How to Fill Out an Assured Tenancy Agreement: Clauses and Documents

An assured tenancy agreement in England should record the names of the parties, the property address, the rent and payment schedule, how the tenancy can be ended, the landlord’s repair obligations, and the tenant’s rights to request pets or adaptations. Since 1 May 2026, every new private tenancy created under the Housing Act 1988 is an assured periodic tenancy with no fixed end date, and landlords who fail to give tenants the required written information can be fined up to £7,000.¹ The agreement itself is only part of the job. Several documents must sit alongside it.

The Written Terms the Agreement Must Contain

A tenancy does not have to be in writing to exist. A verbal agreement can still create an assured tenancy. But for any tenancy created on or after 1 May 2026, the landlord is legally required to give the tenant written information covering a defined set of terms.¹

The mandatory contents are:

The full names of every tenant and of the landlord, together with the complete address of the property.
The rent amount, how often it is paid, and the date payment is due.
Information about how either party can bring the tenancy to an end.
Statements setting out the landlord’s duty to keep the property in safe condition.
Information about the tenant’s right to request permission to keep pets or make adaptations to the property.²

None of these can be omitted. The £7,000 fine applies to a failure to provide the written information at all, but a document that leaves out one of the required categories is incomplete on its face.

Address for Service of Notices

Section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 requires the landlord to give the tenant an address in England or Wales where notices can be served on the landlord. Until that address is supplied, any rent otherwise due is treated as not being owed.³ Putting the service address in the agreement itself is the cleanest way to comply. A managing agent’s address is fine, provided it is in England or Wales.

The Deposit Clause

If the landlord is taking a deposit, the agreement needs to be consistent with two rules: the cap on how much can be taken, and the obligation to protect it.

Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, the deposit cannot exceed five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is below £50,000, or six weeks’ rent where the annual rent is £50,000 or more.⁴ A figure written into the agreement that exceeds the cap is not enforceable to the excess.

Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 then requires the landlord to place the deposit in a government-authorised protection scheme within 30 days of receiving it, and within the same 30 days to give the tenant prescribed information about the scheme, the dispute resolution process, and when deductions might be made.⁵ A court can order compensation of up to three times the deposit if the landlord fails to protect it or provide the prescribed information.⁶

Documents That Must Accompany the Agreement

Two documents belong with the agreement at the point the tenant moves in.

Energy Performance Certificate

Every rental property needs a valid Energy Performance Certificate rated A to G. Since April 2020, properties with an EPC rating below E cannot be let unless the landlord has registered a valid exemption. The cap on required spending to reach an E rating is £3,500 including VAT. If that budget is not enough to reach an E, the landlord makes all improvements possible within the budget and registers an “all improvements made” exemption.⁷

Gas Safety Record

If the property has any gas appliances or flues, the landlord must arrange an annual gas safety check. A copy of the record must be given to new tenants before they move in, and to existing tenants within 28 days of each annual check.⁸

The government’s “How to Rent” guide, which used to accompany every AST, was withdrawn on 1 May 2026 and is not required for new tenancies.⁹

What the Agreement Cannot Do

Some clauses that appeared routinely in old AST templates no longer have legal effect, and putting them in a new agreement will not make them enforceable.

The agreement cannot fix a minimum term. Every new private tenancy created on or after 1 May 2026 is an assured periodic tenancy, running on a rolling basis with no fixed end date.² A six-month or twelve-month lock-in is no longer available.

The tenant’s notice period is set by statute: two months’ written notice, or a shorter period if both parties agree to one in writing, with no minimum tenancy length that must be served first.¹⁰

The landlord cannot rely on a Section 21 “no-fault” ground to end the tenancy. Section 21 no longer exists for any tenancy from 1 May 2026, and all landlord possession claims go through the amended grounds under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988.¹¹ Where the agreement sets out how the landlord can end the tenancy, it should refer to those grounds. Two of the most commonly relevant are:

Ground 1, where the landlord or a family member intends to move in, requires four months’ notice and cannot be used within the first 12 months of the tenancy.
Ground 1A, where the landlord intends to sell the property, requires four months’ notice and carries the same 12-month restriction. Rent-arrears grounds under Schedule 2 also remain available, with notice periods scaled to the severity of the arrears.¹²

Checking the Tenancy Can Be Assured in the First Place

The written terms only produce an assured tenancy if the underlying letting qualifies. Under the Housing Act 1988 and its Schedule 1, the tenancy must have started on or after 15 January 1989, the landlord must be a private individual or company rather than a local authority or public body, and the property must be the tenant’s only or main home.¹³ A company taking a flat for an employee to occupy does not create an assured tenancy, because the tenant is a corporate entity.

Rent thresholds apply. The annual rent must fall between £250 and £100,000, or between £1,000 and £100,000 if the property is in Greater London.¹⁴ Payments toward council tax, insurance, repairs, or services are excluded when calculating whether the rent meets the threshold.¹³

Several lettings are excluded regardless of rent, and no agreement can turn them into assured tenancies: properties let by a resident landlord who lives in the same building, premises licensed to sell alcohol for on-site consumption, holiday lets, student accommodation provided by a specified educational institution, and properties occupied primarily for business purposes.¹³ If the letting falls into one of these categories, the assured tenancy framework simply does not apply.

Penalties for Getting the Paperwork Wrong

The written information requirement carries a fine of up to £7,000.¹ Failure to protect a deposit or provide the prescribed information exposes the landlord to a compensation order of up to three times the deposit.⁶ And a landlord who has not supplied a Section 48 service address cannot lawfully demand the rent otherwise due.³ Each of these can be avoided at the drafting stage by putting the required information, and only the required information, on the page.

1
GOV.UK. Written Information You Need to Give to Your Tenant
2
NRLA. Creating an Assured Periodic Tenancy
3
Legislation.gov.uk. Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 – Section 48
4
Shelter Legal England. Tenancy Fees
5
Legislation.gov.uk. Housing Act 2004 – Section 213
6
Legislation.gov.uk. Housing Act 2004 – Section 214
7
GOV.UK. Domestic Private Rented Property: Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard – Landlord Guidance
8
Legislation.gov.uk. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 – Regulation 36
9
GOV.UK. How to Rent
10
GOV.UK. Guide to the Renters Rights Act
11
GOV.UK. Giving Notice of Possession to Tenants Before 1 May 2026
12
GOV.UK. Grounds for Possession: Guidance for Landlords and Letting Agents
13
Shelter Legal England. Tenancies That Cannot Be Assured
14
GOV.UK. Assured Periodic Tenancies: A Guide for Landlords