Reviewed for the Renters' Rights Act · Updated 20 July 2026

Statutory periodic tenancy: what it was, and what it is now

If you are searching for "statutory periodic tenancy", the first thing to know is that the term now describes history. On 1 May 2026 the Renters' Rights Act converted every assured tenancy in England – fixed term, statutory periodic and contractual periodic alike – into a single type: the assured periodic tenancy. Here is what the old label meant, and what your tenancy is now.

What a statutory periodic tenancy was

Under section 5 of the Housing Act 1988, when an assured shorthold tenancy's fixed term ended and the tenant stayed without signing a renewal, a "statutory periodic tenancy" arose automatically. It ran from rent period to rent period, inherited the old agreement's terms, and could be ended by the landlord with a Section 21 notice.

Statutory vs contractual periodic – the old distinction

	Statutory periodic	Contractual periodic
How it arose	Automatically, when a fixed term expired	Written into the agreement ("and thereafter monthly")
Legal basis	Created by statute (s5 HA 1988)	Created by the contract itself
Council tax quirk	Could shift liability for an empty property differently	Treated as one continuous tenancy

Landlords and agents argued for years about which was better. The Renters' Rights Act made the debate obsolete.

What happened on 1 May 2026

• Existing statutory and contractual periodic tenancies became assured periodic tenancies automatically – no new signature was needed, and the written terms carried over where consistent with the Act.
• Fixed terms were abolished, so no new statutory periodic tenancy can ever arise: there is no fixed term to expire.
• Section 21 was abolished with them – possession now runs through the revised Section 8 grounds.
• Landlords acquired new duties, including giving tenants the official information sheet about the conversion – see our guide to the information sheet requirements.

What this means practically

If your tenant was "on a statutory periodic" – typically someone whose fixed term ran out years ago – their paperwork is now two regimes out of date: drafted for a fixed term that has expired, under a tenancy type that no longer exists. Nothing forces you to reissue, but a current assured periodic tenancy agreement puts the actual terms of the actual tenancy in writing, which is what a deposit adjudicator, tribunal or judge will ask to see first.