The assured shorthold tenancy (AST) is the default legal category of residential

tenancy A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

. It is a form of

assured tenancy An assured tenancy is a legal category of residential tenancy to an individual (or individuals jointly) in English land law. Statute affords a tenant under an assured tenancy a degree of security of tenure. A tenant under an assured tenancy may n ...

with limited security of tenure, which was introduced by the

Housing Act 1988 The Housing Act 1988 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It governs the law between landlords and tenants. The Act introduced the concepts of assured tenancy and assured shorthold tenancy. It also facilitated the transfer of council ho ...

and saw an important default provision and a widening of its definition made by the

Housing Act 1996 The Housing Act 1996 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Part VII of the Act concerns the duties that a local authority has to homeless people and when these duties arise. Section 189 of the Act concerns the "priority need" hurdle that ...

. Since 28 February 1997 in respect of accommodation to new tenants who are new to their landlords, the assured shorthold tenancy has become the most common form of arrangement that involves a private residential landlord. The equivalent in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

is short assured tenancy.

Requirements

The tenancy must meet the basic requirements of an

(excluding the security of tenure effects) and all of the following: # Any of the following: ## The tenancy started between 15 January 1989 and 27 January 1997 (inclusive) and was accompanied by a prescribed warning, was for a fixed term, and for at least six months ## The tenancy started at or after 28 February 1997 # The tenancy is not excluded by a notice stating it is not a shorthold before or after the tenancy # The tenancy does not specify within it that it is not a shorthold # The tenancy is not a letting to an existing assured tenant of the landlord's whether of the same premises or not (and whether to that tenant alone or part of a group)

Security of tenure

The landlord has the right to terminate: *by using a

Section 21 notice In England and Wales, a section 21 notice, also known as a section 21 notice of possession or a section 21 eviction, is the notice which a landlord must give to their tenant to begin the process to take possession of a property let on an assured s ...

, which in practice results in a minimum notice period of two months. Since the

, there is no minimum length for which an assured shorthold tenancy may be granted and a Section 21 notice can be served at any time. The exception being to tenancies in England that began on or after 1 October 2015; where a Section 21 notice cannot be served for the first four months of the tenancy. However, when court proceedings are based on the Section 21 notice the court cannot order the tenant to give up possession earlier than six months from the beginning of the tenancy. Where one assured shorthold tenancy follows another, the tenant is protected for only 6 months from the beginning of the first tenancy under which the premises were occupied. A Section 21 notice may not be issued unless the tenancy deposit registration requirements were met within 30 days of the deposit payment. *At any time on any of the ordinary assured grounds should this be satisfied using a

Section 8 notice A Section 8 notice, also known as the Section 8 notice to quit or Form 3. It is a prerequisite if the landlord of an assured tenancy or assured shorthold tenancy wishes to obtain possession order from the court, thereby ending the tenancy, for ...

under the

. In most cases, if a Section 8 notice is served 14 days' notice must be given in order for the notice to be valid.

Comparison to assured tenancy

The only potential landlord's disadvantage of the assured shorthold tenancy is the right of the tenant to refer the rent initially payable to a

rent assessment committee A rent assessment committee is a tribunal in England and Wales set up under the Rent Acts whose main task is to assess fair and market rents of properties referred to it. There is a statutory right of appeal to the High Court of England and Wales ...

; which is now called the

First-tier Tribunal The First-tier Tribunal is part of the courts and tribunals service of the United Kingdom. It was created in 2008 as part of a programme, enacted in the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, to rationalise the tribunal system, and has since t ...

(Property Chamber – Residential Property). However, it can reduce the rent only if it is "significantly higher" than the rents under any other comparable AST. In this unusual scenario in which the landlord has been able to agree a rent substantially higher than market comparables of the same kind of accommodation, the landlord can serve a Section 21 notice before or after the tenancy has begun stating it is not to be an assured shorthold tenancy, where no rent assessment application has been made. In other regards, except security of tenure, as a subset of assured tenancies, ASTs follow the definition requirements of assured tenancies, e.g. which includes maximum and minimum rent levels to exclude the most unusual extremes.''Commercial Property'': Part III Residential Tenancies, p310 P. Butt, College of Law Publishing (Guildford), 2008

Notes and references

;Notes ;References {{Tenancies in the United Kingdom Housing in the United Kingdom English law English property law Tenancies in the United Kingdom

Requirements

Security of tenure

Comparison to assured tenancy

See also

Notes and references