Signing a tenancy agreement

Find out everything you need to know about a tenancy agreement, including what happens before you sign, types of tenancy and what’s included in your agreement.

Find out about:

• requesting a reference
• getting a guarantor
• proving your right to rent in the UK
• identifying the type of tenancy you’ve been given and what’s included 
• assured shorthold tenancies
• licence to occupy agreements.

Before you sign your tenancy agreement

You will be asked to prove your right to rent in the UK, and may be asked to provide a reference and/or guarantor before your landlord or letting agent draws up your tenancy agreement to sign. This is to check you are eligible to rent the property.

References

Your new landlord or letting agent may want to see evidence that you have been a good tenant, for example, paying your rent on time.

To prove this, you can usually request a reference from your previous landlord, or if your last address was in University-managed accommodation, you can ask for a reference from us.

If you are unable to provide a reference from a previous landlord, you may be asked for a character reference or an employer reference. You should check the kind of reference your landlord or letting agent requires. They may also ask for proof that you are, or will be, a student.

Guarantors

Most landlords and letting agents require a UK-based homeowner to act as a guarantor for your tenancy and agree to take liability for any unpaid rent or charges above the security deposit amount.

Proving your right to rent in the UK

Landlords and letting agents are legally required to carry out checks relating to the immigration status of all their tenants to make sure that they have the right to rent in the UK. This applies to all over the age of 18 living in private rented accommodation.

Find out how to prove your right to rent in the UK.

Types of tenancy agreement 

Depending on your living arrangement, you may be asked to sign either an Assured Periodic Tenancy or a licence to occupy agreement.

The agreement you are given depends on:

• whether your landlord lives with you, or in the same building
• the type of housing you live in.

The type of agreement you are given outlines the rights and responsibilities for you and your landlord.

You should ensure you have received a written agreement before moving into the property. If you do not receive a written agreement your landlord should provide you with the key terms in writing. 

Key information in agreements usually includes:

• landlord(s) name and postal address
• names of all tenants living in the property
• address of the property being rented
• tenancy start date- the date tenants will move in
• rent amount and when it is due
• a statement outlining what notice the landlord will serve if they propose to increase the rent
• information on who will be responsible for paying any utility bills, internet or council tax – if rent includes bills, the landlord will need to explain which bills are covered.
• information on the tenancy deposit, where it will be protected and any reasons the landlord or letting agent may have for taking the money from the deposit
• information on ending the agreement - tenants will only need to provide 2 months’ notice in writing, in line with a rental period
• information on how the landlord can take back possession of the property – landlords will need to provide prior notice to use ground 4A which relates to student HMO properties
• information outlining your responsibilities, for example, reporting any repairs promptly
• landlord's responsibilities, including maintenance and the obligation to ensure the property is ‘fit for human habitation’
• a clause relating to keeping a pet and that landlords should not unreasonably refuse consent to keep a pet.

If you will have a licence to occupy agreement, for example, if you are a lodger renting a room within a landlord’s home, then many of the above points will be included within your agreement. 

Assured Shorthold Tenancy

From 1 May 2026, most existing assured shorthold tenancy agreements will automatically convert to the new assured periodic tenancy agreement, and along with this, clauses such as fixed end dates will no longer be applicable, so long as no valid eviction notices have been served.

If you have been served a valid eviction notice before 1 May 2026, then your agreement will remain an Assured Shorthold Tenancy for the period the eviction notice is valid, and the new rules relating to Assured Periodic Tenancies will not yet apply.

For the agreements that convert automatically, your landlord or letting agent will not need to issue you with a replacement tenancy. Instead, landlords and letting agents will need to provide those with an existing assured shorthold tenancy agreement the government-produced information sheet, which summarises the Renters’ Rights changes by 31 May 2026 at the latest.

New assured shorthold tenancy agreements cannot be issued from 1 May 2026.

Assured Periodic Tenancy

An Assured Periodic Tenancy is a new type of agreement that was introduced following the first changes of the Renters’ Rights Act, starting from 1 May 2026, replacing Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreements.

If you live in a private house or apartment by yourself or with housemates, and the landlord does not live there, you are most likely to have an assured periodic tenancy.

The agreement will be periodic, so rolling either monthly or weekly. The agreement may either be a joint tenancy or an individual agreement.

By law, when signing an assured periodic tenancy, your landlord or letting agent must provide you with the following documents:

• Gas Safety Certificate: if the property has gas appliances and/or gas central heating, the landlord must, by law, have a gas registered engineer check the safety of these every year
• Energy Performance Certificate: the property must have a rating of E or above to be let. The closer the rating is to A, the more energy efficient the property will be
• Written statement outlining the key details about the tenancy – likely included in the tenancy
• Electrical Condition Report: an assessment of the condition of the electrics in the property and will be carried out periodically
• Deposit protection information: an outline of which government protection scheme the landlord or letting agent has registered your deposit with.

