Assured periodic tenancy agreements

What is an Assured Periodic Tenancy (APT)

The assured periodic tenancy will become the default tenancy for the private rented sector starting May 1, 2026. This change means that the traditional assured shorthold tenancy is being abolished. A periodic arrangement is one that carries on without a fixed end date, which is one of its key features. These periodic tenancies are designed to ensure that renters have a place to live for as long as they need, provided they follow the rules.

About each assured periodic tenancy agreement template

Each of these documents creates an assured periodic tenancy under the Renters Rights Act 2025.

To make property management easier, each of our agreements includes commonly used notices, forms and letters, each with its own notes and the notices with draft completed text.

That makes the pack of property documents convenient for private landlords and agents and extremely good value.

With each assured periodic tenancy agreement template, we include:

• Form 3A notice for possession
• Form 4A to increase rent
• a security deposit rent receipt
• a form to record the details of the deposit protection scheme
• a letter warning of late payment of rent
• a letter claiming rent arrears
• a letter to the Housing Benefit Department
• a draft inventory (with explanatory notes on how to use)
• a cold weather letter to remind tenants to ventilate and heat the property
• a smoke and carbon monoxide detector release letter and form

Strong legal protection for landlords

Residential tenancy laws particularly Renters' Rights Act 2025 favours the tenant rather than the landlord. The key to letting safely is to have a tenancy agreement that protects your rights as strongly as possible within the framework of landlord and tenant law.

Plain English

Your tenancy agreement is jargon-free, written in plain English. It is easy for you and your tenant to understand.

Using plain English in no way reduces the legal effect. In many cases, it strengthens it since if your tenant understands, they will have no excuse not to comply.

We also include guidance notes that explain each paragraph.

Multiple use by the same landlord or letting agent

There is no restriction on your use of this document. You may standardise it and re-use for every property you let.

When to use an Assured Periodic Tenancy Agreement (APT)?

The basic qualifying conditions for an APT are:

• rent between £1,000 and £100,000 per year
• the tenant is a private individual and not a company
• the property will be used for residential purposes only (not business or agriculture)
• the tenant has exclusive occupation of the property

If an APT is not suitable, you might use:

• a common law tenancy agreement - one that fails to qualify in some way as an APT.
• a company let agreement - a company is not protected so you can easily obtain possession if the tenant or occupier is in breach.
• a residential licence agreement, commonly known as a lodger agreement.
• a holiday property letting agreement.

Housing law relating to these documents

The documents in this pack comply with Renters Rights Act 2025 , the Housing Act 1988, the Housing Act 1996 and the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme introduced in April 2007.

Renters’ Rights Act 2025

• Fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies will be abolished and replaced by assured periodic tenancies. 
• Tenants must be provided with a written statement of key information before the tenancy is entered into. This will usually be incorporated within the tenancy agreement. 
• Rent may only be increased once in any 12-month period, and only by serving a Section 13 notice. 
• Section 21 notices will no longer be available, meaning landlords must rely on statutory grounds for possession. 
• For new tenancies, landlords must not accept rent before the tenancy agreement is signed, and after signing, must not require rent to be paid more than one month in advance. 
• The Government will prohibit so-called “rental bidding wars” by requiring landlords to advertise a fixed rent and preventing the acceptance or encouragement of offers above that amount. 
• New provisions will prohibit discrimination against tenants with children or those in receipt of benefits. 

Tenant Fees Act 2019

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 prevents landlords and agents from charging tenants fees for services that a tenant cannot refuse to take, such as referencing. All our rental agreements comply with this Act.

Setting up your tenancy agreement

Joint and several liability

Every tenancy agreement template specifies that if there is more than one tenant, they are jointly liable, in particular, for the total rent, even if they decide between themselves how to split payment of it.

The advantage to the landlord of renting on a joint and several liability basis is that you can pursue any of the tenants for any unpaid rent. Effectively, the risk that one of the tenants might not pay the rent is transferred to the other tenants, not you.

Over 35 tenant promises (covenants)

No letting is quite the same - each situation requires different terms. In these tenancy agreements we give you a choice of over 35 tenant promises and restrictions.

You can choose to keep in or take out terms that you would expect to be in such a template but might not need (such as a provision for guarantor and provision to use a separate managing agent) and you can select which tenant deposit protection scheme you will be using.

Tenancy deposit protection schemes

Private landlords using an APT agreement are required by law to use a deposit protection scheme. (You can also use ascheme if you rent a room to a lodger in your own house under a residential licence agreement.)

To avoid arguments about what was in the property at the start, the parties should agree a detailed schedule of condition (an inventory), listing every item of fixture, fitting and furniture and providing a note of its condition.

Letting a single room

Thousands of rooms are let every year under a simple residential licence to occupy, rather than an assured periodic tenancy.

It is often better to let under an APT than a licence. We offer alternative agreements for letting a single room: one is explicitly for students and the other for anyone else.

The student version is constructed around the academic year, so that you ask for rent at a time when the student can pay. This is the best insurance against a student leaving before the final payment has been made and when you cannot re-let for a short period.

The alternative single room version closely follows the model of the other versions.

Insist on a guarantor

There is no need for a separate guarantor agreement

The guarantor provides a promise to pay rent unpaid by the tenants and also for any loss or damage. We include provisions for a guarantor within each document. You do not need a separate rent guarantee document.

In these agreements, we place the guarantor on the same basis as the tenants. So if the tenants are jointly and severally liable, the guarantor will be as well.

Ending an assured periodic tenancy

The Renters’ Rights Act transforms the private rented sector by mandating that a new assured periodic tenancy will replace assured shorthold tenancies to serve as the new default tenancy.

Under updated housing law, the traditional fixed term tenancy is abolished, and existing shorthold tenancies or a fixed term assured shorthold will automatically convert into periodic tenancies.

the Landlord may only recover possession of the property in strict accordance with the statutory grounds, notice requirements and procedures prescribed by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025; where required, obtaining an order of the court. Any notice served by either party must be in writing and compliant with all applicable statutory provisions. The tenancy may also be terminated at any time by mutual written agreement between the parties (surrender).

While an excluded tenancy may follow different rules, a tenant now has also the right to end their tenancy by providing a minimum notice period of two months’ notice, though a shorter notice period can be agreed upon in writing to provide both parties more security and longer term stability.

A landlord or their letting agents can no longer end an assured periodic agreement using a fixed end date or a notice to quit; instead, they must serve a notice based on statutory grounds available to him to regain possession or recover possession. Similarly to increase rent, the landlord must follow the Section 13 process.

Exceptions for Notices Served Before May 2026

If you serve a valid Section 21 or Section 8 notice before 1 May 2026, the tenancy will remain an AST until the possession proceedings are either concluded in court or the notice expires. Once that specific legal process ends, if the tenant remains, the tenancy will then automatically become an assured periodic tenancy.

Can I Still Use an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement?

From May 2026, you cannot create new assured shorthold tenancies. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 officially abolishes ASTs and replaces them with a new default model: the Assured Periodic Tenancy (APT).

Here is how the transition affects both new and existing agreements:

For New Tenancies

For Existing Tenancies

All existing ASTs will automatically convert into assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026. You do not need to issue a new contract for this change to take effect. For tenancies that convert, landlords (or their agents) are legally required to provide every named tenant with an official government Information Sheet between 1 May and 31 May 2026. Failure to do so can result in fines of up to £7,000.