Assured Shorthold Tenancy

Under the law that applied until 1 May 2026, most new lettings by private landlords were automatically assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) unless they fell into an exception. The Housing Act 1988, as it stood, defined the post-1997 category this way: an assured tenancy entered into on or after the relevant commencement date 'is an assured shorthold tenancy unless it falls within any paragraph in Schedule 2A to this Act.' An AST let a landlord recover possession without proving fault, most commonly using a Section 21 notice once any fixed term had ended.

That category no longer exists. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 abolished it directly: section 2 of the Act, headed 'Abolition of assured shorthold tenancies', provides that in the Housing Act 1988 the whole of 'Chapter 2 of Part 1 (assured shorthold tenancies)' is omitted, alongside the provision on demoting a tenancy to shorthold status for anti-social behaviour. The same Act also ended fixed terms generally: section 1 makes any term of an assured tenancy providing 'for a tenancy to be a fixed term tenancy' of no effect, so that the tenancy 'has effect as a periodic tenancy' instead. Both sections came into force on 1 May 2026. Official guidance for tenants now describes the replacement category, the assured periodic tenancy (APT): 'An assured periodic tenancy (APT) is a type of tenancy held between a landlord and a tenant.' The transition was automatic for existing tenancies: 'On 1 May 2026, all assured tenancies, including assured shorthold tenancies, automatically became rolling tenancies. Any end date in your tenancy agreement will no longer apply', and tenants 'did not need to do anything for this change to take effect' — so references to an 'AST' encountered today almost always describe a tenancy that has since converted automatically, or a historical arrangement, rather than a type a landlord can still create.