In addition to the documents required by law above, you should ask for the following:

• House of Multiple Occupancy Licence: issued by the city council to landlords or letting agents who let out properties with three or more unrelated people living together across two floors. You should check that your property has a licence if required.
• Selective Licensing Scheme Licence: landlords or letting agents renting properties to:
• one occupier
• two occupiers
• a family
• single story property (flat or bungalow) with 3 or 4 unrelated occupiers that are not covered by HMO schemes.

The landlords or letting agents need to have a selective licence issued by Brighton & Hove Council if the properties are located in the following areas of the city:

• Kemptown
• Moulsecoomb and Bevendean
• Queens Park
• Whitehawk and Marina.

Joint tenancy

You will have a joint tenancy if you signed a single agreement that includes your housemates' and your name on the contract. This means you all have equal responsibility for the property and payments connected with the agreement, including rent.

Rent

You will each pay a share of the rent. If one of your housemates does not pay their share, the landlord will be entitled to ask any of the other tenants in the house to cover the costs.

Damages

You are all responsible for looking after the whole property, so the security deposit that everyone contributed towards will cover any damage, regardless of who caused it.

Leaving a joint tenancy

Your tenancy agreement should say how much notice you must give your landlord before you leave the property. However, from 1 May 2026, the maximum notice a landlord can ask you is for 2 months.

This notice can be served in writing at any time during your agreement, but the notice period should end on a day when the rent is due or the day before the rent is due.

Be aware that in a joint tenancy, giving notice will usually end the tenancy for everyone without needing everyone’s agreement, so it is important to talk to your housemates about the impact of serving notice.

If some of the housemates want to stay, discuss this with the landlord, as it may be possible to sign a new tenancy agreement.

Individual tenancy

On occasion, landlords and letting agents will provide an individual tenancy to each person sharing the house, so you will have a contract that is just between you and the landlord.

The agreement will be specific for a room that you alone are responsible for and paying the rent for, but you will still have joint access to the communal areas, such as the kitchen or bathroom.

You will have sole responsibility for any damage done to your room, but you may also still have responsibility for the communal areas.

If any of your housemates do not pay their rent and you have an individual tenancy, then this will not affect you, as you will only be responsible for your rent.

Your tenancy agreement should say how much notice you must give your landlord before you leave the property. However, from 1 May 2026, the maximum notice a landlord can ask you is for 2 months.

This notice can be served in writing at any time during your agreement, but the notice period should end on a day when the rent is due or the day before the rent is due.

If you live in a shared house and have an individual tenancy agreement, giving notice to leave will only impact your agreement and not your housemates.

If one of your housemates leaves, you will have no say in who replaces them, and you may also have to buy your own TV Licence.

Unfair clauses

When you receive an agreement, it should be written so that it is easy for you to understand.

You should always be given at least 24 hours to take your agreement away and have it checked. Never be pressured to sign a tenancy on the spot.

Terms and conditions in the agreement must be fair to both parties and legal.

Some clauses written into the agreement are not automatically legal and enforceable.

Sometimes an agreement may include ‘unfair clauses’ such as:

• increasing the rent during the fixed term without notice
• the landlord or letting agent not taking any maintenance responsibilities
• stating that the landlord or letting agent can make spot check visits without giving notice (unless it is an emergency).

Bills included

Some tenancies include energy bills as part of the agreement. It is important that you check your tenancy agreement for ‘fair usage’ clauses.

Licence to occupy agreements

If you live with a resident landlord or host family, your agreement will be a licence agreement rather than an assured periodic tenancy. See an example of a licence agreement with a resident landlord [PDF 104KB].

The differences between these agreements are:

• a licence gives you permission to occupy a room within the landlord’s home, whereas an assured periodic tenancy gives you exclusive use of a property
• your protection from eviction will be different, if you have a licence your landlord can ask you to leave after giving you appropriate notice (usually one month’s notice if you pay monthly or a week’s notice if you pay weekly) - if you have an assured periodic tenancy you will usually have the right to stay until you serve valid notice of your intention to end the tenancy, or if the landlord wants you to leave during the tenancy they have to serve a valid eviction notice
• a licence gives the landlord access to your room and they do not need to give you notice to go in, whether that’s for cleaning or decoration. With an assured periodic tenancy, the landlord has to give at least 24 hours' notice to visit the property (unless it’s an emergency)
• a licence means that if the landlord sells their property, the new owner does not have to honour the agreement and can ask that you leave
• under a licence agreement, the landlord does not have to protect your deposit in a protection scheme.

When entering into a licence agreement, make sure you ask for a payment receipt and never pay in cash.

Check that you are receiving the right type of agreement when you are moving into a property. Shelter’s tenancy checker can help you understand which agreement you have been given.

In addition to this, if you require legal advice with regard to your tenancy agreement, this can be sought for free through the following services:

• Citizens advice
• Shelter

Fees payable

When you find a property you like, you will usually be required to pay the following fees before moving in:

(Example guideline costs of the total amount due for a 4-bed property and one person’s share of the total costs, without utility costs included in the rent).

See more from Living in private sector housing