A tenancy document should help people understand what to do when a practical issue arises. Clear procedures can support that purpose, provided they do not attempt to replace statutory rights. This English rental-sector guide was reviewed on 15 October 2026.
Separate required information from useful instructions
Government guidance requires specified written information for new tenancies created from 1 May 2026, supplied before the agreement is signed or otherwise agreed. It may be included in the agreement or provided separately.
Useful household instructions serve a different purpose. They can explain how to report a repair, which contact handles routine enquiries and what information helps identify a problem. They should not be mistaken for the full list of legally required terms.
Write procedures people can follow
Our suggested approach is to describe one action at a time. For a repair report, ask for the location, a description and an appropriate contact route. Explain how urgent problems should be raised without relying on a portal that nobody monitors outside office hours.
Keep contact details current. If an agent changes, update the practical instructions and tell the tenant which route to use. Avoid contradictory directions scattered across several old emails.
Review the wording as a whole
A procedure should not imply that a tenant loses legal rights because they used the wrong internal form. Nor should it promise a response that the landlord or agent cannot actually deliver.
Have the agreement and supporting instructions checked together when needed. A concise, workable process is more useful than pages of elaborate wording that staff and tenants interpret differently. Keep a dated copy of the version supplied so later questions can be answered accurately.
Source: GOV.UK written-information guidance; practical process suggestions are original. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.