twelve-month, or longer terms are no longer permitted in private residential lettings.

• Contractual rent review clauses. The only mechanism for raising rent is a Section 13 notice on Form 4, with two months’ notice, no more than once every 52 weeks.

• Rent in advance of more than one month during the tenancy. A maximum of one month’s rent in advance can be required, and only after the tenancy has been signed.

• Blanket pet bans. Tenants have a statutory right to request a pet which the landlord cannot unreasonably refuse.

• Notice periods longer than two months from the tenant. Two months is both the floor and the ceiling for tenant notice unless the parties expressly agree to less.

• Bidding clauses or “best offer” provisions. Rental bidding is prohibited.

• Discriminatory criteria in selection, including refusal of tenants on benefits or with children.

Verbal vs written agreements

A tenancy can technically still be created verbally — possession, payment of rent, and acceptance create a tenancy by operation of law regardless of paperwork. However, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 effectively makes verbal-only arrangements untenable for landlords. The written-statement requirement applies to every tenancy, and a landlord who fails to provide one is exposed to a £7,000 civil penalty enforceable by the local authority.

For practical purposes, every new tenancy in England now has a written component. For more on what to do about historical verbal arrangements, see verbal tenancy agreements under the new regime.

When the agreement does not apply: tenancies outside the assured regime

Not every residential let is an assured tenancy. The Housing Act 1988 carves out several categories that fall outside the regime. The most important for landlords are:

• Lodgers. A lodger sharing the landlord’s own home is an excluded occupier under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 does not apply. See our guide to lodger agreements.

• High-rent tenancies. Tenancies with annual rent above £100,000 are not assured tenancies.

• Holiday lets. Genuine short-term holiday lettings are excluded.

• Lettings by educational institutions to their own students, and qualifying private purpose-built student accommodation operating under an approved code of practice.

• Company lets. Where the tenant is a limited company, the tenancy is not assured.

Wales has its own regime under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 does not apply there. See our Wales guide.

Practical implications for landlords

The shift from AST to assured periodic tenancy is more than a renaming exercise. It changes how landlords should think about their portfolio:

• Tenant turnover is no longer scheduled. There is no end-of-fixed-term moment when the tenancy naturally pauses. The tenant can stay indefinitely; the landlord must show grounds to recover possession.

• Documentation is more important, not less. The written statement of terms is now a statutory document, not a contractual nicety. Failures are enforced by the local authority, not just the courts.

• Rent increases require planning. Form 4 must be served two months before the new rent takes effect, and the rent cannot rise more than once a year. Annual review must be timetabled into your management calendar.

• Possession is a managed process. Section 8, evidence, court hearings, and the limitations of certain grounds (such as the 12-month protected period for landlord-sale and own-occupation grounds) must be planned for.

For the full statutory framework, see our Renters’ Rights Act 2025 guide. For the practical drafting steps, see how to write a tenancy agreement.