Tenancy Agreement UK 2026 — Complete Landlord Guide to Periodic Tenancy Agreements, Prohibited Clauses, and the RRA 2025 Regime

What a tenancy agreement must include — core terms for 2026

While there is no statutory prescribed form for an English tenancy agreement (unlike Wales, where the RHWA 2016 requires a specific written statement), a landlord's tenancy agreement should include the following core terms to be legally effective and practical:

• Parties: Full legal names of all landlords (or the letting agent acting for the landlord) and all tenants. For joint tenancies, all joint tenants must be named. The landlord's name and address for service of notices must be included — this is a statutory requirement under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.48. Failure to include a s.48 compliant address prevents the landlord from recovering rent until the address is provided
• Property description and any included areas: Full address of the let property, including any garage, parking space, garden, or storage area included in the let. Clearly excluding areas (for example, the loft) avoids later disputes about what the tenant has the right to access
• Rent and payment terms: The rent amount; the payment date (1st of each month, weekly, etc.); the payment method (bank transfer; standing order); and the account details to which rent should be paid. The agreement should also specify that rent is payable in advance (standard) or in arrears
• Commencement date: The date from which the periodic tenancy commences. Under the all-periodic regime, no end date is specified — the tenancy runs indefinitely
• Deposit terms: The deposit amount (if any — capped at 5 weeks' rent for annual rent under £50,000; 6 weeks' rent for annual rent of £50,000 or above under the Tenant Fees Act 2019); the TDP scheme in which it will be held; and that prescribed information will be provided within 30 days of receipt. The holding deposit provisions (capped at 1 week's rent) should also be addressed if a holding deposit was taken
• Permitted use and occupiers: The property is let for residential use only; only the named tenants and their permitted occupiers (children, named family members) may reside at the property; the agreement must specify how any other occupiers are to be approved. Under RRA 2025, landlords cannot unreasonably refuse a request to add an occupier to the tenancy

Prohibited clauses and void terms — what you cannot include

A number of clauses that landlords have historically included in tenancy agreements are now prohibited or automatically void under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, the Housing Act 1988 (as amended by RRA 2025), and other legislation. Including prohibited clauses can result in financial penalties and criminal liability:

• Tenant Fees Act 2019 — prohibited payments: The TFA 2019 prohibits landlords from charging tenants any payment in connection with the tenancy except: rent; the deposit (within the statutory caps); a holding deposit (capped at 1 week's rent); reasonable early termination charges (where the landlord agrees to allow early termination before the tenant's 2-month notice expires); utilities paid directly; Council Tax; television licence; and communication services charges. Any clause requiring the tenant to pay for referencing, credit checks, tenancy agreement administration, check-out fees, renewal fees, inventory charges, or any other fee not on the permitted list is a prohibited payment under the TFA 2019. Receiving a prohibited payment is a criminal offence carrying a fine of up to £5,000 (first offence) or an unlimited fine (repeat offence within 5 years)
• Fixed-term clauses — void under RRA 2025: Any clause creating a fixed end date for the tenancy, or purporting to create an initial fixed term (such as 'the tenancy is for a fixed term of 12 months commencing...'), is void from 1 May 2026. The underlying periodic tenancy continues to exist — the clause simply has no legal effect. Using pre-RRA 2025 tenancy agreement templates that include fixed-term clauses is a common but serious error
• Break clauses — no longer applicable: Break clauses (provisions allowing one or both parties to end the tenancy at a specified point during a purported fixed term) are not compatible with the all-periodic regime and have no effect. Tenancy agreement templates should be updated to remove these
• Section 21 notice clauses — void: Some historical tenancy agreements included provisions purporting to authorise Section 21 notices or waive the tenant's right to challenge a Section 21 notice. These are void — Section 21 is abolished and such provisions are meaningless and potentially misleading to tenants
• Clauses excluding or restricting statutory rights: The HA 1988 and associated legislation confers various rights on tenants (right to challenge rent increases via Section 13; right to request a pet; right to peaceful enjoyment; right to sublet with consent; right to repair). Clauses purporting to exclude or restrict these rights are void. A particularly common void clause is one that purports to exclude the landlord's repairing obligations under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 ss.11-14 or under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 — these cannot be excluded

