England · Updated 17 July 2026

Landlord Move-in Pack UK 2026: the 7-document checklist every England landlord must serve

Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, the deposit Prescribed Information and a written statement of terms, given before the tenancy is entered into. How to Rent was withdrawn on 1 May 2026. The complete pack with statute, deadlines and the proof-of-service rules courts actually want to see.

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7 statutory items RRA 2025 commences 1 May 2026 Sourced from legislation.gov.uk + GOV.UK

Why every item matters

Until 1 May 2026 a missing item invalidates a future Section 21 notice under the Deregulation Act 2015 ss.38\u201341. From 1 May 2026, Section 21 is abolished and missing items become the evidence tenants use to defend Section 8 grounds 1 / 1A possession claims.

In practice: the move-in pack you serve at day one is load-bearing for the entire tenancy. A landlord who served the full pack at move-in is in a strong position whatever route to possession they later need. A landlord who skipped one item is exposed for years.

The 7 statutory items

Item 1

Gas Safety Certificate (CP12)

Statute: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 reg 36(6)–(7)
Deadline: Before move-in (and within 28 days of every annual renewal thereafter)
Penalty for non-service: Unlimited fine + up to 6 months imprisonment. Does not bar a Section 8 claim (only the deposit rules do), but it hands a tenant a disrepair argument and weighs against you on discretionary grounds.
Service rule landlords forget: Email the latest CP12 PDF to the tenant. A copy in your filing cabinet is not service — the court wants the moment of delivery.

Primary source

Item 2

Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)

Statute: Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 reg 3(2)(c)
Deadline: Before move-in (every 5 years; 28 days after any renewal)
Penalty for non-service: Civil penalty up to £30,000 per property. Does not bar a Section 8 claim (only the deposit rules do), but an unserved EICR is a gift to a tenant defending on disrepair.
Service rule landlords forget: Send the formal EICR (not the engineer’s job sheet). It must include the property address, inspector body and grade every observation C1 / C2 / C3 / FI.

Primary source

Item 3

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

Statute: Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 reg 6
Deadline: Before tenant enters into the tenancy (valid 10 years)
Penalty for non-service: Trading Standards £200 fixed penalty; MEES civil penalty up to £5,000 for letting below band E without a registered exemption. Does not bar a Section 8 claim.
Service rule landlords forget: Give the EPC to the prospective tenant before they sign. Letting an F or G rated property without a registered exemption is a separate MEES breach.

Primary source

Item 4

Deposit Prescribed Information (PI)

Statute: Housing Act 2004 ss.213–215A + Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007
Deadline: Within 30 days of receiving the deposit
Penalty for non-service: 1×–3× the deposit awarded to the tenant by the County Court. It is also the ONLY compliance failure that stops a court making a Section 8 possession order, on every ground except 7A and 14. Returning the deposit cures it.
Service rule landlords forget: The deposit-scheme certificate is evidence of protection; the Prescribed Information is a separate signed document with deposit amount, scheme details, dispute process and what triggers deductions.

Primary source

Item 5

GOV.UK How to Rent guide — WITHDRAWN, do not serve

Statute: Formerly Deregulation Act 2015 s.39, a Section 21 precondition. Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026.
Deadline: None. GOV.UK withdrew the publication on 1 May 2026.
Penalty for non-service: None. It never barred a Section 8 claim — that was a Section 21 rule, and Section 21 is gone.
Service rule landlords forget: Do not serve it on a new tenancy. GOV.UK retains the guide only where a landlord served a Section 21 notice before 1 May 2026 and that claim is still running. Giving a tenant a copy anyway does no harm, but it satisfies no duty. The written statement of terms below is what replaced it.

Primary source

Item 6

Written tenancy agreement / written statement of terms

Statute: Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (commences 1 May 2026)
Deadline: Within 28 days of the tenancy coming into existence. This is what replaced the How to Rent guide.
Penalty for non-service: Civil penalty up to £4,000 (s16D); deductions are also hard to enforce without written terms
Service rule landlords forget: Include rent, deposit, landlord name and address, repair responsibilities and any rules about pets, smoking and altering the property.

