Step-by-step guide to entering into a new Assured Periodic Tenancy

The Renters’ Rights Act changed the way we set up tenancies in England on 1 May 2026. The default is now an Assured Periodic Tenancy (APT), which has different rules to the old Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST).

This blog post is a comprehensive, practical guide explaining how to set up and enter into an APT that not only complies with the new rules in the Renters’ Rights Act, but which also complies with the many other layers of legislation.

In other words, it explains how we set up tenancies in the Renters’ Rights Era.

It also explains how an APT differs from an AST in terms of the practicalities when setting up a tenancy, with a handy summary table showing what has changed, and what hasn’t.

You can also watch the YouTube version of this blog post below.

If you’d like more guidance, there’s my bestselling book, The Good Landlord Handbook: your practical help at every stage of the tenancy, in compliance with the Renters’ Rights Act.

What qualifies an Assured Periodic Tenancy (APT)?

First things first, what exactly qualifies an APT? It’s an APT under the Housing Act 1988 if each of the following apply:

• The tenant is one or more individuals (not a company), and they live in the property as their “only or principal home”.
• The tenant has exclusive possession, and has the right to refuse entry to anyone, including the landlord, except in an emergency.
• It’s not a lodger arrangement where the landlord shares facilities with a tenant.
• It is neither a high rent tenancy (annual rent over £100,000) nor a low rent tenancy (annual rent under £1,000 in London and £250 outside London).
• It’s not a tenancy regulated by the Rent Act 1977.
• It’s not purpose-built student accommodation, which falls within the exemption under Section 32 of the RRA.

If your tenancy complies with the above, then the rest of this blog post explains how you need to set it up from 1 May 2026.

>> Related Post: Renters’ Rights: Guide to the Assured Periodic Tenancy

Landlord compliance obligations when setting up new APT

The basic landlord compliance obligations have not been changed by the Renters’ Rights Act.

This is a checklist of the compliance obligations landlords need to comply with before the tenancy starts, with links for more information:

• Licence. If not already licensed, check local authority website to see if a licence is required and apply for any applicable licences. See Landlord guide to Selective and HMO Licensing.
• Data privacy. If handling any information about applicants, including even seeing the new tenancy agreement, a landlord needs to register with the ICO and have a Data Privacy notice. See: What data protection rules do landlords need to comply with?
• Provide tenant with the following current valid certificates:
  • Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of at least EPC E, unless the property has an exemption
  • Gas Safety Certificate (CP12)
  • Electrical Installations Condition Report (EICR)
• Carry out Portable appliance testing (PAT). See: Electrical safety testing: EICR and portable appliances
• Carry out Legionella risk assessment. See: Landlord Guide to Legionella Assessments
• There must be a working smoke alarm on every storey of the property.
• There must be a working carbon monoxide alarm in any room containing a fixed combustion appliance.
• Carry out fire safety assessment appropriate to the risks of the property and any licensing requirements.
• Hazards. Check that there are no hazards in the property and that it is safe for people to live in. If not, arrange for hazards to be rectified before letting the property. See HHSRS changes: the new 21 hazards in 2026.

Note that the How to Rent checklist was revoked on 1 May 2026, and no longer needs to be served.

How to set up a new Assured Periodic Tenancy

Whereas the landlord compliance obligations are mostly unchanged by the Renters’ Rights Act, there are many new steps that landlords need to follow when they wish to enter into a new Assured Periodic Tenancy from 1 May 2026.

Here are the steps to set up a new APT, which blend the new rules from the Renters’ Rights Act, with the existing rules in, for instance, the Tenant Fees Act.