Guarantor provisions — making the guarantee enforceable

A guarantor clause in a tenancy agreement provides a personal guarantee from a third party (typically a parent or family member) that they will pay the rent or make good any loss if the tenant defaults. Guarantor clauses must be carefully drafted to be enforceable:

• Guarantor agreement vs clause in the main tenancy agreement: A guarantee can be included as a clause within the main tenancy agreement (with the guarantor signing the agreement as a party) or as a separate guarantee deed. A separate guarantee deed is generally preferred because: (a) it can be more easily executed as a deed (providing additional enforceability protection); (b) it can be provided to the guarantor in advance for independent legal advice; and (c) it avoids the guarantor being privy to all terms of the main agreement
• Execution as a deed: A guarantee must be executed as a deed (signed, witnessed, and delivered) to be enforceable under the Statute of Frauds 1677 where the guarantee is not for a fixed, ascertainable amount. Most residential landlord guarantees (which guarantee rent plus any damages for breach) should be executed as deeds. A guarantee signed as a simple contract (not a deed) may be unenforceable if the guarantor disputes it
• Scope of the guarantee — periodic tenancy implications: Under a periodic tenancy, the guarantee must be carefully drafted to make clear that it covers the tenancy for so long as it continues — including after any rent increases under Section 13 Form 4A. A guarantee that only covers 'the initial fixed term' of a now-abolished fixed-term structure has no continuing effect. The guarantee should be drafted to cover the periodic tenancy throughout its term including any rent variation
• Independent legal advice: Courts have in some cases declined to enforce guarantees where the guarantor can show they were pressured into signing without independent advice, or where the landlord misrepresented the nature or extent of the guarantee obligation. While there is no legal requirement to ensure the guarantor takes independent advice, providing the guarantor with the opportunity to do so (and documenting this) provides a stronger evidential basis for enforcement

Joint tenancy agreements and digital execution

Joint tenancies — where two or more tenants share a single tenancy over the whole property — are common in shared house arrangements and require specific consideration in the tenancy agreement:

• Joint and several liability: All joint tenants are jointly and severally liable for all rent and all obligations under the tenancy. This means that if one joint tenant fails to pay their share of the rent, all other joint tenants are responsible for the shortfall. The landlord can pursue any one joint tenant for the full rent arrears regardless of internal arrangements between the tenants. The joint tenancy agreement must make joint and several liability explicit
• Adding and removing tenants in a periodic tenancy: Under the all-periodic regime, a tenant can end their interest in the joint tenancy by serving notice to quit — but this ends the entire tenancy for all joint tenants (Hammersmith v Monk [1992]). To add a new tenant, the existing tenancy must be ended and a new tenancy granted — or all parties must agree to a deed of assignment of the outgoing tenant's interest. Landlords should include a clause specifying the procedure for tenant changes and requiring landlord consent
• Digital signatures and execution: English tenancy agreements can be validly executed by digital signature under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and the Land Registration Act 2002. The Law Commission has confirmed that simple contracts (as opposed to deeds) can be signed electronically. This means landlords can use DocuSign, Adobe Sign, or equivalent e-signature platforms to execute tenancy agreements. However, guarantee deeds and any document that must be executed as a deed require either a witnessed wet ink signature or a specific form of digital execution (witnessed electronic signature) — an unwitnessed electronic signature is insufficient for a deed
• Excluded tenancies — agreements that are not ASTs: Not all residential lets create Assured Tenancies. The following are excluded from the Housing Act 1988 regime and require different agreement types: (a) resident landlord lettings — where the landlord lives in the same building (not a purpose-built block of flats) as the tenant; (b) holiday lettings; (c) company lets — where the tenant is a corporate entity (a company let cannot be an AST; the company holds a contractual tenancy governed by common law); (d) lettings where the annual rent exceeds £100,000; (e) agricultural tied accommodation. Landlords using excluded tenancy agreements must ensure they are using the correct agreement type for the arrangement

Frequently asked questions