Written statement of terms

A written statement of terms is the document a private landlord in England must give a tenant before a new assured tenancy is entered into, setting out the prescribed key terms of the tenancy. The duty comes from section 16D of the Housing Act 1988, inserted by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, and applies to every new tenancy granted on or after 1 May 2026. Failing to provide it is enforceable by the local authority with a civil penalty, with a starting point of £4,000 in the statutory guidance and a maximum of £7,000.

What the written statement must contain

The contents are prescribed by regulations rather than left to the landlord. They cover the fundamentals of the letting: the names of the parties, the address of the property, the date the tenant is first entitled to possession, the rent and when it is due, and an address in England or Wales at which the tenant can serve notices on the landlord. They also cover the tenant's statutory position: that rent can only be increased through the section 13 procedure, the amount of any tenancy deposit, the minimum notice a tenant must give to end the tenancy, and a statement that the landlord can only end the tenancy by obtaining a court order for possession on a recognised ground. Finally they cover the landlord's obligations, including the repairing duties under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the fitness for human habitation duty, the tenant's right to request a pet and the right to request disability improvements. Nothing prevents a landlord from putting all of this inside the tenancy agreement itself, which is the simplest way to comply, provided the tenant sees it before signing.

How it differs from the information sheet

The two documents are often confused because they arrived together in the same regulations. The distinction is who they go to and when. The information sheet is a standard government document that existing tenants had to receive by 31 May 2026, explaining how the Act changed their tenancy; our entry on the Renters' Rights Act information sheet covers it, and our guide to serving it covers the practical steps. The written statement is a bespoke document about one specific tenancy, given to new tenants before they sign, and it is an ongoing duty with no end date. One overlap catches landlords out: where a tenancy in existence on 1 May 2026 was wholly verbal, with nothing at all in writing, the landlord owed that tenant a written statement rather than an information sheet, and the deadline was the same 31 May.

Why it matters beyond the penalty

The statement is a disclosure duty, not a substitute for the tenancy agreement, which remains the binding contract. Its practical significance is evidential: it is the landlord's own record of what the tenant was told about rent, notice and possession before the tenancy began, and where a landlord intends to rely on one of the special possession grounds, the prior notice for that ground should be served alongside it. From supporting self-managing landlords through the transition, we find the failure is rarely refusal but drift, since the duty attaches to every new tenancy and is easy to overlook on the fifth or sixth letting of the year. Keeping the statement, the agreement and the service record together in document management is what turns a compliance duty into a filing habit. The wider framework of duties and penalties is set out in our Renters' Rights Act hub.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to give a written statement to existing tenants? 

Only if the tenancy existing on 1 May 2026 was wholly verbal with nothing in writing, in which case the statement was due by 31 May 2026. Where there was a written or partly written agreement, the tenant should have received the government information sheet instead.

Can the written statement be part of the tenancy agreement? 

Yes, and that is the simplest route to compliance. If the agreement contains all the prescribed information and the tenant sees it before entering into the tenancy, no separate document is needed.

What is the penalty for not providing a written statement of terms? 

A local authority civil penalty, with a starting point of £4,000 in the statutory guidance and a maximum of £7,000, rising to as much as £40,000 for repeat or serious breaches.