Renters’ Rights Act
Assured periodic tenancy: what it means for tenants
Since 1 May 2026, most private renters in England have an assured periodic tenancy. Here’s what that means, what happened to your fixed term, how you can leave, and the information sheet your landlord should have sent you.
England · The rules in force since 1 May 2026 · Guidance checked October 2026
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Check a property freeWhat is an assured periodic tenancy?
It is a tenancy with no fixed end date that rolls on from one rent period to the next, usually month to month, until you or your landlord ends it in the way the law allows. Since 1 May 2026 it is the standard private tenancy in England: most assured shorthold tenancies became assured periodic tenancies on that date, and new private tenancies start as one.
What does “periodic” mean?
It means the tenancy runs in periods, matching how often the rent is due. If you pay monthly, each month is a period. The period matters when you give notice, because where no shorter notice has been agreed in writing your notice has to end on a day the rent is due, or the day before.
What happened to my fixed term?
It ended on 1 May 2026. An end date written into an older agreement no longer operates, so your landlord can’t hold you to the rest of a twelve-month term, and you can’t be asked to leave because it has run out. The tenancy simply carries on.
How is it different from an assured shorthold tenancy?
An assured shorthold tenancy could have a fixed term and could be ended by a section 21 notice, without a reason. An assured periodic tenancy has no fixed term, and section 21 no longer exists: a landlord needs a legal ground, such as selling the home or serious rent arrears, and a court order if you don’t leave.
What replaced section 21 and the grounds a landlord can use now.
How do I end an assured periodic tenancy?
Give your landlord at least two months’ notice in writing. Rent is due until the notice ends, even if you move out sooner. Two months is the most a landlord can require from you, so an agreement asking for three no longer binds you.
How to give notice that actually works — the end date is the part people get wrong.
Can I leave in the first few months?
Yes. There is no minimum term on an assured periodic tenancy, so you can give two months’ notice at any point, including straight after you move in. Your landlord, by contrast, can’t use the selling or moving-in grounds in the first 12 months of a tenancy.
Can my landlord put the rent up?
Once a year, and not in the first 12 months, using a Form 4A notice with at least two months’ notice. A rent review clause in your agreement no longer applies. If you think the new rent is above the market rent, you can ask the First-tier Tribunal to decide it.
Is your rent increase notice valid? · Work out what a rise comes to · How to challenge it at the tribunal
What is the Renters’ Rights Act information sheet?
It is a short government document explaining the changes of 1 May 2026. Landlords had to give a copy to every named tenant on an existing written tenancy by 31 May 2026, and it only counts if it is the version downloaded from GOV.UK. Where a tenancy had only ever been agreed verbally, the landlord had to give the tenant its terms in writing instead.
Read the information sheet on GOV.UK. It is the same for everyone, so you can read it whether or not your landlord sent it.
My landlord never gave me the information sheet. What can I do?
Tell your council, which enforces the rule and can fine a landlord up to £7,000. Your tenancy still became an assured periodic tenancy on 1 May 2026 whether or not you received the sheet, so your rights are the same either way. Keep the date you asked for it and any reply.
Find your council on GOV.UK. Lodgers don’t get the sheet, because their arrangement isn’t an assured tenancy.
Do I need to sign a new tenancy agreement?
No. An existing tenancy changed on 1 May 2026 without anyone signing anything, and the parts of your old agreement that conflict with the new rules, such as the end date, a section 21 clause or a rent review clause, no longer apply. If your landlord asks you to sign a new agreement, read it before you do: a fixed term can’t be added back, and nothing obliges you to sign.
Is my tenancy an assured periodic tenancy?
Most likely, if you rent a home or a room from a private landlord in England who doesn’t live there. It doesn’t cover lodgers or anyone else whose landlord lives in the same home, most social housing, regulated tenancies from before 1989, holiday lets, or renters in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, which have their own rules.
What should I keep?
Your tenancy agreement, the information sheet or written terms if you got them, every notice with the email or envelope it came in, and a record of rent paid. Almost every right on this page is enforced on evidence, and it is easiest to keep at the time.
- Moving soon? The new tenancy checklist.
- Every change on 1 May 2026: the new landlord rules.
Sources: Renters’ Rights Act overview for tenants, the Renters’ Rights Act information sheet and the guide to the Renters’ Rights Act, all on GOV.UK, and Shelter. This guide covers common private tenancies in England and is general information, not legal advice. Different rules apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to lodgers, social housing and some specialist accommodation.
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