Tenancy Agreements: Your Rights and Unenforceable Clauses

A tenancy is an assured periodic tenancy (APT) if the property is your main accommodation, your landlord does not live in the property, and you have your own room, though you might share a bathroom or kitchen with other tenants. An assured periodic tenancy cannot have an end date. If your landlord tries to create one with an end date, the end date will not apply, you can complain to the council and your landlord could be fined. Assured periodic tenancies must run on a rolling basis, for example weekly or monthly, and continue until you and your landlord decide together to end the tenancy, you decide to end it, or your landlord regains possession of the property.

A tenancy cannot be an assured periodic tenancy if:

• ✗No: your landlord lives in the same accommodation
• ✗No: your landlord is a local council
• ✗No: the property is purpose-built student accommodation, the tenants are university students and the landlord has signed up to the National Code of practice
• ✗No: your tenancy has a fixed term of over 21 years
• ✗No: the rent is more than £100,000 a year
• ✗No: the rent is less than £250 a year (less than £1,000 in London)
• ✗No: it is a business tenancy or tenancy of licensed premises
• ✗No: the property is a holiday let

If you do not know which type of tenancy you have, you can check by using Shelter's tenancy checker.

The tenancy agreement can be written down or oral (a spoken agreement). If you have an oral agreement with your landlord, they must also give you the key terms in writing. If the tenancy was created after 1 May 2026, the landlord needs to give tenants certain written information about the key terms of the tenancy, and could be fined up to £7,000 if they do not. They must give it before they sign a tenancy agreement or agree a tenancy, for example an oral agreement.

If the tenancy was created before 1 May 2026 and there is a written record of its terms, the landlord did not need to give that written information, but must have given all tenants named on the tenancy agreement the Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet by 31 May 2026.

GOV.UK's guidance for private tenants and landlords says your landlord must:

• Give you a copy of the gas safety check record before you move in, or within 28 days of the check
• Provide an Energy Performance Certificate for the property
• Make sure the electrical system is safe, for example sockets and light fittings, and that all appliances they supply are safe
• Provide a smoke alarm on each storey and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a solid fuel burning appliance
• If you paid a deposit, protect it in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of getting it and tell you within 30 days how it is protected

If you have a tenancy agreement, it should be fair and comply with the law. Under section 62 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, an unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer, though this does not prevent the consumer relying on the term if they choose to. A term is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract to the detriment of the consumer. Whether a term is fair is determined taking into account the nature of the subject matter of the contract, and by reference to all the circumstances existing when the term was agreed and to all of the other terms of the contract.

The CMA's guidance for lettings professionals gives these examples of terms that may be unfair:

• Terms that purport to permit landlords or their agents to access the property at unreasonable times, or without giving reasonable notice
• Terms that require a tenant to pay any price the landlord chooses to charge for a repair
• Requiring a tenant to accept additional services they must pay for, unless this is provided for in the tenancy agreement and is fair

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 defines what fees and payments landlords can ask tenants and lodgers to pay. It applies to assured periodic tenancies in England only, and does not apply to social housing assured tenancies, shared ownership leases, short term holiday lets, excluded licenses or properties with an annual rent of more than £100,000. A landlord can charge a tenant or potential tenant only these payments in connection with a tenancy:

• ✓Yes: the rent, if you and the landlord have signed the tenancy agreement
• ✓Yes: a refundable tenancy deposit
• ✓Yes: a refundable holding deposit to reserve a property
• ✓Yes: a payment to change the tenancy when requested by the tenant
• ✓Yes: a payment when the tenant does not give the correct amount of notice
• ✓Yes: a payment towards utility bills, communication services and council tax
• ✓Yes: a fee for late payment of rent
• ✓Yes: a fee for replacing a key or security device

A landlord cannot charge any payment that is not on this list. These payments and terms are not allowed:

• ✗No: Rent before the tenancy agreement is signed, which a landlord cannot ask for from 1 May 2026
• ✗No: A holding deposit of more than 1 week's rent
• ✗No: A late payment fee before the rent has been overdue by at least 2 weeks, or at more than 3 per cent above the Bank of England's base rate
• ✗No: A separate, additional payment to the landlord directly for council tax or a television licence
• ✗No: Requiring you to take out a loan, pay for insurance or start a contract for a service
• ✗No: A term asking you to pay rent before it is due

If a landlord requires a prohibited payment, the local council can issue a financial penalty, and a tenant can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal, which can order the landlord to return the fee. For the first occasion the maximum penalty is up to £5,000. If a landlord commits a second or subsequent breach within 5 years of a previous penalty, they can be taken to court or issued with a penalty of up to £30,000.

