Elin had rented in England for years, so when she found a bright two-bedroom flat in Cardiff for £750 a month, she assumed she knew the drill: sign an assured shorthold tenancy, pay five weeks’ rent as a deposit, and get two months’ notice if the landlord ever wanted her out. Then the letting agent handed her something she had never seen before — a document called a “written statement of the occupation contract” — and told her she was not a tenant at all. In Wales, she was a “contract-holder”.

If that sounds confusing, you are not alone. Since 1 December 2022, renting in Wales has operated under a completely different legal system than in England. The old tenancy agreement is gone. In its place is an occupation contract, with stronger security, stricter safety rules, and a whole new vocabulary. This guide explains the whole system in plain English: what your contract is, what your landlord must give you, what you can be charged, how rent rises work, and how much notice you get if your landlord wants the property back.

Quick Answer: Renting in Wales means you hold an occupation contract under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, not a tenancy agreement. Your landlord must give you a free written statement of the contract within 14 days of moving in. Most private renters have a standard contract. Your landlord must give you at least six months’ notice to end it without a reason, and cannot serve that notice in your first six months — so you effectively have at least 12 months’ security. Rent can rise only once a year, with two months’ notice. Letting fees are banned, holding deposits are capped at one week’s rent, and there is no legal cap on the security deposit — but it must be protected in an approved scheme within 30 days.

What Is an Occupation Contract in Wales?

An occupation contract is the legal agreement between you and your landlord in Wales. It replaced the assured shorthold tenancy (AST) and most other tenancies on 1 December 2022, when the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 came into force. Every tenancy that already existed on that date converted automatically into an occupation contract — you did not need to sign anything new for the change to happen.

The biggest change is in the language. You are no longer a “tenant” in the eyes of Welsh law; you are a contract-holder. Your landlord is still your landlord. The home you rent is called the dwelling, and the day you were entitled to move in is the occupation date. These words matter because they appear throughout your written statement, and knowing them helps you understand your rights.

The contract itself is made up of four kinds of terms:

• Key matters — the basics: names, the address, the occupation date, the rent and how often it is paid.
• Fundamental terms — the most important rights and duties, set by law. Your landlord cannot change these unless the change benefits you.
• Supplementary terms — practical day-to-day matters, such as telling your landlord if you will be away for four weeks or more.
• Additional terms — anything else you and your landlord agree, such as a term allowing you to keep a pet.

Your landlord must give you a written statement setting out all of these terms. That document is your contract in written form, and it is the single most important piece of paper in your tenancy. Keep it safe.

Before 1 December 2022	Since 1 December 2022
Assured shorthold tenancy (AST)	Occupation contract
You were a “tenant”	You are a “contract-holder”
Tenancy agreement	Written statement of the occupation contract
Two months’ no-fault notice (Section 21)	Six months’ no-fault notice (Section 173)
Rent rises with one month’s notice	Rent rises with two months’ notice, once a year
Deposit cap of five weeks’ rent (England)	No statutory deposit cap in Wales
Court order needed to recover an abandoned home	Abandoned home recoverable after a four-week warning notice

Standard vs Secure: Which Contract Do You Have?

There are two types of occupation contract, and which one you have decides how much security you get.

A standard contract is what almost every private renter in Wales has. It can be periodic (rolling from one rent period to the next) or fixed term (for a set period, such as 12 months). Your landlord can end a periodic standard contract without a reason by serving a six-month Section 173 notice — but only after the restrictions in this guide are met.

A secure contract is used mainly by councils and housing associations (known as “community landlords”). Secure contracts give you much stronger protection: your landlord cannot use a no-fault notice at all, and can only end the contract on specific grounds, such as serious rent arrears or anti-social behaviour, with a court order. If you rent from a private landlord, you almost certainly do not have a secure contract.

If you are not sure which contract you have, check the first page of your written statement — it must state the type of contract. If it does not say, ask your landlord or letting agent in writing. If you rent from a council or housing association and your contract says “standard”, ask why: community landlords should normally issue secure contracts.

