本页为翻译，仅供参考；以英文版本为准。所述法律为英格兰法律。
Glossary
The words of renting in England, explained
69 terms landlords and tenants meet, each in plain words with the law it comes from and the guide that says more.
A
- Additional licensing
- A council scheme that requires licences for smaller HMOs, below the mandatory threshold, in a designated area.
- Licensing and registration
- Assured periodic tenancy
- The standard private tenancy in England since 1 May 2026: it rolls on month to month (or shorter) with no end date until the tenant or landlord ends it properly.
- Tenancies and agreements
- Assured shorthold tenancy (AST)
- The usual private tenancy in England from 1997 until 30 April 2026. On 1 May 2026 existing ASTs became assured periodic tenancies and no new private ones can be made.
- Tenancies and agreements
- Awaab's Law
- Rules setting fixed times for landlords to investigate and fix damp, mould and other serious hazards. In force for social housing; due to be extended to private lets.
- Repairs and standards
C
- Capital gains tax 60-day report
- When you sell a UK home that is not your main home and owe capital gains tax, you must report and pay it to HMRC within 60 days of completion.
- Money, tax and insurance
- Category 1 hazard
- The most serious level of hazard under the HHSRS. When a council finds one in a home, it must take enforcement action.
- Repairs and standards
- Check-in and check-out
- The visits at the start and end of a tenancy where the home is inspected against the inventory, keys are handed over and meter readings are taken.
- Deposits
- Civil penalty
- A fine a council can impose on a landlord or agent instead of prosecuting, for breaches of housing law such as letting an unlicensed HMO or ignoring an improvement notice.
- Licensing and registration
- Client money protection (CMP)
- Cover that repays landlords and tenants if an agent loses or misuses money it holds for them. Compulsory for agents in England that hold client money.
- 寻找租客
- Council tax liability
- Who must pay council tax on a home. Usually the tenant living there; the owner for an HMO, an empty home or where nobody lives there as their main home.
- Money, tax and insurance
D
- Decent Homes Standard
- A standard a home must meet: free of serious hazards, in reasonable repair, with reasonably modern facilities and warm. Applies to social housing; planned for private lets.
- Repairs and standards
- Deposit cap
- The most a landlord in England can take as a tenancy deposit: five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, six weeks' at £50,000 or more.
- Deposits
E
- EICR codes: C1, C2, C3 and FI
- The codes an electrician uses on an EICR: C1 danger present, C2 potentially dangerous, FI further investigation needed, C3 improvement recommended.
- Safety certificates and the home
- Electrical installation condition report (EICR)
- A report by a qualified electrician on the safety of a home's fixed wiring. Every private let in England needs one at least every five years.
- Safety certificates and the home
- Energy performance certificate (EPC)
- A certificate rating a home's energy efficiency from A (best) to G, valid for ten years. Needed before a home is let or sold, and shown in adverts.
- Safety certificates and the home
F
- Fair wear and tear
- The normal deterioration of a home and its contents from ordinary, reasonable use over time. A landlord cannot deduct for it from the deposit.
- Deposits
- First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)
- The tribunal that decides many housing disputes in England: challenged rent increases, rent repayment orders, banned fees, licensing appeals and leasehold service charges.
- Rent and rent increases
- Fitness for human habitation
- The legal requirement that a rented home is fit to live in at the start and throughout the tenancy, which tenants can enforce themselves in court.
- Repairs and standards
- Form 3A
- The prescribed government form for a section 8 notice seeking possession of a private assured tenancy in England, used since 1 May 2026.
- Ending a tenancy and possession
- Form 4A
- The prescribed government form for a section 13 notice proposing a new rent on a private assured tenancy in England.
- Rent and rent increases
- Freehold
- Owning a property and the land it stands on outright, with no time limit. Most houses in England are freehold.
- Selling a home
G
- Gas Safe register
- The official register of businesses and engineers legally allowed to work on gas appliances and fittings in Great Britain. Only a registered engineer may do a landlord's gas check.
- Safety certificates and the home
- Gas safety record (CP12)
- The record a Gas Safe registered engineer gives after the yearly safety check of every gas appliance and flue a landlord provides. Required for every let home with gas.
- Safety certificates and the home
- Ground rent
- A yearly payment a leaseholder makes to the freeholder under the lease. For most new long residential leases since 30 June 2022 it is limited to a peppercorn (nothing).
- Selling a home
- Grounds for possession (ground 1, 1A and 8)
- The reasons in Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 on which a landlord can seek possession. Some are mandatory, some discretionary; the main ones are moving in, selling and arrears.
- Ending a tenancy and possession
- Guarantor
- A person who promises in writing to pay the rent, or cover other losses, if the tenant does not. Often asked of students or people on a lower income.
- 寻找租客
H
- Harassment of a tenant
- Acts by a landlord or anyone for them that are likely to interfere with a tenant's peace or comfort, meant to make them leave or stop using their rights. A criminal offence.
- 适用于租客
- Holding deposit
- A payment of up to one week's rent to reserve a home while the landlord checks an application. It must be returned or put towards the rent or deposit.
- Deposits
- House in multiple occupation (HMO)
- A home let to three or more people who form more than one household and share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. HMOs have extra safety rules and often need a licence.
- Licensing and registration
- Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)
- The method councils in England use to assess hazards in homes, such as damp, cold, falls and fire, and decide whether to take action against the landlord.
- Repairs and standards
I
- Illegal eviction
- Making a tenant leave, or keeping them out, without a court order and bailiffs: changing locks, removing belongings or cutting off services. A criminal offence.
- Ending a tenancy and possession
- Improvement notice
- A formal notice from the council requiring a landlord to carry out specified works to remove or reduce a hazard by set dates.
