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

A tenancy agreement for a new let in England has to be written for an assured periodic tenancy: since 1 May 2026 every new assured tenancy is one, whatever an old AST template says. That means no fixed term, two months’ notice from the tenant, and the written statement of terms given before the tenancy is entered into.

If you want the document itself, the 2026 tenancy agreement template builds it as an assured periodic tenancy.

You've found your tenant and you need an agreement for them to sign. It's the single document every other obligation hangs off, and in 2026 it's also the one most likely to be out of date. The Renters’ Rights Act abolished Section 21 and fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies from 1 May 2026, for existing tenancies as well as new ones. A template downloaded a year ago can now contain clauses that are unenforceable or actively wrong. Serve the wrong one and you don't 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.

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.

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

The date the tenancy starts decides which regime applies:

• Started before 1 May 2026: it began as an assured shorthold tenancy (AST), usually with a fixed term. These converted to periodic assured tenancies automatically on 1 May 2026; you do not re-sign, but the way you end them has changed.
• Starts on or after 1 May 2026: there is no fixed term and no AST. Every new tenancy is a periodic assured tenancy that rolls month to month (or per rent period) from day one. There is no Section 21 “no-fault” route; possession runs through Section 8 grounds.

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.

From £7.99 a month, LetCompliance writes that periodic agreement for you, pre-filled from the property and tenant records, with no fixed term or Section 21 wording to strip out. Get started

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:

• The parties: full legal names of every landlord and every tenant (and any guarantor).
• The property: full address and what is included (parking, garden, furniture, outbuildings).
• The rent: the amount, how often it is due, the day it is due, and how it is paid.
• The deposit: the amount (capped at five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks’ where it is £50,000 or more), the scheme it will be protected in, and the timescale.
• The start date and the fact that it is a periodic tenancy.
• Responsibilities: repairs, who insures what, access on 24 hours’ notice, and the tenant’s obligations.
• Notice: how either side ends the tenancy under the post-2026 rules.

The list of what the written terms must include, set against each clause of the agreement, is on the template page.

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 bars a Section 8 possession order on most grounds until you put it right, by protecting it and serving the prescribed information (late still counts) or by returning the deposit. Before or at move-in, serve:

• A valid EPC, Gas Safety certificate and EICR.
• The deposit prescribed information within the deadline. The detail is in the prescribed information guide.
• A written statement of terms before the tenancy is entered into. Separately, the How to Rent guide is no longer needed for new tenancies: GOV.UK withdrew it on 1 May 2026.

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:

• Any fixed-term lock-in that contradicts the periodic regime: “the tenant agrees to a minimum 12-month term” no longer reflects how new tenancies work.
• Every reference to Section 21 or “no-fault” possession. It is gone; leaving it in signals an out-of-date agreement.
• Prohibited fees. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 banned most charges: admin fees, referencing fees, inventory fees, renewal fees. A banned fee clause is unenforceable and risks a penalty; see the Tenant Fees Act guide.
• “Contracting out” of repairing duties. You cannot sign away your statutory repair obligations; the clause simply will not hold.
• Blanket bans on things the law now protects, such as a flat refusal of a reasonable pet request under the Renters’ Rights Act.

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 don't 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. The free tenancy agreement template tool writes the agreement as an assured periodic tenancy, the form every new assured tenancy in England takes since 1 May 2026, so you aren't hand-editing an out-of-date Word file.

When it is a real let, do it from the tenancy record. In LetCompliance the agreement is written as an assured periodic tenancy with the written statement of terms in it, pre-filled from the property and tenant records, then sent for e-signature. The signed copy and every served document stay on the property’s file, dated. Once the agreement is made, one click starts the deposit’s 30-day clock, with reminders 14, 7 and 1 day before protection and the Prescribed Information are due, and the move-in pack sends the certificates to the tenant in one email, with a dated record of each. The rent ledger starts from the same tenancy. Get started, from £7.99 a month →

Either way it is a strong sample agreement, 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, or get started with LetCompliance, from £7.99 a month, to send it for e-signature and keep every served document dated and on the property file.