AST Tenancy Agreement Template — Updated for the Renters’ Rights Act 2025
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A post-RRA tenancy agreement for private landlords in England. Periodic only, with Section 48 inline, configurable obligation clauses and an explicit advance-rent cap. Build it and preview it free; pay £9 only when you download.
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When you need this document
Every new tenancy in England since 1 May 2026 is an assured periodic tenancy (APT) under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. The old fixed-term AST is gone, and every contractual clause that depended on it — rent review schedules, six-month break clauses, end dates — is now void.
This template generates the tenancy agreement landlords need for any new let from that date forward. It also works as a replacement agreement for existing tenancies that converted on 1 May, where landlords want a single clean document that reflects the law as it actually stands rather than a pre-RRA AST with multiple void clauses.
The agreement is the foundation of every other tenancy compliance step. The deposit prescribed information references it; the Section 8 notice depends on its clauses being valid; the rent increase process under Section 13 only works on a tenancy that’s structured correctly. Getting the agreement right is the cheapest insurance policy in the private rented sector.
Who needs this document
- You are letting an English property for the first time since 1 May 2026
- Any agreement you downloaded before that date is an assured shorthold tenancy and will contain a fixed term, a Section 21 clause and probably a rent review mechanism, none of which now have effect.
- Your existing tenant is holding a pre-RRA agreement
- The conversion happened automatically, so you are not in breach — but the document your tenant can produce says things the law no longer permits, and that gap gets argued against you.
- You are an accidental landlord letting a former home
- This is the group most likely to be working from a template a friend sent or an agent used in 2023. The obligation toggles let you set loft access, decorating and fixings per property rather than accepting somebody else’s defaults.
- You want the Section 48 address for service handled in one document
- The agreement carries it inline as Section 6.8, so you do not need to serve a separate notice and cannot forget to.
Mistakes that invalidate it
The errors that turn a document you thought was compliant into one that gives you nothing.
Leaving a fixed term or an end date in the agreement
The clause is void. Worse, it signals to a tribunal that the rest of the document was not reviewed after the Act, which colours everything else you rely on.
Keeping a rent review clause "just in case"
Contractual rent review is void in private assured tenancies. Any increase taken under it was not lawfully imposed and is recoverable by the tenant.
A blanket "no pets" clause
It has no effect, and relying on it instead of running the 28-day consent process is what turns a routine request into an ombudsman complaint.
Asking for more than one month’s rent in advance
Prohibited by the Act. Six or twelve months up front in place of a guarantor is exactly the practice it closed.
Omitting the landlord’s address for service
Without a Section 48 address, rent is not lawfully due until you provide one — which undercuts any arrears ground you later want to use.
What’s included
- Periodic-only — no fixed-term language anywhere
- Section 48 notice for service incorporated as Section 6.8
- Five configurable tenant obligation toggles (loft access, decorating, fixings, hanging items, alterations)
- Explicit one-month advance-rent cap clause
- Blanket pet bans removed — 28-day consent process built in
- PDF or DOCX export, watermarked preview, regenerable from saved inputs
RRA 2025 context
Renters’ Rights Act 2025 — what this template gets right. The RRA 2025 made one of the biggest changes to English tenancy law in 30 years. This template reflects all the substantive shifts: tenancies are periodic from day one, the Section 48 service address is inline so landlords don’t need a separate notice, rent cannot be demanded more than one month in advance, the pet-consent process is built into the agreement (no blanket ban) and pet damage insurance is not a condition (that provision was removed at Lords Report Stage), and there are no Section 21 references or contractual rent-review clauses anywhere.
Five obligation toggles (loft access, painting and decorating, holes in walls, hanging items, alterations) let landlords pick the right permission level (not permitted / permitted / permitted with conditions) per property without redrafting the agreement.
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View templateSection 48 Notice Template
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View templatePet Consent Letter
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View templateFrequently asked questions
Can I still use a fixed-term AST after 1 May 2026?
Do I need a separate Section 48 notice if I use this template?
Why is there no rent review clause?
Can I still ask for several months’ rent in advance?
What about joint tenants?
Further reading
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Sources
Every statute, form and scheme named above, linked to the primary source.
- Renters' Rights Act 2025 — legislation.gov.uk
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