Contract Type	Standard contract	Secure contract
Who uses it	Private landlords	Councils and housing associations
Can be fixed term or periodic	Yes, both	Usually periodic
No-fault ending by landlord	Yes — Section 173, six months’ notice	No — only on specific grounds
Your notice to end it	Four weeks (periodic)	Four weeks (periodic)
Who most readers have	Almost all private renters	Social housing tenants

Your Written Statement: What It Must Contain and When You Get It

Your landlord must give you the written statement of your occupation contract free of charge, within 14 days of the occupation date — the day you were entitled to move in, not the day you actually collected the keys. It must contain every term of the contract, plus the explanatory information the law requires. If you agreed to receive it electronically, an email copy counts.

This deadline has teeth. If your landlord misses it, you can claim compensation of one day’s rent for every day from the occupation date until the statement is given, up to a maximum of two months’ rent. If the court finds the failure was intentional, it can increase that compensation by up to 100%. Until the statement is given, your landlord cannot serve a Section 173 no-fault notice. If the statement was given late, your landlord cannot serve a Section 173 notice for six months after the day it was finally given.

If your tenancy existed before 1 December 2022 and converted automatically, your landlord had until 31 May 2023 to give you the written statement for the converted contract.

Check this first: If you moved into a Welsh rental and never received a written statement, ask for it in writing today and keep a copy of your request. The 14-day rule is one of the strongest protections in Welsh renting law, and it is also one of the most commonly missed.

Worked Example: Elin’s Late Written Statement

Elin moved into her Cardiff flat on 1 March 2026, paying £750 a month. Her landlord did not give her the written statement until 1 April 2026 — 31 days after the occupation date, 17 days late.

• One day’s rent is £750 × 12 ÷ 365 = £24.66.
• She can claim one day’s rent for each day from the occupation date until the statement was given: 31 days × £24.66 = £764.38 (well under the two-month cap of £1,500).
• Her landlord also cannot serve a Section 173 no-fault notice until 1 October 2026 — six months after the late statement was given.

Elin asked for the statement in writing, kept the email, and her landlord apologised and paid the compensation rather than risk a court claim. A paper trail turns a right on paper into money in your pocket.

Situation	Written statement deadline
New contract from 1 December 2022 onwards	Within 14 days of the occupation date
Contract converted from an old tenancy	By 31 May 2023
New fundamental terms added 1 June 2026	Written statement of the variation by 14 June 2026
If the deadline is missed	One day’s rent per day, up to two months’ rent
Effect on a Section 173 notice	Cannot be served until the statement is given; six-month wait if it was late

Moving-In Costs: Fees, Holding Deposits and What You Cannot Be Charged

Welsh law bans almost all fees charged to renters. Under the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019, in force since 1 September 2019, your landlord or letting agent can only charge you permitted payments. Everything else is a prohibited payment, and you can get it back.

The permitted payments are:

• Rent
• A security deposit (no statutory cap — see the next section)
• A refundable holding deposit of no more than one week’s rent
• Payments in default — for example, interest on rent more than 7 days late, or the reasonable cost of replacing a lost key
• Utilities, communication services, TV licence and council tax, where your contract says you pay them

Your landlord or agent cannot charge you for referencing, credit checks, inventories, check-ins, check-outs, tenancy preparation, renewals, accompanied viewings or administration. If you have been charged any of these since 1 September 2019, you can ask for the money back, and your landlord cannot serve a valid Section 173 notice while they are holding a prohibited payment.

Worked Example: Iolo’s Holding Deposit

Iolo found a two-bedroom house in Swansea at £850 a month and paid a holding deposit to reserve it while referencing was carried out. One week’s rent is £850 × 12 ÷ 52 = £196.15. That is the maximum holding deposit his agent could lawfully ask for. The agent asked for £250 — £53.85 too much. Iolo pointed out the one-week cap, paid £196.15, and the excess was never charged. When his referencing passed, the holding deposit went towards his first month’s rent, as it should.

