The written statement of terms
The Renters' Rights Act gave landlords in England a duty most have never heard of: a written statement of the tenancy terms, containing 18 prescribed items, given before the tenancy is entered into. Get it wrong and it is a civil penalty of up to £7,000. It also reached backwards into tenancies that were already running. General guidance, not legal advice.
- It is a duty, not best practice. Section 16D of the Housing Act 1988 requires a written statement of terms for every assured tenancy in England.
- Before the tenancy is entered into. Not on move-in day, not in the first week. Succession, a change of landlord, or a tenancy becoming assured give you 28 days instead.
- 18 prescribed items. The content is set by regulations, not left to you. A statement missing prescribed information does not discharge the duty.
- It reached backwards. Tenants already in occupation on 1 May 2026 had to be given the government information sheet by 31 May 2026. Wholly spoken tenancies needed the full statement by the same date.
- Up to £7,000, then up to £40,000. A civil penalty for a first breach; a repeat within five years, or one continuing 28 days after a penalty, becomes an offence.
This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Figures and dates here were checked against legislation.gov.uk and gov.uk on 27 July 2026, and rules change, so always confirm the current position on gov.uk, or take advice from a solicitor or a service like Citizens Advice or Shelter, before acting on anything here.
What the law actually requires.
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 inserted a new section 16D into the Housing Act 1988. It says the landlord of an assured tenancy must give the tenant a written statement of the terms of the tenancy. That statement can be the written agreement itself, or a separate record of terms that were agreed out loud, but it has to exist and it has to be in writing.
The timing is the part landlords get wrong. For a new tenancy the statement must be given before the tenancy is entered into. Handing it over on move-in day is already late. There are three situations that carry a 28-day window instead: where the tenancy comes to a tenant by succession, where you become the landlord of an existing tenancy part way through, and where an existing tenancy becomes an assured tenancy.
It is not the same thing as a tenancy agreement. Plenty of landlords assume their agreement covers it. It might, but only if it actually contains every prescribed item. Most off-the-shelf agreements written before 2026 do not, because several of the required statements did not exist as duties until the Act. A good approach is to run your agreement against the list below and add whatever is missing, either into the agreement or as a separate statement given at the same time.
One item is a trap worth naming. If you might ever want to rely on a possession ground that has to be flagged in advance (grounds 1B, 2ZA to 2ZD, 4, 5 to 5H, 6A or 18 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988), you have to say so in the written statement. You cannot add it later. That decision has to be made before you hand the statement over, not when you need the ground.
The prescribed content sits in the Assured Tenancies (Private Rented Sector) (Written Statement of Terms etc and Information Sheet) (England) Regulations 2026. Social housing assured tenancies are outside those regulations as made, so registered providers should check their own position.
The 18 things it must contain.
Part 1 of the Schedule to the 2026 Regulations sets out 18 paragraphs. Some are facts about your tenancy; the rest are statements of law you have to spell out for the tenant, in the statement, whether or not the tenant already knows them. Both kinds are required.
Reading that list, the honest summary is that this is not a form you can improvise the night before a move-in. Stead's landlord tools include a possession notice generator and a proof-of-service record for exactly this kind of paperwork, and the app builds a written statement draft from the tenancy you have already recorded, then tells you which prescribed items are still blank.
Tenancies that were already running.
This is the part that catches people out, because most coverage of the Renters' Rights Act treated 1 May 2026 as a line that only affected new lettings. It did not. Schedule 6 paragraph 7 of the Act reached back into every tenancy that was already running.
If the existing tenancy was wholly or partly in writing, which covers almost every assured shorthold tenancy, you did not need to produce a fresh written statement. You had to give every named tenant a copy of the government document called The Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026, within one month of commencement. That deadline was 31 May 2026.
If the existing tenancy was wholly spoken, with nothing in writing at all, then the full section 16D written statement was what you owed, and the deadline was modified to that same 31 May 2026 date rather than "before the tenancy is entered into", which would obviously have been impossible.
How you deliver it matters. The government guidance is that the information sheet has to be printed and handed over, or attached to an email or a message. Sending a link to the gov.uk page is not enough on its own. It is worth keeping proof of the date you sent it, because that date is the whole of the compliance question.
If you missed 31 May 2026, you are late, and the fix is to do it now. The breach is not cured by time passing, and a breach that continues more than 28 days after a penalty escalates into offence territory. There is also a narrower rule for landlords who held an expired or concluded section 21 or section 8 notice on commencement: when those tenancies converted to assured periodic tenancies, a one-month window ran from that conversion.
The Act's other new landlord duties are on a similar trajectory: the private rented sector database and the landlord ombudsman are both coming, both carry the same £7,000 and £40,000 penalty structure, and neither has a commencement date fixed in legislation as at 27 July 2026. Our Renters' Rights Act guide covers the wider reform.
What it costs to get wrong.
Local councils enforce this, and the gov.uk enforcement guidance splits it into breaches and offences.
Breaches carry a civil penalty of up to £7,000. On the same list as failing to give a written statement of terms containing the required information, and failing to give existing tenants the information sheet, sit several related traps: claiming to let on a fixed term rather than a rolling tenancy, claiming or requiring a tenancy to be ended verbally, failing to give written notice of a specified ground where the law requires it, using a possession ground you do not reasonably believe a court would grant, and trying to end a tenancy with a notice to quit.
Offences carry up to £40,000, or prosecution. A breach becomes an offence if you commit it within five years of a previous penalty or conviction, or if you continue the breach for more than 28 days after receiving a financial penalty for it. The £40,000 civil penalty is the alternative a council can impose instead of prosecuting.