Primary source

Item 7

Renters’ Rights Act 2025 Information Sheet

Statute: Renters’ Rights Act 2025 c. 26 + commencement regulations
Deadline: Was 31 May 2026, and it applied to tenancies already running on 1 May 2026. It is not a document you serve on a NEW tenancy — the written statement of terms above is.
Penalty for non-service: Civil penalty up to £7,000 per breach
Service rule landlords forget: Attach the official GOV.UK Information Sheet PDF to the tenant’s move-in email — a paragraph in your covering letter is not the same as serving the file.

Primary source

How to serve the pack in 5 steps

A repeatable workflow for getting the entire pack into the tenant\u2019s inbox before they pick up the keys, with proof of service that survives a tribunal challenge.

Step 1
Collect every required document
Latest Gas Safety Certificate (CP12), latest EICR, current EPC, the deposit Prescribed Information PDF from your scheme, and a written statement of terms, given before the tenancy is entered into. The How to Rent guide was withdrawn on 1 May 2026 and is not part of a new tenancy pack.
Step 2
Verify the documents are current
CP12 within the last 12 months. EICR within the last 5 years (and any C1 / C2 remedied). EPC band E or above. Written statement of terms served before the tenancy is entered into.
Step 3
Send a single move-in email with all PDFs attached
Email the tenant with the documents as PDF attachments — not as links. Total attachment size under 20 MB so the email reliably reaches Gmail / Outlook / iCloud.
Step 4
Record the date and time of service
Save the sent email and any read-receipt. The LetCompliance move-in pack sender writes one structured row per attachment to your audit log so each document is independently provable.
Step 5
Re-serve when documents are renewed
Each year (Gas Safety) or when a renewed EICR or EPC is issued, send the new version to the existing tenant within 28 days of issue.

Inside LetCompliance

Send the entire pack in one click — with one audit row per attachment

On the property page the move-in pack sender pre-ticks every uploaded statutory document, shows an amber warning for anything missing (with statute reference and the GOV.UK link), and emails the tenant via Resend with the landlord set as reply-to. The audit log writes one structured row per attachment so the tribunal export shows each CP12, EICR and EPC as its own entry.

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Move-in pack FAQs

Is email service of a Gas Safety Certificate enough?

Yes — service by email with the PDF attached is widely accepted in England, provided the tenancy agreement allows electronic notice. Keep a timestamped copy in your audit log. A link to a folder is not service; the file itself must reach the tenant’s inbox.

What blocks a Section 8 possession claim?

Deposit compliance, and registration on the PRS Database once it opens. For an assured tenancy beginning on or after 1 May 2026 the court cannot make a Section 8 possession order while the deposit is unprotected, the scheme’s requirements are unmet or the Prescribed Information has not been given, on every ground except 7A and 14 (anti-social behaviour). Returning the deposit cures it. A missing CP12, EICR or EPC does NOT bar a Section 8 claim: those carry their own penalties (an unlimited fine and up to 6 months for gas, up to £30,000 for electrical safety) and they weigh on the reasonableness test the court applies to discretionary grounds, but they are not a statutory bar. The How to Rent guide never barred Section 8 at all — it was a Section 21 precondition, and both Section 21 and the guide itself are gone.

Does the move-in pack still matter after Section 21 is abolished on 1 May 2026?

Yes — even more so. Section 8 grounds 1 and 1A (landlord moving in or selling) require that statutory information duties have been complied with. A missing item becomes the tenant’s defence in court.

Do I have to re-serve documents at every renewal?

You serve any renewed Gas Safety, EICR or EPC certificate within 28 days of issue. You do not re-serve unchanged documents. There is no longer a How to Rent guide to re-serve: GOV.UK withdrew it on 1 May 2026, and it is retained only for a Section 21 notice served before that date.

How does LetCompliance help?

On the property page, the move-in pack sender pre-ticks every uploaded statutory document, shows an amber warning row for anything missing (with statute reference and the GOV.UK link), and emails the lot to the tenant via Resend — with one structured audit row per attachment.

Built by a landlord, for landlords.

I let property myself, and I was tired of juggling an agent, a spreadsheet and a handful of reminder apps just to stay on the right side of the law. So we built the one login I actually wanted: advertise the property, take applications, collect the rent, and keep every certificate and notice in order, each taken straight from GOV.UK.

Erdem Volkan·Founder, LetCompliance

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