Some rights come from the law rather than from your agreement. A covenant or agreement is void in so far as it purports to exclude or limit the landlord's repairing obligations under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, unless the inclusion of the provision was authorised by the county court. For a dwelling in England, a lease has an implied covenant that the dwelling is fit for human habitation when the lease starts and will remain so during the term, and any provision is void to the extent that it purports to exclude or limit the landlord's obligations under that covenant.

These are other rights the law gives you:

• ✓Yes: Your landlord is always responsible for repairs to the property's structure and exterior, fire safety issues, basins, sinks, baths and other sanitary fittings including pipes and drains, heating and hot water, gas appliances, pipes, flues and ventilation, and electrical wiring
• ✓Yes: Your landlord has to give you at least 24 hours' notice and visit at a reasonable time of day, unless it's an emergency and they need immediate access
• ✓Yes: Your landlord can only end your tenancy if they have a valid reason and give you the right notice period, and cannot remove you by force
• ✓Yes: You can challenge a rent increase at the First-tier Tribunal if you think it is higher than the open market rent
• ✓Yes: Your landlord must put your deposit in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme within 30 days of getting it
• ✓Yes: You have the right to know who your landlord is; if you do not know, you can write to the person or company you pay rent to, and your landlord can be fined if they do not give you this information within 21 days

Our repairs guide, landlord entry guide and eviction guide cover these rights in more detail.

If you have an assured periodic tenancy, your landlord can only increase your rent once a year, and cannot increase your rent in the first year of your tenancy. Rent review clauses cannot be used for new rent increases after 1 May 2026.

• The landlord must give you at least 2 months' notice by giving you a completed form 4A: Landlord's notice proposing a new rent, which is known as the section 13 process
• The landlord can give you notice in person, by post, or by email if that is allowed in your tenancy agreement
• The landlord needs to follow the section 13 process every time they increase the rent, even if they have already agreed the increase with you
• The landlord cannot increase the rent until at least a year after the last increase took effect, even if the last increase took effect before 1 May 2026, whether they used form 4 or a rent review clause

The First-tier Tribunal may be able to help you if you think the rent increase is higher than the open market rent, which is the rent that your landlord would expect to receive if they were to relet the property on the open market. If your landlord gave you notice of a rent increase before 1 May 2026 using form 4, the notice period and rent increase stated in the form still apply, even if the new rent starts after 1 May 2026, and you can still challenge it at the First-tier Tribunal. If the increase was agreed before 1 May 2026 but takes effect after 1 May 2026, the increase will not apply.

Our rent increases guide covers challenging an increase in more detail.

Your tenancy agreement should say how much notice you must give your landlord before you leave the property, and the maximum notice a landlord can ask you for is 2 months. If your tenancy agreement does not say how much notice you must give, you need to give at least 2 months' notice.

• Give your notice so the tenancy ends on a day when the rent is due or the day before the rent is due
• Give your notice in writing, for example by letter, email or text, and keep a copy of what you have sent; your landlord cannot tell you which method to use
• Continue to pay rent during the notice period before the tenancy ends
• You and your landlord can agree to end the tenancy early or shorten the notice period, which will need to be in writing
• If you have given notice but change your mind, you can stay only if your landlord agrees in writing

If a joint tenant wants to leave, one tenant will usually be able to end the joint tenancy without the agreement of the other tenants. If a joint tenant asks to give a shorter notice period, all the other joint tenants will need to agree to the shorter notice period. If your tenancy started before 1 May 2026, how much notice you need to give depends on what type of tenancy you have and what is in the tenancy agreement.

The maximum tenancy or security deposit a landlord can ask for is up to 5 weeks' rent if the rent for the year is less than £50,000, or up to 6 weeks' rent if the rent for the year is £50,000 or more. Your landlord must return your deposit within 10 days of you both agreeing how much you will get back. Your tenancy deposit protection scheme offers a free dispute resolution service if you disagree with your landlord about how much deposit should be returned. You do not have to use the service but if you do, both you and the landlord have to agree to it, you will both be asked to provide evidence, and the decision made about your deposit will be final.

Our deposits guide covers deposit protection and disputes in more detail.

GOV.UK's guidance on assured periodic tenancies applies to England only, and there are different rules for increasing rent in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. There are separate tenancy deposit protection schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.