Landlord Law Essentials

Landlord Law Essentials Part 5 - Tenancy Agreements

Contrary to what many people think, it is actually possible to create a tenancy with no written document. In fact, as soon as you give the tenant the keys and let them in, a tenancy will (assuming you are charging rent) have been created.

However, this is NOT advisable. Read on!

Five reasons why you need a tenancy agreement
Not all tenancy agreements are the same
Renters Rights Act 2025 changes
Tenancy Agreements / Occupation Contracts in Wales
Amending tenancy agreements and occupation contracts
Further Reading

Five reasons why you need a tenancy agreement

(For England – we look at Wales below):

1. So, everyone can remember what was agreed.

Tests show that people often, quite genuinely, have different recollections of events. If it is written down in your tenancy agreement that the rent is £1,775 pcm, the tenant cannot argue that they only agreed to pay £1,725.

2. To protect the landlord’s position.

For example, under the general law, tenants are only actually forbidden to do major building work. If you don’t want them to redecorate the rooms in different colours, you need to put that in the tenancy agreement.

You also need to include clauses providing for rent to be paid at the start of the rental period rather than (as is the position by default in law) at the end.

There are many other such clauses which landlords will want included.

3. If you take a deposit, it is essential to have a tenancy agreement.

Your chances of winning a disputed arbitration for deductions from the deposit are virtually zero if you do not have a tenancy agreement containing the correct clauses. We will be looking at tenancy deposits later in this course.

4. If your tenant is in receipt of any form of benefit

The authorities will not normally process the claim without proof of the tenancy. Which means a written tenancy agreement. And finally:

5. After 1 May 2026, you can be fined up to £7,000 if you do not give a tenancy agreement

Although most landlords will want a tenant to have signed a tenancy agreement, so the tenants will become bound by its clauses, rogue and criminal landlords often fail to provide them.

To counter this, the government has made it mandatory (in s12 of the Renters’ Rights Act) for landlords to give tenants a ‘written statement of terms’. In effect, a tenancy agreement.

It is now a breach punishable by a Civil Penalty Notice of up to £7,000 if a tenancy agreement is not given before the tenancy is entered into or, in some situations (such as where someone succeeds to a tenancy under the succession rules), within 28 days of the landlord acknowledging the tenant’s right to a tenancy.

These rules took effect from 1 May 2026.

However, notwithstanding this, it is in a landlord’s legal interest to give a tenancy agreement anyway before the tenancy is entered into.

Why issuing a tenancy agreement in advance is important

A tenancy is, in law, a mixture of land law and contract law.

The land law part is the fact that a tenancy is a ‘legal interest in land’
The contractual part is the terms and conditions which bind both the landlord and tenant.

Many terms in tenancies are implied under law (and will form part of the tenancy whether a tenancy agreement is signed or not), but others are agreed between the parties and evidenced by the signing of the tenancy agreement.

Under contract law, a term of the contract must be disclosed to all parties before the contract is made; otherwise, it will be unenforceable. So, as most tenancy agreements will contain clauses to protect the landlord’s position, it is vitally important that they are shown to the tenants and that they sign the tenancy agreement before the tenants are given the keys and allowed to move into the property.

Now the Renters Rights Act is in force, this is even more important!

Not all tenancy agreements are the same

Most people glibly talk about giving ‘a tenancy agreement’ as if there is only one. However, the contents of a tenancy agreement should vary according to the circumstances of the tenancy.

It is important that you use the correct one:

A tenancy agreement sets out the rules under which the tenancy will operate. If something important is omitted, then the landlord may experience problems
If the wrong form is used, for example, a form suitable for an assured tenancy, if actually the tenancy is a common law one (e.g. because the landlord lives in self-contained accommodation in the same building), then people reading the tenancy agreement will be mislead as to the legal status of the tenancy, and incorrect advice may be provided.

In my Landlord Law service, our tenancy agreement can be adapted to take into account the circumstances, for example:

A let of a whole property to one person or several people signing together, versus a let of a room in a shared house
Where the landlord pays the bills (although this is not really advisable now, in view of the restrictions on increasing rent, discussed in part 7)
Where the let is to a limited company
Where the let is made by a landlord who lives in self-contained accommodation in the same building
Where the tenant has signed up to an alternative deposit scheme rather than a traditional deposit scheme.

Our agreements can also be varied depending on whether the rent is paid weekly or monthly. Users can add special clauses, such as a clause incorporating the landlord’s headlease.

If you are not sure what sort of tenancy agreement is right for your property, I have a special (and free) Which Tenancy Agreement Guide which you can use to find out.

Renters Rights Act 2025 changes

As mentioned above, from 1 May 2026 when stage 1 of the Act came into force, new rules have come into effect regarding tenancy agreements, punishable by Civil Penalty fines of up to £7,000 each. As follows:

Failure to provide a written tenancy agreement (or ‘written statement of terms) at the correct time (normally before the tenancy starts).
Failure to include information prescribed by the government in regulations. The required information includes details about the property and the parties, as well as tenants’ rights, for example, regarding the condition of the property and under the Equality Act.
Attempting to include a fixed term in the tenancy agreement. The fixed-term clause will be invalid and unenforceable, but will still make landlords liable for the penalty.
Using a ground for possession where notice should have been included in the tenancy agreement (the Act refers to grounds 1B, 2ZA to 2ZD, 4, 5 to 5H, 6A or 18 in Schedule 2, but in most cases this will be the new ground 4A, discussed in Part 11)

So do not use an old tenancy agreement. It could cost you dear.

