When is my tenancy not an assured tenancy?
Introduction
There are a number of different types of tenancy that exist in the private rented. Each type places different rights and obligations on the tenant and you as a landlord.
As of 1st May 2026, the most common is the Assured Periodic Tenancy (APT). This tenancy replaced the Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) on 1st May 2026 in England. As pre-existing ASTs converted into APTs on this date, virtually all tenancies created on or after 15 January 1989 are now Assured Periodic Tenancies.
These tenancies have specific rules landlords must follow, such as having to protect a deposit in a government-approved scheme, and needing to serve a Section 8 notice to end a tenancy. As the default tenancy in England, most of the guidance on the NRLA site is aimed at ensuring landlords can follow these rules for this type of tenancy.
However, there are other tenancies that are not assured. These have their own rules and obligations that must be followed instead.
It is important you can identify which type of tenancy you have so that you know which set of rules to follow.
The remainder of this guide discusses the different types of tenancy you may encounter in the private rented sector, including how to create them, how to identify them and when it is possible to switch between these types of tenancy.
It also contains a number of downloadable tenancy agreements for use where the agreement is not an assured shorthold tenancy agreement.