Joint Tenant Notice to Quit a Periodic Tenancy in England

One joint tenant can end a periodic tenancy for all of them. This is not a quirk of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 — it is a long-standing common law rule that the Act preserved. But under the assured periodic tenancy framework, where every qualifying private tenancy in England now rolls indefinitely, it has sharper practical consequences.

How It Works

If three people hold a joint periodic tenancy and one of them serves two months' written notice on the landlord, the tenancy terminates for all three tenants on the expiry date. The tenant who serves notice does not need permission from the others. They do not even need to inform the others before serving it, though that would obviously be the decent thing to do.

The notice must meet the same requirements as any tenant notice under the periodic tenancy rules: written form, at least two calendar months, and expiry aligned with the end of a rent period.

Can the Notice Be Withdrawn

Only if everyone agrees. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 requires that a withdrawal has the written consent of the landlord and every named joint tenant. If Tenant A serves notice and Tenant B objects to the withdrawal, the notice stands. If the landlord refuses to agree, the notice stands.

Once served, a joint tenant's notice is effectively irrevocable unless unanimous written consent to withdraw it can be obtained. This makes it critical that joint tenants understand the consequences before one of them acts.

What Happens to the Remaining Tenants

When the notice expires, the tenancy ends. The remaining occupants no longer have a legal right to stay. If they continue in the property without the landlord's agreement, they are trespassers and the landlord can pursue immediate possession proceedings.

In practice, most landlords will want to keep good tenants. The route is to grant a new tenancy: execute a fresh Section 16D Written Statement of Terms with the remaining tenants (and any replacement), creating a new assured periodic tenancy starting the day after the old one ends. This requires the full Written Statement process — all 16 prescribed fields under S.I. 2026/324 — because it is a new tenancy, not a continuation.

If you want to add a replacement tenant, they go through your usual referencing and Right to Rent checks before being named in the new agreement.

The Landlord's Practical Steps

When you receive notice from one joint tenant:

1. Acknowledge in writing. Confirm the date the notice was served and the proposed expiry date.
2. Verify the expiry date. Check that it gives two full calendar months and aligns with the end of a rent period. If it does not, let the tenant know.
3. Notify all other joint tenants. The law does not require this, but it prevents surprises and gives the remaining tenants time to decide what they want to do.
4. Decide on the remaining tenants. If they want to stay and you are willing, prepare a new Written Statement of Terms for the day after expiry. If they want to leave as well, coordinate checkout and deposit returns for all of them.
5. Handle the deposit. The existing deposit protections for the outgoing joint tenant need to be resolved through your deposit protection scheme's procedures. For a new tenancy with the remaining tenants, a new deposit arrangement may apply.

Why This Matters More Under Periodic Tenancies

Under the old fixed-term AST system, a joint tenant could not unilaterally end the tenancy mid-fixed-term. The fixed term protected everyone. With assured periodic tenancies, there is no fixed term to act as a buffer. A joint tenant can serve notice at any time, and the two-month countdown begins immediately.

For landlords managing shared lets, HMOs, or any property with multiple named tenants, this makes the notice risk continuous rather than periodic. The Assured Periodic Tenancies compliance kit includes a joint tenancy notice tracker that logs service dates, calculates valid expiry dates, and records consent to withdrawal.

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