Payment	Allowed in Wales?
Rent	Yes
Security deposit	Yes — no statutory cap
Holding deposit up to one week’s rent	Yes — refundable
Interest on rent more than 7 days late	Yes — capped at 3% above Bank of England base rate
Lost key replacement (reasonable cost)	Yes
Referencing or credit check fee	No — banned
Inventory or check-in fee	No — banned
Tenancy preparation or renewal fee	No — banned
Administration fee	No — banned

Your Deposit in Wales: No Cap, But Strict Protection Rules

Here is where Wales differs sharply from England. In England, a tenancy deposit cannot be more than five weeks’ rent. In Wales, there is no statutory cap on the security deposit. Your landlord can ask for more than five weeks’ rent — although the amount must not be used to disguise an extra fee, and in practice most Welsh landlords ask for four to five weeks’ rent or one month’s rent.

What is capped is the holding deposit: one week’s rent, as above. And what is strict is the protection rule. Under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, your landlord must protect your deposit in one of three government-backed schemes — the Deposit Protection Service (DPS), MyDeposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) — within 30 days of receiving it, and give you the prescribed information about where it is held. If your landlord fails to protect it, you can apply to the county court, which can order the deposit to be repaid and award you compensation of up to three times the deposit.

If your landlord asks for a very large deposit — say, eight or ten weeks’ rent — ask them to justify it in writing. A deposit that big may be an attempt to charge you extra money under another name, and it is worth challenging before you pay. For the full detail on how deposit protection works and what to do if yours was not protected, see our guide to tenancy deposit protection.

Worked Example: Elin’s Deposit

Elin’s Cardiff flat costs £750 a month. One week’s rent is £173.08 (750 × 12 ÷ 52). Her landlord asked for a deposit of five weeks’ rent: 5 × £173.08 = £865.38. That is lawful in Wales — there is no cap — and her landlord protected it with the DPS within 30 days and sent her the certificate. Had the landlord failed to protect it, Elin could have claimed up to three times the deposit: 3 × £865.38 = £2,596.15, plus the return of the deposit itself.

Rent Increases in Wales: Two Months’ Notice, Once a Year

Your landlord cannot raise your rent whenever they like. For a periodic standard contract, your landlord must give you at least two months’ notice of a rent increase, using the prescribed form (Form RHW12, the Notice of Variation of Rent), and can only increase the rent once a year. Before 1 December 2022, the notice period was one month; the Renting Homes Act doubled it.

If you have a fixed-term standard contract, your landlord cannot increase the rent during the fixed term unless the contract itself allows it. When the fixed term ends and the contract becomes periodic, the two-months’-notice, once-a-year rule applies.

If you think an increase is unreasonable, you can challenge it. For a periodic standard contract, you can apply to the Rent Assessment Committee (through the Residential Property Tribunal Wales) to decide whether the new rent is a fair market rent — but you must apply before the increase takes effect, and the committee’s decision replaces the landlord’s figure. Do not simply stop paying the increase: unpaid rent is arrears, and arrears can be used against you. If you are struggling, read our guide on challenging a rent increase and our guide to rent arrears before you act.

Worked Example: Iolo’s Rent Rise

Iolo’s Swansea rent is £850 a month. In January 2026, his landlord served a Form RHW12 proposing £900 a month from 1 April 2026 — more than two months’ notice, and his first increase in over a year, so the procedure was lawful.

• The increase is £50 a month, or £600 a year.
• Over a year, Iolo will pay £10,800 instead of £10,200.
• Iolo checked similar houses in Swansea, found £900 was in line with the market, and accepted. Had it been well above the market, he could have applied to the Rent Assessment Committee before 1 April.

