A tenancy agreement is a contract between you and your tenants. It sets out the legal terms and conditions of the tenancy. It can be written down or oral.

A tenancy can either be:

• fixed-term (running for a set period of time)
• periodic (running on a week-by-week or month-by-month basis)

Rights and responsibilities

Both you and your tenants have certain rights and responsibilities, whether or not there is a tenancy agreement.

Assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs)

The most common form of tenancy is an AST. Most new tenancies are automatically this type.

A tenancy can be an AST if all of the following apply:

• you’re a private landlord (not a local council or housing association)
• the tenancy started on or after 15 January 1989
• the property is your tenants’ main accommodation
• you don't live in the property

A tenancy can't be an AST if:

• it began or was agreed before 15 January 1989
• the rent is more than £100,000 a year
• the rent is less than £250 a year (less than £1,000 in London)
• it's a business tenancy or tenancy of licensed premises
• it's a holiday let
• the landlord is a local council

Other tenancies

There are other tenancies that aren't as common as ASTs, including:

• excluded tenancies or licences
• assured tenancies
• regulated tenancies

Excluded tenancies or licences

If you have a lodger living in your home and share rooms with them, like a kitchen or bathroom, you may have one of these. This usually gives your lodger less protection from eviction than other types of agreement.

Assured tenancies

Tenancies starting between 15 January 1989 and 27 February 1997 may be assured. Your tenants have increased protection from eviction with this type of agreement.

Regulated tenancies

Tenancies starting before 15 January 1989 may be regulated. Your tenants have increased protection from eviction and can apply for a ‘fair rent’.

Download 'Regulated tenancies' (PDF, 421KB)

The tenancy agreement should include:

• the names of all people involved
• the rental price and how it's paid
• information on how and when the rent will be reviewed
• the deposit amount and how it will be protected
• when the deposit can be fully or partly withheld, eg to repair damage caused by tenants
• the property address
• the start and end date of the tenancy
• any tenant or landlord obligations
• which bills your tenants are responsible for

It can also include information on:

• whether the tenancy can be ended early and how this can be done
• who's responsible for minor repairs
• whether the property can be let to someone else (sublet) or have lodgers

The terms of the tenancy must be fair and comply with the law.

You must get the agreement of your tenants if you want to make changes to the terms of their tenancy agreement.

Preventing discrimination

Unless you have a very strong reason, you must change anything in a tenancy agreement that might discriminate against your tenants on the grounds of:

• gender
• sexual orientation
• disability (or because of something connected with their disability)
• religion or belief
• being a transsexual person
• your tenant being pregnant or having a baby

Example: Your tenant might need a guide dog in the house but a term in the tenancy agreement says no pets are allowed. You must change the term to allow guide dogs in the property, unless you have a very strong reason not to, eg another tenant in the property has a serious allergy to dogs.

If you want your tenants to leave, you must give them notice in a particular way, including certain information and warnings. This depends on the type of tenancy agreement and its terms.

Assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs)

In some circumstances, you can take back your property without giving any reason. To do this, all of the following must apply:

• you've protected your tenants’ deposit in a deposit protection scheme
• you've given your tenants at least 2 months’ written notice that you want the property back (‘notice to quit’) and the date they must leave
• the date they must leave is at least 6 months after the original tenancy began (the one they signed on first moving in)
• they have a periodic tenancy – or they have a fixed-term tenancy and you aren’t asking them to leave before the end of the fixed term

During the fixed term

If you're still in the fixed term, you can only ask your tenants to leave if you have a reason for wanting possession that’s in the Housing Act 1988.

Examples of reasons include:

• your tenants are behind with rent payments (‘in arrears’)
• your tenants have used the property for illegal purposes, eg selling drugs
• you want to move back into the property

The notice period you must give varies from 2 weeks to 2 months, depending on the reason you’re using.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has information on reasons for possession for a property let on an AST.

Assured tenancies

You will need to use one of the reasons for possession in the Housing Act 1988.

Excluded tenancies or licences

If you live with a lodger and share rooms with them, you'll often have an excluded tenancy or licence.

In this case, you only need to give ‘reasonable notice’ to quit. Usually this means the length of the rental payment period – so if you collect rent weekly, you’ll need to give 1 week’s notice.

The notice doesn’t have to be in writing.

Non-excluded tenancy or licence

You can end the agreement at any time by serving a written ‘notice to quit’. The notice period will depend on the tenancy or agreement, but it’s usually at least 4 weeks.

Break clauses

If there's a break clause in the tenancy agreement, you can give your tenants notice after this. However, you don’t have a guaranteed right to possession during the first 6 months of the tenancy.

If your tenant doesn’t leave the property

If the notice period expires and your tenants don’t leave the property, you can start the process of eviction through the courts.

You can’t forcibly remove your tenants without an eviction order.

Tenancies

The tenancy agreement should say how much notice your tenants need to give before they can leave the property.

Your tenants can usually end a fixed-term tenancy by giving you written notice before the tenancy ends. The amount of notice needed depends on what it says in the tenancy agreement, but it can’t be more than 2 months. The tenancy will then finish at the end of the fixed-term.

They can end a periodic tenancy by giving notice at the end of a rent period. The period varies according to the rent term. For example, if you collect rent monthly, they'll need to give a month's notice.

Licence agreements

If the licence automatically runs out after a specific date and your lodger wants to end the agreement, they should let you know this before the licence runs out.

Ending a tenancy early

Unless there's a break clause in the tenancy agreement, you can insist that your tenants pay rent until the end of the tenancy.