1. Restricted Period.
   • Confirm that you have not previously served a Section 8 notice on Ground 1 or 1A in respect of this property where the tenant has moved out within the restricted period. (The restricted period starts when a notice is served, and ends 12 months after the notice expires. The minimum notice period is 4 months, but more notice can be given).
   • The property cannot be offered for let or even marketed for let during the restricted period. Breach is a criminal offence, with a civil penalty of up to £40,000 as an alternative to prosecution.
2. Proposed rent.
   • Set specific proposed rent, and ensure it is contained in any listing, advert and any offer to prospective tenants.
   • Civil penalty of up to £7,000 for breach.
3. Material information. Ensure listing contains the material information about the property.
4. No rental discrimination.
   • Ensure that the listing and any selection criteria do not discriminate against applicants who receive benefits or who have children.
   • Civil penalty of up to £7,000 for breach.
5. Accepting the offer.
   • Do not ask for or accept an offer that is more than the proposed rent, as that would breach the ban on rental bidding.
   • Civil penalty of up to £7,000 for breach.
6. Decide on preferred candidate.
   • Make initial selection of candidate to take forward to referencing, and do not discriminate against applicants who receive benefits or with children.
7. Ask for holding deposit.
   • Maximum of one week’s rent.
   • Get agreement to apply holding deposit to initial rent if application successful.
   • Provide applicant with copy of draft APT.
   • Stop showing property to other applicants.
8. Validate candidate. Carry out referencing and credit checks, and right to rent checks.
9. Decision. Make a decision whether or not to proceed with the candidate, with or without a guarantor.
10. Guarantor. If you require a guarantor, send them the draft tenancy agreement and Deed of Guarantee for execution.
11. Rent Guarantee Insurance. If candidate passes referencing, decide whether to get Rent Guarantee Insurance.
12. Enter into Assured Periodic Tenancy. Ask tenant(s) to sign first, and then sign afterwards. (See below for what is needed for the APT). Don’t sign until you receive the executed Deed of Guarantee back from the guarantor, if you decided you need a guarantor. (The guarantor doesn’t sign the APT).

Note that landlords will need to register their rental property and themselves as landlords when the PRS Database is fully launched. This is likely to be in 2027.

>> Related Post: The PRS Database: how to register your rental property

The Good Landlord Handbook

Buy from Amazon* Buy from Waterstones*

What needs to go into an Assured Periodic Tenancy?

Unlike ASTs, APTs either need to contain the compulsory information and terms set out in the Written Statement of Terms etc Regulations, or there will need to be a standalone document that has the same information. For practical purposes, it makes sense for them to be included in the tenancy agreement.

The template APTs in my membership, The Independent Landlord Hub, include the compulsory terms.

The compulsory items for APTs fall into the following categories:

1. Details of the parties
2. Tenancy terms
3. Ending the tenancy
4. Safety and compliance information
5. Tenant rights

For more detail, see this blog post: Renters’ Rights: The new Written Statement of Terms.

You also need to include any required prior notices in the APT or serve them separately, for instance, a prior notice for Ground 4A (HMOs with full-time students).

Also, it is important that an APT does not include a fixed term period, as that would breach the duty not to purport to let for a fixed term, for breach of which the local authority can impose a civil penalty of up to £7,000.

The maximum rent period is one calendar month, and clauses requiring rent to be paid in advance are unenforceable.

Members of The Independent Landlord Hub have access to template APTs for single lets, HMOs and student HMOs.

>> Related Post: Renters’ Rights: Guide to the Assured Periodic Tenancy

Rent in advance before and after a tenancy is entered into

Entering into a new APT is a significant step, as once it has been entered into, the landlord may then accept a rent payment from the tenant for the initial rent, of up to one calendar month’s rent.

However, it is a breach of the Tenant Fees Act to accept or ask for any rent before the tenancy is entered into, as that would be a prohibited pre-tenancy rent payment under Section 9 of the Renters’ Rights Act.

“Entering into” means that the agreement is signed by all, and it is legally binding.

Once the tenancy starts, the landlord may accept any amount of rent in advance, as that does not fall under Section 9 RRA as it’s not a pre-tenancy rent payment. However, any term in a tenancy agreement that requires this is null and void.

The ban on pre-tenancy rent payments did not exist before the Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May, and did not apply to ASTs.

How the Renters’ Rights Act changed setting up a new tenancy

Here is a table that summarises the key aspects of how setting up a new tenancy changed when the Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026, comparing setting up an AST versus an APT:

Does the Information Sheet need to be served for new APTs?

No. The Information Sheet was the government-produced document that explained to tenants how ASTs were changed by the Renters’ Rights Act.

Landlords needed to serve the Information Sheet by 31 May 2026, and it only needed to be served to tenants if their AST was entered into before 1 May. It is not needed for Assured Periodic Tenancies entered into on or after 1 May 2026.

>> Related Post: Tenant Information Sheet Explained

* I’m an Amazon Associate, and I earn from qualifying purchases