Section 12 — Written Statement of Terms

Section 12 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 inserts a brand-new Section 16D into the Housing Act 1988. The effect is that every Assured Periodic Tenancy granted on or after 1st May 2026 must be accompanied by a Written Statement of Terms, given to the tenant before the tenancy is signed. Not at the same time. Not afterwards. Before.

The Written Statement is what the How to Rent guide and a vague AST used to be — a single document that tells the tenant who the landlord is, what they are agreeing to pay, what their basic rights are, and how the tenancy can end. It is a statutory document, not a marketing leaflet. Failure to provide one is a civil offence with a financial penalty up to £7,000.

Who needs one and when

Three scenarios cover the practical population of landlords:

• New tenancies signed on or after 1st May 2026. Written Statement before signing. This is the default rule.
• Existing tenants who had only a verbal tenancy before 1st May 2026. Written Statement by 31st May 2026 — the same deadline as the Information Sheet for written tenancies, but a different document.
• Existing tenants who had a written tenancy agreement before 1st May 2026. They do not get a new Written Statement. They get the Government Information Sheet instead, by 31st May 2026. This is the most common point of confusion.

The five mandatory statutory fields

Schedule 16D of the Housing Act 1988, as inserted by the Renters' Rights Act, requires the Written Statement to set out five fields. If any one is missing or wrong the document fails the statutory test:

1. The names of all joint landlords and all joint tenants.
2. The full address of the rental property.
3. The rent amount and how often it is payable — weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
4. The tenancy start date.
5. The deposit amount paid (or the word “NIL” if no deposit is being held).

These are the statutory minimum. They are not optional, not subject to landlord preference, and not satisfied by a Word template that leaves any of them blank.

The six content categories

Beyond the five fields, the statement must address six content areas — these are what makes it a Written Statement of Terms rather than just a cover sheet:

1. Rent and other payments — what is due, when, by which method, and what (if anything) is included.
2. How the tenancy may be ended — by both parties. This needs to reflect the new Section 8 grounds-based regime, not a lifted Section 21 paragraph.
3. The landlord's obligations to keep the property safe — gas safety, electrical safety, fitness for human habitation under Section 9A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and the repairing covenants implied by Section 11 of the same Act.
4. The tenant's right to request pets or adaptations— the new Section 16A pet-request regime, and the tenant's rights to request reasonable adaptations under the Equality Act 2010.
5. The tenant's right to request improvements relating to the Equality Act 2010 (disability and accessibility).
6. The pet policy statement— what the landlord's position is, in writing, before any pet request is made.

The “before signing” rule, taken seriously

The Section 16D wording is “before the tenancy is granted.” That means the Written Statement is not part of the tenancy agreement bundle that the tenant signs at move-in. It is a separate document delivered first, with enough lead time for the tenant to read it. NRLA and Propertymark guidance both treat this as the practical test: if the tenant has not had a chance to read the statement before they put pen to the agreement, the statement has not been “provided.”

In practice this means emailing the Written Statement (as a PDF attachment, not a link) to the tenant before they come in to sign, or handing it over at the viewing. Building it into a digital signature flow as a pre-step is fine. Sliding it under the door on move-in day is not.

The fine, and how it is enforced

Failure to provide a Written Statement of Terms in line with Section 16D carries a civil penalty of up to £7,000. Enforcement sits with local authorities. The penalty is per tenancy, not per landlord, and a portfolio landlord with multiple non-compliant tenancies faces a per-property exposure that scales quickly.

The penalty is also a separate live issue from the impact on a future possession claim. Courts have been clear that they take a dim view of landlords who try to enforce a tenancy when the statutory pre-tenancy obligations were not met.

Existing tenancies — the 31st May 2026 sweep

For existing tenants who were on a verbal tenancy before 1st May 2026, the Written Statement is the document you owe them. The deadline is 31st May 2026, not “some time in 2026.” That gives most landlords a tight window to capture the five statutory fields, draft the six content categories, and serve the statement on every affected tenant.

For existing tenants who had a written tenancy agreement before 1st May, the document you owe is the Government Information Sheet, not a Written Statement. The Information Sheet is a different animal — see the dedicated page for the strict delivery rules (PDF only, no links).

What this is not

• Not a tenancy agreement. The Written Statement sits alongside whatever tenancy agreement you use. The agreement is the contract; the statement is the statutory disclosure.
• Not the How to Rent guide. The How to Rent guide was withdrawn from the private rented sector on 1st May 2026 with no replacement. Serving it now risks invalidating other notices.
• Not a one-off. Every new tenancy, every joint re-let, every variation that creates a new tenancy — every one needs a fresh Written Statement before signing.

This page is general guidance, drafted to reflect the requirements of the Renters' Rights Act 2025. It is not legal advice on a specific tenancy. If you let through a managing agent, confirm in writing whose responsibility the Written Statement is — the landlord remains ultimately liable.