How to Rent Guide
Quick answer
A government checklist that landlords in England had to give tenants at the start of a new assured shorthold tenancy. GOV.UK withdrew it on 1 May 2026; it is retained only as evidence for Section 21 notices served before that date. It is no longer a document to serve on a new tenant. New tenancies instead require a written statement of terms within 28 days (penalty up to £4,000).
At a glance
- Issuer
- MHCLG / GOV.UK
- When
- Start of every new assured tenancy (England)
- Historic role
- Non-service invalidated Section 21
Full guide
Read the complete landlord guide on How to Rent Guide
Deadlines, fines and step-by-step compliance in our in-depth resource.
Open full guideWhy How to Rent Guide matters for landlords
The How to Rent guide is a 16-page PDF many landlords dismiss as bureaucracy, but serving it with dated evidence has historically been the cleanest proof of a compliant tenancy setup. With Section 21 abolished its role in blocking possession is narrower, but tenant advocacy groups and the PRS Ombudsman still treat non-service as a marker of a poorly-set-up tenancy — and the guide is routinely cited in deposit-dispute adjudications as evidence the tenant was properly informed.
Worked example
A landlord in Reading granted a tenancy on 1 January 2026 and, busy with the move-in, did not serve the How to Rent guide. The deposit was protected, the EPC and gas certificate were issued, but the guide was forgotten. In late 2026 the tenant raises a deposit deduction dispute. The adjudicator notes that the landlord cannot evidence service of the How to Rent guide and weights the dispute in the tenant’s favour on the basis that the tenancy setup was incomplete. Total adjudication award lost: £680. Time saved by skipping the 16-page PDF: zero. The fix is a single dated email at tenancy start that bundles the guide, EPC, gas certificate and Prescribed Information.
Illustrative scenario based on real UK landlord casework patterns. Names and addresses are fictitious.
Common How to Rent Guide mistakes UK landlords make
- Assuming the How to Rent guide is still served on a new tenancy — GOV.UK withdrew it on 1 May 2026 and a new tenancy’s information duty is now the written statement of terms; only keep the copy you served where a Section 21 notice went out before that date — historical ombudsman disputes.
- Serving an out-of-date version — MHCLG updates the guide every few months and serving an old edition does not satisfy the duty.
- Handing the guide to the tenant in person without any written record — service is provable by email or signed acknowledgement, not by claim.
- Forgetting to re-serve the latest version when a fixed term renews into a new tenancy in pre-RRA cases.
What to do this week
- For any new tenancy, provide the written statement of terms before the tenancy is agreed (the withdrawn How to Rent guide no longer applies; the Information Sheet is a one-off catch-up for tenancies that already existed on 1 May 2026).
- Bundle the guide with the EPC, gas certificate and Prescribed Information into a single tenancy-start PDF.
- Email the tenancy pack to every new tenant before move-in and store the sent email as proof of service.
- Set a quarterly diary reminder to re-download the guide and refresh your pack — the version updates more often than landlords expect.
Tracked inside LetCompliance
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Related terms
Additional Licensing
A discretionary HMO licensing scheme a council can introduce under section 56 of the Housing Act 2004 to cover smaller HMOs that fall below the mandatory threshold of five or more occupants in two or more households. (The old three-storey condition was removed on 1 October 2018 — mandatory licensing now applies regardless of how many storeys the property has.) It is separate from selective licensing (which covers all rented homes in a designated area, not just HMOs). Operating an unlicensed HMO where additional licensing applies is a criminal offence with civil penalties up to £30,000 and exposure to a Rent Repayment Order of up to 24 months’ rent.
Compliance Score
A 0-100 score LetCompliance assigns to each property based on how up-to-date its safety certificates and tenancy documents are. 100 means Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, deposit protection and Right to Rent are all current; the score drops as deadlines approach and is recalculated daily.
Form 6A (Section 21 Notice)
The prescribed form landlords used to serve a Section 21 “no-fault” possession notice in England, until Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026 by the Renters Rights Act 2025. Two months’ minimum notice; it was void if any of the prerequisites (deposit protected within 30 days, valid Gas Safety record, current EPC, How to Rent guide given) was missing. Since 1 May 2026 Form 6A is no longer issuable for new notices and possession is pursued under Section 8 / Form 3A only.
Move-in Pack (Statutory)
The bundle of documents an English landlord must serve on a new tenant before — or at the very start of — a tenancy. Standard contents: latest Gas Safety Certificate (CP12), latest EICR, current EPC (band E or above), the deposit Prescribed Information, and a written statement of terms within 28 days of the tenancy starting. Only a deposit failure bars a Section 8 possession order (every ground except 7A and 14, and returning the deposit cures it). Missing gas, EICR or EPC carry their own penalties and weigh against the landlord on the discretionary grounds, but they do not bar possession. The GOV.UK How to Rent guide was withdrawn on 1 May 2026 and is no longer served on new tenants.
PCM (Per Calendar Month)
PCM stands for "per calendar month" — the standard way UK rent is advertised (e.g. "£1,200 pcm"). It is the rent due each month regardless of how many days that month has. To convert a weekly rent (pw) to pcm, multiply by 52 and divide by 12; dividing weekly rent by 4 understates the true monthly figure. The legal tenancy deposit cap and Section 13 rent-increase rules are all calculated from the monthly (or annualised) rent, so getting pcm right matters beyond the advert.
Prescribed Information
A document landlords must give tenants within 30 days of receiving a deposit, alongside deposit protection. It tells the tenant which scheme holds the deposit, how to reclaim it and how to raise a dispute. Failure to serve it can result in a penalty of 1-3 times the deposit.