Tenancy Agreement UK 2026: What It Must Contain (AST vs Periodic Tenancy)

General information, not legal advice. A tenancy agreement is a binding contract; for a contested clause or an unusual let, take advice before you sign.

A tenancy agreement is the single document every other obligation hangs off, and in 2026 it is also the one most likely to be out of date. The Renters’ Rights Act abolished Section 21 and fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies for new lets from 1 May 2026, so a template downloaded a year ago can now contain clauses that are unenforceable or actively wrong. Serve the wrong one and you do not just look unprofessional, you weaken your own position if anything is ever contested.

This guide, for landlords and agents alike, covers what kind of tenancy you are actually creating in 2026, what a valid written agreement must contain, the documents that have to go with it, and the clauses to delete before you reuse an old template.

AST or the new periodic tenancy? The 1 May 2026 line

The date the tenancy starts decides which regime applies:

The practical upshot: a 2026 agreement is a periodic agreement. It should not promise a 12-month fixed term, should not mention Section 21, and should not pretend the tenant is locked in for a year. The mechanics of the switch are covered in the periodic tenancy conversion guide.

What a valid written agreement must contain

You are not legally forced to use a written agreement, but going without one in 2026 is reckless, and you must in any case give the tenant written terms. A sound agreement records, at minimum:

Keep it in plain English. Under consumer law an unclear or one-sided term can be struck out, so a clause the tenant cannot understand is worse than no clause at all.

The documents that must go WITH the agreement

The agreement is not served alone. Miss the accompanying paperwork and you create compliance gaps: some carry their own penalties, and a deposit failure will bar a Section 8 possession order until you fix it. Before or at move-in, serve:

The full move-in set is in the documents a landlord must give a new tenant checklist. The agreement is the cover; these are the proof.

Clauses to delete before you reuse an old template

Most problems come from recycling a pre-2026 template without cleaning it up. Cut or rewrite:

If in doubt, fewer, clearer, lawful clauses beat a long template stuffed with terms a court would ignore.

For agents: the agreement is where your file starts

For a managed property the tenancy agreement is the spine of the client file, and the first thing a redress scheme or an incoming landlord will ask to see. The expectation is a current, regime-correct agreement, signed by all parties, with the accompanying documents served and dated, all retrievable in seconds. Reusing a branch template from 2024 across new 2026 lets is exactly the kind of systemic slip that turns one complaint into a portfolio-wide problem. One source of truth for the agreement, the version and the served documents is what keeps the file defensible.

Getting it right without paying a solicitor per let

Most landlords do not need a bespoke contract for a standard let; they need a current, correctly-built agreement and the discipline to serve the right documents with it. That is what LetCompliance builds in. The free tenancy agreement template tool generates an agreement that picks the right regime from your start date, a pre-2026 AST or the new periodic tenancy, so you are not hand-editing an out-of-date Word file. Inside the app you can pre-fill it from the tenancy, attach the written statement of terms, send it for e-signature, and keep the signed copy and every served document on the property’s file as dated evidence.

It is a strong sample template, not legal advice, and for anything unusual you should still take advice, but for a standard let it removes the single most common source of error: an agreement that quietly went out of date.

The one-line takeaway

In 2026 your tenancy agreement is a periodic agreement: no fixed-term lock-in, no Section 21, no banned fees, and never served without the EPC, Gas Safety, EICR, deposit prescribed information and a written statement of terms alongside it (the How to Rent guide was withdrawn on 1 May 2026). Build it from the start date, serve the full set, and keep the signed copy where you can find it.

Build a 2026-ready tenancy agreement free, or start a LetCompliance trial to send it for e-signature and keep every served document court-ready on the property file.