The Assured Shorthold Tenancy is the default tenancy for most dwellings in England and Wales. It is a form of Assured tenancy with limited security of tenure, which was introduced by the Housing Act 1988, with important changes made by the Housing Act 1996. The assured shorthold tenancy is now the most common form of arrangement which involves a private Residential Landlord renting a property to a Tenant.[1]
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In order to create an Assured Shorthold Tenancy all of the following need to apply:-
1. The Tenant is renting from a Private Landlord
2. The tenancy started on or after 15 January 1989
3. The property is the Tenants main accommodation
4. The landlord does not live in the property - i.e. If the Tenant has rights to have privacy in the property where the Landlord cannot enter without mutual agreement before hand
5. The rent is less than £100,000.00 a year
The landlord has the right to terminate the tenancy by using a "section 21 notice", which in practice results in a minimum notice period of 2 months. 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. 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.
There are a number of exceptions set out in the Housing Act 1988 which exclude a tenancy from being an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, for example: