What a tenancy agreement must say in England in 2026

Since 1 May 2026 every new residential letting in England is an assured periodic tenancy. Fixed terms and section 21 are gone, so an agreement copied from an old AST template is now the wrong document.

Published 25 July 2026·4 min read

A tenancy agreement is the contract that lets a tenant occupy a property as their home in exchange for rent. In England, since the Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026, every new residential letting is an assured periodic tenancy: there is no fixed term, no section 21 "no-fault" notice, and the tenancy runs month to month until the tenant gives notice or the landlord obtains a possession order on a statutory ground. Most templates still circulating online are pre-reform ASTs and no longer describe the tenancy you actually have.

The eight things the agreement must get right

1. The parties and an address for service. The landlord must give an address in England or Wales at which the tenant can serve notices — section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Without it, rent can become legally unrecoverable until the address is supplied.

2. A periodic term, not a fixed one. Write the tenancy as monthly periodic. A clause promising "a fixed term of 12 months" no longer reflects the statutory position and creates a conflict between your paperwork and the law.

3. How it ends. The tenant may end the tenancy by giving two months' notice. The landlord cannot simply give notice: possession requires a section 8 notice on a Schedule 2 ground and, if the tenant does not leave, a court order.

4. Rent and how it is increased. State the amount, the payment date and the method. Increases follow the statutory procedure — an "annual uplift" clause drafted for an AST does not override it.

5. The deposit, within the cap. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 caps a deposit at five weeks' rent where annual rent is under £50,000, and six weeks at or above that. Anything more is a prohibited payment. The deposit must be protected in an authorised scheme and the prescribed information given to the tenant.

6. The prescribed documents. Before the tenant moves in: the current How to Rent guide, an EPC, an EICR, a Gas Safety certificate where there are gas appliances, and a completed Right to Rent check under the Immigration Act 2014. These are not box-ticking: failing to provide them limits the grounds on which possession can later be recovered and can carry penalties.

7. Pets. Tenants have a statutory right to request to keep a pet, and the request cannot be unreasonably refused. A blanket "no pets" clause is no longer enforceable as drafted.

8. Joint and several liability. With two or more tenants, say expressly that each is liable for the whole rent — otherwise recovering arrears from one tenant when another leaves becomes difficult.

England only

The Renters' Rights Act regime described here applies to England. Wales retains its own system of occupation contracts under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, with different notices and different terminology. Scotland and Northern Ireland are separate again. A template that does not tell you which jurisdiction it is for should not be used.

What to do if you are using an old AST

Existing tenancies converted into the new regime by operation of the Act; you do not need the tenant to sign a fresh document for the law to apply. But your written agreement should be replaced at the next opportunity, because two problems compound quietly:

Unenforceable clauses look enforceable. A tenant reading "section 21 notice" or "fixed term expires" in their own agreement may believe they must leave when they need not.
Compliance drifts. The old checklists did not include the current prescribed-document set, and possession claims fail on precisely those omissions.

The practical order of work

Run the Right to Rent check before anything is signed.
Assemble EPC, EICR, gas safety certificate and the current How to Rent guide.
Set the deposit at or below the statutory cap, and protect it within the statutory deadline.
Issue a periodic assured tenancy agreement that reflects the above.
Keep dated proof of everything you served. Possession claims are won and lost on that file.

Generate a compliant agreement

Our guided template drafts an assured periodic tenancy for England with the deposit cap checked as you type, the prescribed-document checklist built in, the statutory pet-request right, guarantor and joint-and-several clauses, and a warning before download if any pre-condition is missing. PDF and Word, one payment, no subscription.

→ Assured Tenancy Agreement (Periodic)