I’ve a potential tenant who wants to sign a tenancy agreement now in April and move into the property sometime in May 2026 (not in April).
Will this count as an April tenancy, or May tenancy?
Can I use standard AST contract to sign in April and later serve the government drafted information sheet for existing tenancies to the tenant by 31 May?
@Priya4 yes. Any clauses that are contrary to RRA (eg if you asked for the monthly rent payment in advance of the rental period apart from 1st month) simply become null and void and you shouldn’t try to enforce them subsequently
Openrent will be emailing the info sheet to tenants Cc LLs on 1st May as part of its ‘Rentnow’ service anyway.
Openrent as part of the ‘rent now’ service allow you to renew or amend contract (such as when they update their standard template) for free anyway so you can just do that from 1 may if needed.
Best
I’m not sure, I would think you should sign the new APT agreement if they’re not moving in until after the 1st May. If you are using open rentnow, I believe this process will be automatic.
I’d suggest taking a holding deposit with an agreed extended expiry date and leaving signing the agreement until nearer the time.
Hi @Priya4
Any tenancies signed by all parties prior to 1st May will appear as an Assured Shorthold Tenancy under the current system, regardless of the start date.
We’ll then be serving the government Information Sheet to inform tenants on how their agreement will be changing under the new system.
If the tenancy is not signed by all parties by this date, it will update to an Assured Periodic Tenancy and will be reset.
This is the advice from the Landlord’s Guild:
The Guild’s new Renters’ Rights Act-compliant tenancy agreement is ready but not yet released. Using it before 1 May 2026 could cause issues for landlords. Using the new agreement early might create a non-shorthold assured tenancy, which could make it impossible to use Ground 1A for possession if the landlord wants to sell. Key details: MHCLG guidance states that Ground 1A cannot be used if the tenancy was created before 1 May 2026 and was not an assured shorthold tenancy. The new agreement could inadvertently create a non-shorthold tenancy. Landlords should avoid using the new agreement before 1 May 2026 and stick with their current AST agreement. More legislation is expected, so it’s best to wait for final details.