Assured Shorthold Tenancies: What They Were and What Replaced Them
If the agreement for a rental home says "assured shorthold tenancy" at the top, that label now describes the past. For nearly thirty years the AST was the standard way to let a home in England. It is not any more.
New ASTs ended on 1 May 2026, when the main tenancy reforms of the Renters' Rights Act came into force and most existing ASTs converted to a new tenancy type automatically. This guide covers both halves of the story: what an assured shorthold tenancy was, how it worked, and what landlords and tenants hold now.
Article updated: July 2026
What Is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy?
An assured shorthold tenancy, or AST, was the standard private tenancy in England from 1997 until 1 May 2026. It typically ran for a fixed term of six or twelve months. New ASTs can no longer be created, and government guidance states that most existing assured shorthold tenancies automatically became assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026.
The name told you how it worked. "Assured" meant the tenant had security while the tenancy ran: as long as the rent was paid and the conditions were kept, they could stay for the agreed term. "Shorthold" meant the landlord had a route to take the property back once that term ended.
You will keep seeing AST in property listings, mortgage conditions and old paperwork for years. Millions of agreements were signed with that heading, and the documents have not vanished. What changed on 1 May 2026 is the legal status sitting behind them.
What Replaced ASTs: Assured Periodic Tenancies
The Renters' Rights Act received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, and its main tenancy reforms took effect on 1 May 2026. From that date, government guidance for tenants states that a new tenancy agreed with a private landlord is an assured periodic tenancy, and that it is no longer possible to have an assured tenancy agreement with an end date.
The government's guide to the Act puts the change plainly: all assured tenancies are now periodic, and a tenant can end one by giving two months' notice, with the end date lining up with the end of a rent period. There is no fixed term to wait out and no renewal cycle.
So what does it mean if your agreement still says "assured shorthold tenancy"? The paperwork has not become worthless. The tenancy carried on with the same landlord, the same tenant and the same property. Its legal status changed to an assured periodic tenancy, and where the written terms clash with the new law, the law wins. Guidance for tenants makes that point about eviction clauses: a tenant can no longer be evicted through the old no fault process, even if the tenancy agreement says otherwise.
How Assured Shorthold Tenancies Worked
ASTs were created by the Housing Act 1988, the legislation that built the assured tenancy regime and shaped private renting in England for a generation. We cover the wider history of the Housing Act 1988 separately; this section sticks to how the shorthold version actually operated.
From 28 February 1997, under section 19A of the Housing Act 1988 (inserted by the Housing Act 1996), any new assured tenancy was automatically an assured shorthold unless it fell within a listed exception. That is why, for almost three decades, nearly every private tenancy agreement in England defaulted to an AST.
In practice the format barely changed across those decades. Every tenancy agreement I signed as a landlord between the mid 2000s and this year's change was an AST: a six or twelve month fixed term, a deposit, and much the same standard clauses. When the fixed term ended, the tenancy was either renewed or rolled on month to month as a periodic tenancy.
The other defining feature was section 21. It let a landlord end an assured shorthold tenancy without giving a reason, provided the right notice was served. Government guidance calls this the "no fault" process, and it is the part of the old system the Renters' Rights Act removed.
Some lettings were never ASTs at all. The differences are covered in our guide to the non-assured tenancy agreement.
What the Change Means for Landlords
Possession is the biggest shift. Since 1 May 2026, government guidance states that a landlord seeking possession of an assured tenancy can only give notice under section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, using a specific legal ground, and cannot use section 21 for any new notice; the short transitional window for section 21 notices served before 1 May 2026 is covered in the FAQ below. The notice starts the process; if the tenant stays, possession needs a court order. Each ground has its own notice requirements.
Two of those grounds matter to any landlord planning to move in or sell up. The same guidance states that grounds 1 and 1A, for moving in or selling, cannot be used until 12 months after the tenancy started. The notice can be served earlier, but the date in it must fall after the tenant has been in the property for 12 months. Selling with a tenant in place has its own process too, which we walk through in how to sell a buy-to-let property.