- Repairs and standards
- Inventory and schedule of condition
- A dated record of what is in the home and the condition of each room and item at the start of a tenancy, usually with photos, signed by both sides.
- Deposits
J
L
- Landlord's repairing obligations (section 11)
- The repairs the law makes a landlord responsible for in most tenancies: structure and exterior, water, gas, electricity, sanitation, heating and hot water.
- Repairs and standards
- Leasehold
- Owning a home for a fixed number of years under a lease from the freeholder. Most flats in England are leasehold.
- Selling a home
- Letting agent
- A business that finds tenants for landlords or manages lets. In England it must join a redress scheme, publish its fees and, if it holds client money, have CMP.
- 寻找租客
- Lodger
- Someone who rents a room in the home the landlord lives in and shares living space with them. A lodger is not an assured tenant and has far fewer rights.
- Tenancies and agreements
M
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
- HMRC's system in which landlords and sole traders over an income threshold keep digital records and send quarterly updates using compatible software.
- Money, tax and insurance
- Mandatory HMO licensing
- The national rule that any HMO occupied by five or more people forming two or more households needs a licence from the council.
- Licensing and registration
- Material information
- The facts about a home a person needs to decide whether to rent or buy it, such as the rent or price, council tax band, EPC and any known risks, which an advert must not leave out.
- 寻找租客
- Minimum energy efficiency standard (MEES)
- The rule that a privately let home in England must have an EPC rating of E or better, unless a valid exemption is registered.
- Safety certificates and the home
N
P
- Periodic tenancy
- A tenancy that runs from one rent period to the next, such as month to month, with no end date until someone ends it properly.
- Tenancies and agreements
- Pet request
- Since 1 May 2026 a private tenant in England can ask in writing to keep a pet, and the landlord must answer in writing within 28 days and cannot refuse unreasonably.
- The Renters’ Rights Act
- Possession order
- A county court order that the tenant must give the home back by a date. Only a possession order, enforced by bailiffs if needed, lawfully ends a tenant's right to stay.
- Ending a tenancy and possession
- Prescribed information
- The set of details about a protected deposit that a landlord must give the tenant, and anyone who paid the deposit for them, within 30 days of receiving it.
- Deposits
- Private Rented Sector Database (PRS Database)
- The national register every private landlord in England, and each home they let, must join. It opens by region from 15 December 2026; all by 14 November 2027.
- Licensing and registration
- Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman
- A new ombudsman every private landlord in England will have to join, so tenants can have complaints settled for free. Membership is expected to become compulsory in 2028.
- The Renters’ Rights Act
- Prohibited payment (Tenant Fees Act)
- Any payment a landlord or agent in England asks a tenant for that the Tenant Fees Act 2019 does not allow, such as admin, referencing or inventory fees.
- 寻找租客
- Property redress scheme
- An independent complaints scheme that letting and managing agents in England must belong to, so landlords and tenants can complain about them free of charge.
- 寻找租客
R
- Rent guarantee insurance
- An insurance policy a landlord buys that pays the rent, and often legal costs, if a tenant falls into arrears. It is the landlord's cost, never the tenant's.
- Money, tax and insurance
- Rent in advance
- Rent paid before the tenancy starts. Since 1 May 2026 a landlord in England can take no more than one month's rent before the tenancy is entered into.
- Rent and rent increases
- Rent period
- The interval the rent is paid for, such as a month or a week. Since 1 May 2026 a private assured tenancy can only have periods of a month or 28 days or less.
- Rent and rent increases
- Rent repayment order (RRO)
- An order of the First-tier Tribunal that a landlord repay rent to a tenant, or benefits to the council, because the landlord committed certain housing offences.
- 适用于租客
- Rental bidding ban
- Since 1 May 2026 a landlord or agent in England must state the rent when advertising and cannot invite, encourage or accept offers above it.
- 寻找租客
- Right to rent
- The legal check a landlord in England must make, before a tenancy starts, that every adult who will live in the home is allowed to rent in the UK.
- 寻找租客
S
- Section 13 notice
- The only way to raise the rent on a private assured tenancy in England: a notice on Form 4A, at most once a year, with at least two months' notice.
- Rent and rent increases
- Section 21 notice (abolished)
- The "no fault" notice a landlord could use to end an assured shorthold tenancy without a reason. Abolished in England from 1 May 2026, for old and new tenancies alike.
- Ending a tenancy and possession
- Section 24 (mortgage interest relief restriction)
- The rule that individual landlords cannot deduct mortgage interest from rental income, but get a tax credit at the basic rate (20%) instead. Fully in place since April 2020.
- Money, tax and insurance
- Section 8 notice
- The notice a landlord in England serves to start ending an assured tenancy, on Form 3A, naming one or more grounds for possession and the facts behind them.
- Ending a tenancy and possession
- Selective licensing
- A council scheme requiring a licence for privately rented homes in a designated area, including homes let to a single household.
- Licensing and registration
- Service charge
- What a leaseholder pays the freeholder or managing agent towards the costs of the building: repairs, cleaning, insurance and management of the shared parts.
- Money, tax and insurance
- Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
- A landlord in England must fit a smoke alarm on every storey with living space and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance, except a gas cooker.
- Safety certificates and the home
T
- Tenancy deposit protection scheme
- A government-approved scheme that protects an assured tenant's deposit. In England there are three: the Deposit Protection Service, mydeposits and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
- Deposits
- Tenant's notice to leave
- How a tenant ends a private tenancy in England: at least two months' notice in writing, ending at the end of a rent period, unless the landlord agrees to less.
- Ending a tenancy and possession
- The Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet
- A short government document explaining the 2026 changes, which landlords had to give tenants with a written tenancy agreement from before 1 May 2026 by 31 May 2026.
- The Renters’ Rights Act