Verbal Tenancy Agreements and the Renters' Rights Act in England

A verbal tenancy agreement is still a tenancy. Before 1 May 2026, plenty of private lettings in England — particularly between family members, friends, or long-standing informal arrangements — operated on a handshake and a monthly cash payment with nothing in writing. Those arrangements converted to assured periodic tenancies on the same date as every other AST. But the compliance obligation was heavier.

The Extra Requirement for Oral Tenancies

For existing tenancies that already had a written agreement, the landlord's obligation was to serve the official Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 by 31 May 2026. That one-page government document was enough.

For oral or unwritten tenancies, the Information Sheet alone was not sufficient. The landlord had to provide a complete Section 16D Written Statement of Terms by 31 May 2026 — the same document required for brand-new tenancies. This makes sense: if there was never a written agreement, the tenant had no written record of the tenancy terms. The statute required the landlord to fix that.

What the Written Statement Must Contain

The Written Statement of Terms must include all 16 mandatory fields prescribed by S.I. 2026/324. For an oral tenancy, some of these need particular care because the terms were never formally documented:

Rent details. State the exact rent amount, how often it is paid, and when it is due. For an informal arrangement where the tenant "pays around the first of the month," pin down a specific due date.

Possession start date. This is the date the tenant was first entitled to take possession under the agreement — not necessarily the date they moved in, and not 1 May 2026. If you cannot remember the exact date, use your best records (bank statements showing the first rent payment, for example) and state the date honestly.

Deposit. If cash was exchanged as a deposit, it must be declared and protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days if it was not already. Many informal arrangements skip deposit protection entirely, which is itself a breach carrying separate penalties.

Statutory statements. The Written Statement must include all the prescribed language about Section 13 rent increases, the tenant's two-month notice right, security of tenure, fitness for habitation, repairing obligations, and safety standards. These are standardised statements — you do not draft them yourself; you include the prescribed text.

The Practical Challenge

The difficulty with formalising a verbal tenancy is that both parties may have different recollections of what was agreed. The rent amount might be clear, but what about who pays the council tax? Is the tenant responsible for garden maintenance? Were any restrictions placed on keeping pets?

The Written Statement does not need to cover every operational detail — it must cover the 16 prescribed fields. But where there are disputed or unclear terms, use the statement to record the terms you understand were agreed, and document any later changes only by agreement.

If the tenant disagrees with a term in the Written Statement — for example, you state the rent as £800 but they claim it was agreed at £750 — the dispute is a contractual matter. The Written Statement does not override a prior oral agreement, but it creates a rebuttable written record. In practice, most informal landlords and tenants agree on the core terms and the statement simply puts them in writing for the first time.

What If You Have Not Done This Yet

If you had an oral tenancy and did not provide the Written Statement by 31 May 2026, you are in breach. Provide it now. The same principle applies as with the Information Sheet: late compliance does not erase the original breach, but it stops the ongoing contravention and puts you in a better position if your Local Housing Authority investigates.

A civil penalty of up to £7,000 applies for a first or technical failure to provide the Written Statement. The maximum is per breach; where several tenants were missed, the applicable enforcement rules determine how those failures are counted.

Beyond the financial exposure, failing to provide the Written Statement bars you from using certain possession grounds — the ones that require prior written notice to have been served. If you ever need to recover the property, that paperwork gap could block your route.

For a full walkthrough of the Written Statement requirements — every prescribed field, the statutory text you need to include, and a step-by-step checklist for formalising an oral tenancy — the Assured Periodic Tenancies compliance kit covers the process from audit to delivery.

See more England guides →