Rent rises now follow one route. Guidance for tenants states the rent can only be increased once a year, not in the first 12 months of a new tenancy, using Form 4A with at least 2 months' notice. The government's guide describes the same mechanism from the landlord side: a Section 13 notice proposing a new rent at market rate, which the tenant can challenge at the First-tier Tribunal if they believe it is above market rate.
Plenty has not changed. Deposit protection was not swept away: gov.uk guidance on tenancy deposit protection required deposits on ASTs started after 6 April 2007 to be held in a government-approved scheme, and the guidance for assured periodic tenancies states the landlord must keep the deposit safe using a government-approved scheme today.
More is on the way. The government's guide to the Act says all private landlords in England will be required to join a new ombudsman service and to register themselves and their properties on a private rented sector database. The same guide says Awaab's Law will be extended to privately rented homes, alongside a Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector for the first time.
None of this changes the basic shape of owning a rental. An investment property in England now comes with a periodic tenancy rather than a fixed term, and the running-cost categories have not changed; our guide to buy-to-let costs still covers them.
The same goes for buying. A typical buy to let property for sale today comes with an assured periodic tenancy for its first letting, not an AST. And the tenancy rules are the same however the property was bought, at full asking price or through below market value properties.
ASTs Across the UK Nations
The AST was an England and Wales creation, and the two countries left it at different times. England kept ASTs until 1 May 2026. Wales moved first: on 1 December 2022 the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 changed the way all landlords in Wales rent their properties. Tenancy agreements were replaced with occupation contracts, and tenants are now known as contract-holders.
Scotland has run its own system for longer. The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 commenced on 1 December 2017 and introduced the private residential tenancy, an open-ended tenancy with no fixed term.
England arrived last, and the three systems are not identical. Scotland's tenancies have been open ended since 2017, as England's now are. Wales still allows fixed-term contracts, and for rolling contracts it kept a separate no-fault notice route with at least six months' notice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are assured shorthold tenancies being abolished?
They already have been, for new lets. Government guidance states that most existing assured shorthold tenancies automatically became assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026, and a new tenancy agreed with a private landlord on or after that date is an assured periodic tenancy. Nothing needed signing for the conversion to happen.
What happened to my assured shorthold tenancy?
If it was running on 1 May 2026, it almost certainly converted automatically. Gov.uk guidance for tenants states that most existing ASTs became assured periodic tenancies on that date. The landlord, tenant, property and rent all stayed the same; the tenancy simply stopped having an end date.
How long does an assured shorthold tenancy agreement last?
New ones cannot be created, so the question now applies to tenancies that converted. Under government guidance, an assured tenancy agreement can no longer have an end date. A converted tenancy runs on until the tenant gives two months' notice or the landlord seeks possession through the section 8 process: a notice on one of the legal grounds, followed by a court order if the tenant stays. The old six and twelve month fixed terms are history.
What is the difference between an assured tenancy and an assured shorthold tenancy?
Historically, security. A full assured tenancy gave the tenant long-term security of tenure, while the shorthold version added a route for the landlord to recover the property at the end of the fixed term. From 28 February 1997 new assured tenancies were automatically shortholds unless an exception applied. Since 1 May 2026 the distinction no longer arises for new lettings in England, because under the tenant guidance a new private tenancy is an assured periodic tenancy and cannot have an end date. Assured tenancies created before that date that were never shortholds keep specific protections: the government's grounds guidance states ground 1A, the selling ground, cannot be used against them.
Can a landlord still use Section 21?
Not any more. Since 1 May 2026, government guidance states that landlords cannot use section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 to seek possession. There is one transitional exception: government guidance states a Section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026 can still be used to start court proceedings until the time left on the notice runs out or 31 July 2026, whichever comes first. Everything else now goes through section 8 and its grounds.
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