England

Assured tenancies

A private residential tenancy will be an assured tenancy if:

• The tenant is an individual (or each joint tenant is an individual)
• The tenant occupies the property as their main or only home
• The tenancy doesn't fall within one of the exceptions below.

Since the Renters' Rights Act became law on 1 May 2026, assured tenancies are periodic tenancies, meaning that they run from one rental period to the next with no pre-defined end date.

This means they run week to week, fortnight to fortnight or month to month (but not for a longer rolling period, such as quarter to quarter or year to year).

Exceptions

Tenancies that aren't assured tenancies are outside the scope of this guide.

These are the exceptions where a tenancy is not an assured tenancy:

• High value tenancies
• Low value tenancies
• Business tenancies
• Tenancies where the premises are licensed for the supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises
• Tenancies where agricultural land of more than 2 acres is let with the dwelling-house
• Tenancies of agricultural holdings or farm business tenancies
• Lettings to students by educational institutions and other specified types of landlord
• Holiday lettings
• Lettings by a resident landlord where the landlord and the tenant share the same flat or house
• Lettings by a resident landlord where the landlord and the tenant each has a flat in a building that has been converted into flats (but not where they have separate flats in a purpose-built block of flats)
• Crown tenancies
• Lettings by specified public bodies, including local authorities
• Certain lettings of social housing to asylum seekers, displaced persons or tenants who have been evicted on anti-social behaviour or nuisance grounds

Right to possession

You can only seek possession if certain grounds apply.

However, tenants have a 12-month protected period at the beginning of a tenancy, during which they cannot be evicted unless they have breached their obligations in the tenancy agreement (e.g. rent arrears).

For more on the grounds for possession, see Recovering possession.