Many organisations are publishing new compliant tenancy agreement forms, including my Landlord Law service, Propertymark and the NRLA.

What about existing tenancies at commencement (1 May 2026)?

They will (if they are an assured shorthold tenancy or an assured fixed term tenancy) have converted to assured periodic tenancies.

All fixed terms will have ended immediately and without completing their term. They will become periodic automatically.

It will not be necessary for you to issue a new tenancy agreement to your existing tenants. Instead, the government has published an information sheet which must be served on tenants on or before 31 May 2026.

The information sheet can be downloaded from here.

You must be sure to keep a record to prove service; a signed receipt from the tenants will normally suffice.

Note that failure to serve the information form before 31 May 2026 will also be a breach of the rules, punishable by a Civil Penalty fine of up to £7,000.

Note – post-commencement, it may be more difficult to issue new tenancy agreements

In the past, landlords would often issue a new tenancy agreement at ‘renewal’, i.e., at the end of the fixed term, giving the tenant a new fixed term.

This was an opportunity for the landlord to use a different tenancy agreement form, or an amended version of the existing form, with any mistakes corrected.

However, now that the Renters Rights Act is in force, there will be no ‘renewals’. Neither will tenants be under the (implied or actual) threat of a section 21 eviction if they refuse to sign a new form.

It will probably become like the situation with 1977 Rent Act protected tenants, who are normally advised against signing a new form, as it is unlikely to be to their advantage.

What this means is that landlords will have to be very careful to ensure that the tenancy agreement signed by tenants is correct and has all the necessary clauses in it. You may not be able to change it later.

This also applies to guarantees, although the new Landlord Law guarantee is designed to last.

Note to letting agents.

In view of the potential penalties and the potential difficulties in getting a wrong agreement amended, issuing a tenancy agreement should not be left to junior staff. All tenancy agreements issued to tenants should be approved by senior staff in order to protect your position.

Tenancy Agreements / Occupation Contracts in Wales

On 1 December 2022 the law in Wales changed with the coming into force of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.

This had the following effect:

All tenancies and licenses which fell within the definition (this would include virtually all ASTs) were automatically converted to ‘occupation contracts’ on 1/12/2022
The terms and conditions of those contracts were automatically amended to include the various prescribed occupation contract terms under the Welsh legislation
All landlords of existing contracts at that time had to serve a ‘conversion contract’ on their contract holders, informing them of the new terms and conditions that would apply to them
Going forward, Welsh occupation contracts need to include all the Welsh prescribed terms (or permitted variants) based on the Welsh model contracts – which are very long.
Failure to provide a written contract, or an incomplete written contract, will entitle tenants to claim a financial penalty
There are also rules which apply when a periodic tenancy follows a fixed term, which can change the terms of your contract automatically unless you provide for this in your fixed-term contract
If the terms of the contract change (even if this is due to new regulations), you must serve a new contract on your tenants or suffer the penalty
Landlords must also provide ‘prescribed information’, in particular their address, using the proper prescribed form or be subject to a penalty.

A lot of information will be available to landlords via Rent Smart Wales (all landlords of Welsh property must be registered with them).

My Landlord Law service has a huge number of helpful FAQs and articles, and we also have compliant occupation contracts and guidance on preparing a ‘conversation contract’ (for those landlords who have still not done this).

You can see the content that is available on the Wales page.

Amending tenancy agreements and occupation contracts

Many landlords, if the form of tenancy they have does not fit their needs, will adapt it themselves. However, you need to be very careful indeed about doing this.

For example, if your property is in Wales, many of the prescribed clauses cannot be changed or can only be changed if the change benefits your contract holders.

In England, you could be vulnerable to a penalty if your amendments remove required information from your tenancy agreement.

Then there are the special rules on unfair terms in consumer contracts, which apply to tenancy agreements and occupation contracts. If a clause is unfair under the regulations, it will be invalid and unenforceable.

Generally, clauses will be unenforceable if they attempt to take away a right a tenant or contract holder would otherwise have had – but you can’t know if you are doing this unless you have a VERY clear understanding of what those rights are in the first place.

If you want to change the terms of a professionally drafted tenancy agreement or occupation contract, you should always take legal advice first.

Note that I am always available to advise Landlord Law members in our members’ forum and will often draft new clauses for members if they ask me.

Including procedures

One amendment you may want to consider though, is including procedures for tenants to follow in certain circumstances. For example:

For reporting a repair or other issue
When requesting permission to keep a pet
When about to fall into arrears
When giving notice to vacate

These will make life easier for both you and your tenants, having a process to follow and (ideally) standard forms to complete for each of the procedures.

If you have a problematic tenant who has failed to follow the proper procedure (assuming they have signed up to this in their tenancy agreement), this will help you if you are ever involved in court proceedings or mediation.

We have some procedures for Landlord Law members to use, explained here.