Assured shorthold tenancies are gone: what replaced the AST

The AST was abolished for England on 1 May 2026. New and existing lettings are assured periodic tenancies — no fixed term, no section 21, and possession only on statutory grounds.

Published 25 July 2026·3 min read

The assured shorthold tenancy (AST) no longer exists for residential lettings in England. The Renters' Rights Act 2025, in force from 1 May 2026, converted the AST into a single form of assured periodic tenancy: no fixed term, no section 21 no-fault notice, and possession available to the landlord only on a statutory ground under section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, confirmed by a court order. If you are looking for an "AST template", the document you actually need is an assured periodic tenancy agreement.

What an assured tenancy means now

An assured tenancy gives the tenant security of tenure: the tenancy continues until the tenant ends it, or the landlord establishes one of the grounds in Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988. "Shorthold" was the variant that stripped that security away by allowing the landlord to recover possession without giving a reason. Removing the shorthold category is the whole reform in one sentence.

AST vs assured periodic tenancy

	Old AST	Assured periodic tenancy
Term	usually 6 or 12 months fixed	monthly periodic, open-ended
Landlord ends it	section 21, no reason needed	section 8 ground + court order
Tenant ends it	usually only at end of term or via break clause	two months' notice, any time
Rent increases	often by contract clause	statutory procedure
Pets	landlord's discretion	statutory right to request, not to be unreasonably refused
Deposit	5–6 weeks' rent (Tenant Fees Act 2019)	unchanged

What it changed for tenants

You cannot be asked to leave without a reason. Any notice must state a Schedule 2 ground and the facts relied on.
You are not tied to a fixed term. Two months' notice ends the tenancy, whenever you give it.
A notice is not an eviction. Only a court can order possession, and only a bailiff can enforce it. Leaving because a notice arrived — when the ground is wrong or the notice is defective — is a common and expensive mistake.
A pet refusal must be reasonable. "No pets" as a flat rule is no longer effective.

What it changed for landlords

Planning replaces flexibility. Recovering the property for your own use or to sell it runs through Grounds 1 and 1A, which carry a four-month notice period, generally cannot be used in the first 12 months of the tenancy, and restrict re-letting afterwards.
Arrears grounds are now the workhorse. The mandatory serious-arrears ground requires the statutory arrears threshold (broadly three months' rent) at service and at the hearing, and a minimum notice period of four weeks.
Compliance is a precondition, not paperwork. Missing How to Rent guide, EPC, EICR, gas safety certificate or Right to Rent check will surface at the possession hearing, not before.

Do existing tenancies need re-signing?

No. Conversion happened by operation of law, so an old AST is already an assured periodic tenancy whatever the paper says. But the written agreement should be refreshed, because a document referring to fixed terms and section 21 misdescribes the parties' actual rights — and in a dispute the tenant is the one reading it.

A note on the rest of the UK

This is the England position. Wales operates occupation contracts under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016; Scotland has private residential tenancies; Northern Ireland is different again. Any template that does not name its jurisdiction on the first page is unsafe to use.

Get the right document

Our template drafts an assured periodic tenancy for England: periodic term, two months' tenant notice, deposit checked against the Tenant Fees Act cap, prescribed-documents checklist, statutory pet-request right, guarantor and joint-and-several liability options.

→ Assured Tenancy Agreement (Periodic)