If you manage rental property in England, the ground has shifted under you. Since the Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force, the assured periodic tenancy is no longer one option among several - it is the only way a private assured tenancy can operate. Fixed terms have gone, assured shorthold tenancies have gone, and Section 21 has gone with them. Every tenancy on your books now rolls from period to period, and the rules on rent increases, notices and possession have been rebuilt around that fact. This guide explains what an assured periodic tenancy actually is, how existing agreements converted, and what property managers and letting agents need to change in their day-to-day processes.
What is an assured periodic tenancy?
An assured periodic tenancy is an assured tenancy with no fixed term. Instead of running for six or twelve months and then either renewing or rolling over, it runs in successive periods tied to how rent is paid, and under the new regime a rent period cannot be longer than a month. In practice, that means tenancies roll month to month from day one.
The tenancy simply continues until one of two things happens: the tenant serves valid notice to leave, or the landlord obtains possession through the courts on one of the legal grounds. There is no end date to diarise, no renewal to negotiate, and no break clause to argue over.
If you have been in lettings a while, you will remember statutory periodic tenancies - the rollover state an assured shorthold tenancy entered when its fixed term expired and nobody signed a renewal. The new system takes that rolling arrangement and makes it the whole model, with stronger rules wrapped around it.
How the Renters' Rights Act 2025 changed the landscape
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in late 2025, and its central tenancy reforms took effect in England from 1 May 2026. The headline changes for anyone managing property:
- All assured shorthold tenancies converted automatically to assured periodic tenancies on the commencement date, including tenancies that were mid-way through a fixed term. No new agreement needed to be signed for the conversion itself, although landlords must provide tenants with a written statement of the tenancy terms.
- Section 21 was abolished. There is no longer a no-fault route to possession. Every possession claim must rely on a Section 8 ground.
- New agreements cannot include a fixed term. Any attempt to grant one simply takes effect as a periodic tenancy.
- Wider reforms arrived alongside, including limits on rent in advance, a ban on rental bidding above the advertised price, a stronger position for tenants requesting pets, and the rollout of a private rented sector ombudsman and property database.
One point that catches people out: this is an England-only change. Wales operates occupation contracts under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, and Scotland has had open-ended private residential tenancies since 2017. If your portfolio crosses borders, you are running three different regimes and your templates and processes need to reflect that.
Ending an assured periodic tenancy
Notice from the tenant
Tenants can end an assured periodic tenancy by giving at least two months' written notice, and they can do this at any point - there is no minimum period they must stay. For property managers, the practical consequence is that any tenancy could be two months from ending at any time, which changes how you plan voids, refurbishments and re-lets.
Possession by the landlord
With Section 21 gone, landlords must use Section 8 and prove a ground. The Act reworked the grounds significantly: there are provisions covering a landlord who genuinely intends to sell or move into the property (with a protected period early in the tenancy during which those grounds cannot be used), and the arrears and antisocial behaviour grounds were amended. Notice periods vary by ground.
What this means operationally is that evidence is everything. A possession claim now stands or falls on documentation: arrears schedules, correspondence, proof of intention to sell, records of complaints. Sloppy record-keeping that a Section 21 notice used to paper over will now cost you a possession claim.
Rent increases under the new rules
Rent review clauses written into agreements no longer do the job. Rent on an assured periodic tenancy can only be increased through the statutory Section 13 process: once per year, with at least two months' notice, using the prescribed form. Tenants who believe the proposed rent is above market level can challenge it at the First-tier Tribunal before it takes effect.
For managers, that means building a proper rent review calendar rather than relying on renewal negotiations, and being ready to justify any increase with comparable evidence. Increases that are ambitious but unsupported invite tribunal referrals and delay.
What periodic tenancies mean for maintenance planning
This is the part of the reform that gets the least attention and arguably matters most day to day. Under the old model, fixed-term end dates gave you natural windows: you knew roughly when a property might come back, so you could line up redecoration, flooring or a kitchen refresh for the void. Under an assured periodic tenancy, that predictability is gone.
- Voids arrive on two months' notice, so planned refurbishment work has to be scoped fast and contractors booked at short notice.
- In-tenancy maintenance becomes the norm. With tenancies potentially running for years without a break, more work happens around a tenant in situ, which demands better communication and scheduling.
- Compliance duties carry on unbroken. Gas safety checks, electrical safety inspections, smoke and carbon monoxide alarm duties and deposit protection all continue across the conversion - the change in tenancy type did not reset any of it.
- The bar on responding to hazards is rising. The direction of travel under current rules is towards faster, better-evidenced responses to issues like damp and mould, so slow reactive repairs are becoming a genuine liability rather than an annoyance.
This is also reshaping the market for trades. Contractors who built their diaries around predictable between-tenancy refurb cycles are seeing demand shift towards responsive, occupied-property work - a shift discussed from the contractor's side in communities like Contractor Club and in business strategy pieces on Construction Arbitrage. For managers, the ability to raise a job quickly and get comparable prices matters more than ever; platforms like PlanaJob let you post a job once and compare quotes from vetted contractors instead of ringing around when a two-month notice lands. You can see how that works for portfolios of any size on our property managers page.
A practical checklist for property managers
- Audit your tenancy records. Identify every converted agreement and make sure tenants have received the required written statement of terms.
- Retire old templates and workflows. Remove fixed-term renewals, Section 21 processes and contractual rent review clauses from your systems so nobody uses them by mistake.
- Build a Section 13 rent review calendar. One increase per tenancy per year, two months' notice, prescribed form, comparable evidence on file.
- Re-train your team on Section 8 grounds. Everyone raising or handling a possession case needs to know which ground applies and what evidence it requires.
- Tighten your void response. Create a standard playbook for the two-month notice window: inspection, scope, quotes, works, re-let.
- Document everything. Repairs reported, dates attended, certificates issued, quotes obtained. Under the new regime your records are your defence.
We cover each of these areas in more depth across the PlanaJob blog, including guides on Section 8 evidence and void turnaround.
Keeping a compliance audit trail
The common thread through all of this is proof. Whether you are answering an ombudsman complaint, defending a disrepair claim or supporting a possession ground, you will be asked to show what happened and when. PlanaJob builds that audit trail for you as a by-product of normal work: every job raised, every quote received, every contractor's vetting status, and dated completion records with photos sit against the property, ready to export when someone asks. If your current system is a shared inbox and a spreadsheet, create a free account and run your next few maintenance jobs through it - the paper trail assembles itself.
FAQ
Do I need to issue new tenancy agreements for converted tenancies?
No. Existing assured shorthold tenancies converted to assured periodic tenancies automatically by operation of law. You do, however, need to make sure tenants receive a written statement of their tenancy terms, and any clauses that conflict with the new regime - fixed terms, contractual rent reviews - are simply ineffective. Check current government guidance for the exact requirements and deadlines.
Can a tenant leave almost immediately after moving in?
In principle, yes. A tenant can serve their two months' written notice at any point, including early in the tenancy, and there is no minimum term to hold them. Budget and plan on the basis that any property could be back on the market within roughly two months of a tenant deciding to go.
Does the assured periodic tenancy apply in Wales and Scotland?
No. This regime applies to England only. Wales uses occupation contracts under its own legislation, and Scotland has operated open-ended private residential tenancies since 2017. Cross-border portfolios need separate documents, notices and processes for each nation.