The practical read is that the first mistake is expensive and the second one is a different order of problem. If you have a portfolio and you are not sure whether every tenant got the information sheet, the cheap move is to send it again with a dated covering message rather than to hope.
Figures verified 27 July 2026 against the gov.uk guidance "Enforcement measures for landlords: Renters' Rights Act 2025". Penalty maxima are set by legislation and the amount within them is a matter for the council, taking aggravating and mitigating factors into account.
Key dates.
Building it is half the job.
The duty is discharged by giving the tenant the document, not by having one saved on your computer. If it is ever questioned, by a council enforcement officer or at a hearing, the question is what you gave and when. So the app does not stop at the draft.
- Record the date you gave it. The date, how you gave it (handed over, posted, emailed as an attachment) and, for a tenancy that was already running on 1 May 2026, which of the two documents you gave. Recording it clears the duty from your obligations list, your key dates and the tenancy page.
- Deadline reminders. Stead works the deadline out from the tenancy you have already recorded and reminds you 14 days before it, and again on the day. England only, and never for a social tenancy, which the 2026 Regulations put outside the duty.
- A compliance chip on every property. The written statement sits beside gas, electrics, EPC, deposit protection and Right to Rent across your portfolio, and in the weekly compliance digest a managing agent gets. Ten properties is one screen, not ten.
- Late is still worth recording. Giving it late does not undo the breach, but it stops the breach continuing, and a breach continuing more than 28 days after a penalty is what turns a civil penalty into an offence. The reminder stays until you record it, and the date is shown plainly afterwards.
One honest limitation. The statute times the duty from the tenancy being entered into, which is normally the day it is signed. The only tenancy date Stead holds is the start date, so that is what the deadline is tracked against, and the app says so. If you have already signed, treat the statement as due now rather than on the start date.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Section 16D is an England duty. The other three nations already had their own versions, which is part of why the England requirement felt new to so many landlords.
Wales. Under section 31 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 a landlord must give the contract-holder a written statement of the occupation contract "before the end of the period of 14 days starting with the occupation date". Starting with means the occupation date is day one, so a contract-holder who moves in on 1 June must have the statement by 14 June, not 15 June. The fundamental and supplementary terms in that Act and its regulations apply whether or not they are written down. Landlords also have to be registered with Rent Smart Wales.
Scotland. Private residential tenancies use the Scottish Government Model Tenancy Agreement, which carries the statutory terms. Landlords must be on the Scottish Landlord Register before letting.
Northern Ireland. Section 1 of the Private Tenancies Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 requires the landlord to give the tenant a notice containing the prescribed tenancy information within 28 days after the date on which the tenancy is granted. That runs from the grant of the tenancy, which is not always the day the tenant moves in, and it sits alongside the NI Landlord Registration Scheme.
If you let in more than one nation, the trap is assuming the England document works everywhere. It does not, and the deadlines are all different.
Written statement FAQs.
What is a written statement of terms?
It is the document a landlord in England must give a tenant setting out the terms of an assured tenancy. Section 16D of the Housing Act 1988, inserted by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, requires it, and the Assured Tenancies (Private Rented Sector) (Written Statement of Terms etc and Information Sheet) (England) Regulations 2026 prescribe 18 items it has to contain. It is not the same thing as a tenancy agreement, although a tenancy agreement can carry the required content if it actually includes all 18 items.
When must the written statement be given?
For a new tenancy it must be given before the tenancy is entered into, not after the tenant moves in. Where the tenancy arises by succession, on a change of landlord, or because an existing tenancy becomes assured, section 16D(5) to (7) allows "the period of 28 days beginning with the date on which" that event happens. Beginning with means the day of the event is day one, so the window closes 27 days after it, not 28.
Does the duty apply to tenancies that were already running?
Yes, in a modified form. Under Schedule 6 paragraph 7 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025, a tenancy in place on 1 May 2026 that was wholly or partly in writing did not need a fresh written statement, but every named tenant had to be given the government Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 within one month of commencement, so by 31 May 2026. A tenancy that was wholly spoken needed the full written statement by that same date.
What is the penalty for not giving a written statement of terms?
Failing to give a written statement containing the required information, and failing to give existing tenants the information sheet, are each breaches carrying a civil penalty of up to £7,000. A breach committed within five years of a previous penalty or conviction, or one that continues more than 28 days after a penalty, becomes an offence: prosecution, or a civil penalty of up to £40,000 as the alternative.
Is emailing a link to the information sheet enough?
No. The government guidance is that the information sheet must be printed and handed over, or sent as an attachment to an email or a message. Sending a link on its own does not discharge the duty. Keep proof of what you sent and when.
Can my tenancy agreement do the job instead?
It can, if it genuinely contains all 18 prescribed items and it is given before the tenancy is entered into. Most agreements drafted before 2026 do not, because several of the required statements were not duties then. Run your agreement against the list above and add whatever is missing.
Does this apply in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland?
No. Section 16D is an England duty. Wales requires a written statement of an occupation contract before the end of the period of 14 days starting with the occupation date, so the occupation date is day one (section 31 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016). Northern Ireland requires a notice of the tenancy terms within 28 days after the date the tenancy is granted (section 1 of the Private Tenancies Act (Northern Ireland) 2022). Scotland uses the Scottish Government Model Tenancy Agreement, which carries the statutory terms.
I am a tenant and I never got one. What can I do?
Ask your landlord for it in writing first, and keep a copy of the request. If nothing comes, your local council's private rented housing team enforces the duty and can impose the civil penalty. Free, independent advice is available from Citizens Advice and Shelter.
Build the statement, and keep the proof.
Stead drafts your written statement of terms from the tenancy you have already recorded, flags every prescribed item still blank, and keeps a dated record of what you served and when. That record is the whole of the compliance question.