Two documents are routinely confused because both must be given to tenants and both arrived with the Renters' Rights Act. They are different things with different deadlines.
1. The written statement of terms
A written statement of the tenancy's terms, given to the tenant at the start of the tenancy — before it begins, or as it begins.
It sets out the parties, the property, the rent and when it is payable, the deposit and where it is protected, and the terms themselves. Because every tenancy is now periodic from the first day, the statement should not describe a fixed term: a term that does not take effect has no business being presented to a tenant as one that does.
This is an ongoing obligation. Every new tenancy needs one, indefinitely.
2. The Renters' Rights Information Sheet
A government document explaining the new system to tenants — their rights, how possession works, where to complain. You serve it; you do not write it.
For new tenancies: serve at the start, alongside the written statement.
For tenancies already running on 1 May 2026: the deadline was 31 May 2026. That date has passed.
If you missed 31 May
You are already exposed. Serving late does not cure the breach — the obligation was to serve by that date and it was not met.
Serve it anyway, immediately. The breach is a fact, but a landlord who served in August is in a materially better position than one who still has not served by the time a local authority looks: it evidences good faith, it stops the failure continuing, and it removes the argument that the tenant never received the information at all.
What you should not do is quietly backdate it. Falsifying the service date turns a civil penalty into something far worse.
Penalties
Failing to serve the information sheet carries a civil penalty of up to £7,000, rising to up to £40,000 or prosecution for a repeat breach. The same tier applies to the written statement.
What this replaced, and what it did not
The How to Rent guide obligation is separate and still exists for England: section 21B of the Housing Act 1988, inserted by the Deregulation Act 2015, with the prescribed requirements in SI 2015/1646. Serving the information sheet does not discharge it.
So a new English tenancy needs the written statement, the information sheet, and How to Rent — three documents, three obligations. Deposit prescribed information under Housing Act 2004 s.213 is a fourth.
A serving checklist
- Serve everything at once, at the start, and record the date.
- Use the current version of How to Rent — the one current when you serve.
- Keep proof: the email, or a signed acknowledgement. Assertion is not evidence.
- Check your back catalogue for pre-May tenancies that never got the information sheet.
Check what your agreement actually says. The tenancy agreement checker flags fixed-term wording and prohibited terms, cited to the Act and section.