For any private tenancy in England starting on or after 1 May 2026, you must give the tenant a written statement of terms before the agreement is entered into — and failing to do so is a breach carrying a civil penalty of up to £7,000. It is not the tenancy agreement, though it can sit alongside one. It is a prescribed set of information about the tenancy, the parties, and the tenant’s rights, and the duty is on the landlord regardless of whether an agent is involved.
Separately, landlords with tenancies that already had written terms in place before 1 May 2026 were required to serve the government’s Information Sheet on those tenants by 31 May 2026. Two documents, two different populations of tenant. Getting them confused is the most common mistake we see.
Which document you needed to serve
New tenancy, starting on or after 1 May 2026: a written statement of terms, given before the agreement is entered into. Not after. Not on move-in day.
Existing tenancy, with written terms already in place before 1 May 2026: the government’s Information Sheet, served by 31 May 2026. This explains to the tenant how their tenancy has changed under the Act — that it is now periodic, that Section 21 has gone, how rent increases work.
If you took over a property mid-tenancy, or bought a tenanted property, the duty came with it. Assuming the previous owner or agent dealt with it is not a defence.
What the written statement has to contain
Five categories, and all of them matter.
The parties. Landlord’s name and a service address, plus the tenant names. The service address is not optional and not the agent’s address by default — it is where notices can validly be served on you.
The tenancy terms. Start date, the rent, when it is due, what it does and does not include in terms of bills, how rent increases will be handled, and the deposit amount.
How the tenancy ends. The notice the tenant must give, the grounds and notice periods available to you, and the possession process. In plain terms rather than by cross-reference to the Act.
Safety and repair. Fitness for human habitation, your repairing obligations, electrical safety with testing at least every five years, and gas safety. This is where the statement quietly commits you to a standard you then have to meet.
Tenant rights. How a pet request works and the 28-day response requirement, and the right to request disability-related improvements.
If you did not serve it
Do it now, and document when you did. The penalty is discretionary, assessed by the local authority, and a landlord who identified the gap and remedied it is in a materially better position than one who waited to be found. Around £4,000 is the indicative figure for failing to issue the written statement — but a breach left unremedied for 28 days after a penalty is imposed escalates into the offence tier, where the ceiling is £40,000.
For existing tenants where the 31 May deadline has passed, serve the Information Sheet anyway. It is still the document that discharges the substance of the duty, and it is directly relevant if a possession claim later depends on you having complied. There is one specific place this bites: Ground 4A student possession requires the tenant to have been given the Act’s information before notice is served.
Why this is the most-missed obligation of the whole Act
Because nothing happens when you skip it. No tenant complains about a document they did not know existed. No court refuses anything at the point of letting. The exposure only surfaces later — when a council does an inspection, when a tenant takes advice during a dispute, or when you need possession and your compliance history comes under scrutiny.
It is also the obligation most likely to have been assumed away. Landlords with agents assume the agent handled it. Agents managing on a let-only basis assume the landlord did. Landlords who use a template agreement assume the template covers it, which it generally does not, because a tenancy agreement and a statutory statement of terms are different documents doing different jobs.
We have written separately about why the £7,000 tier catches careful landlords, and the full penalty schedule is here.
Practical housekeeping
Serve it by a method that leaves a record, and keep the record with the tenancy file. Email with a read receipt, or a signed acknowledgement, or both. Store it alongside the gas safety record, EICR, EPC and deposit protection certificate — the same file you will need when the PRS Database opens for registration.
Review the statement whenever something material changes: a rent increase by Section 13 notice, a change of service address, a new managing agent. And check the repair and safety section against reality once a year, because it is a written commitment about a property that ages.
For the whole picture of what changed on 1 May, see our Renters’ Rights Act guide, and what happened to existing fixed terms.
General information, not legal advice. Property Lounge, Guildford.
Need a second opinion?
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