Contractual and statutory tenant

What is the difference between a contractual and a statutory tenant?

While your contract is running, your rights and protection come from the contract and you are known as a contractual tenant.

When the original contract comes to an end, either through the expiry of the fixed term, or the service of a Notice Requiring Possession or a Notice of Seeking Possession, you will continue to enjoy the same rights.

However, your rights are now provided through Acts of Parliament, otherwise known as statutes. Consequently, you are known as a statutory tenant.

If you are an assured tenant and your fixed term has come to an end you do not need to agree a new tenancy with your landlord as your rights are fully protected by statute and the terms of your tenancy will continue exactly as before. There is some slight advantage in agreeing a fixed term agreement as, for the duration of the fixed term, it does limit the grounds on which the landlord can seek possession [see Ending an Assured Tenancy].

If you are an assured shorthold tenant and your fixed term has come to an end and your landlord offers you a new contract, you should consider it. This is because although you are protected by statute, as an AST you have no long-term security and, without a fixed term contract, your landlord could seek possession without giving any reason.