Fitness for Human Habitation: What Your Home Must Have

Your landlord must keep your home fit for human habitation for the whole of your contract — not just on the day you move in. This is a fundamental term of every occupation contract, and it is one of the strongest duties in Welsh law. If your home is not fit, no rent is payable for the period it is unfit — although you should keep paying while you raise the issue, and let a court decide if there is a dispute.

The Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022 set out specific requirements, including:

• A mains-powered smoke alarm on every storey, interlinked with the others
• A carbon monoxide alarm in every room with a gas, oil or solid-fuel burning appliance
• An electrical safety inspection (EICR) at least every five years, with a copy given to you within 14 days of the occupation date
• The structure and exterior kept in repair, including drains, gutters and external pipes
• Water, gas, electricity, sanitation and heating installations kept in repair and proper working order

Your landlord must also arrange an annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer if the property has gas, and give you a copy of the record. If you report a repair, your landlord must confirm whether there is a repair, who is responsible for it, and when it will be done — and then do it within a reasonable time. For more on who pays for what, see our guides to landlord repairs and landlord safety certificates.

If your home is not fit: Report the problem to your landlord in writing, keep copies of everything, and take dated photographs. If nothing happens, contact your local council’s environmental health team or Shelter Cymru. Do not stop paying rent without advice — it can be treated as arrears even when your landlord is in the wrong.

Rent Smart Wales: Why Your Landlord Must Be Registered

Every landlord in Wales must register with Rent Smart Wales under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014. Registration costs £60 online and lasts five years. If your landlord manages the property themselves — arranging viewings, collecting rent, dealing with repairs — they must also hold a landlord licence, which costs £254 online for five years and requires approved training and a “fit and proper person” check. If they use a fully licensed letting agent to do all the management, they only need to register.

This matters to you directly. If your landlord is not registered, or is not licensed when they should be, they cannot serve a valid Section 173 notice to end your contract. The same bar applies to a landlord’s notice at the end of a fixed term and to a break-clause notice. Failing to register is a criminal offence, and letting or managing without a licence can lead to an unlimited fine.

You can check whether your landlord is registered on the public Rent Smart Wales register. If they are not on it, that is a serious red flag — and useful leverage if they ever try to end your contract. For the fees side of the picture, see our guide to letting agent fees.

Ending Your Contract: Your Four-Week Notice

If you have a periodic standard contract, you can end it by giving your landlord at least four weeks’ notice in writing, specifying the date you will give up possession. That date cannot be less than four weeks after the day you give the notice. There is no prescribed form, but give it in writing — email is fine if your contract allows it — and keep proof that you sent it.

If you have a fixed-term standard contract, you cannot normally end it early unless the contract has a break clause, or your landlord agrees to let you go. If you leave early without agreement, you can still be liable for the rent until the end of the fixed term, although your landlord must take reasonable steps to re-let the property rather than leave it empty and charge you.

If your circumstances change — a relationship ends, a job moves, a housemate leaves — the four-week notice is your main tool. Make sure the notice is clear, dated, and sent to the right address: your landlord’s address as given in the written statement.

The Section 173 No-Fault Notice: Six Months, and Not in the First Six

The Section 173 notice is the Welsh equivalent of the old Section 21 “no-fault” notice in England — but it is much slower and much harder to use. Your landlord can serve it to end a periodic standard contract without giving a reason, but only if all of the following are true:

• The contract has run for at least six months (the notice cannot be served in the first six months)
• The notice gives at least six months before the date you must leave
• Your landlord gave you the written statement on time (or six months have passed since a late statement)
• Your deposit is protected, and the prescribed information was given
• Your landlord is registered and, if required, licensed with Rent Smart Wales
• The property meets the fitness for human habitation standard, with working alarms and a valid EICR
• No Section 173 notice was served in the last six months without being acted on
• The landlord must apply to the court for possession within two months of the date specified in the notice, or the notice expires

In practice, this means a contract-holder who has done nothing wrong has at least 12 months’ security: six months before a notice can be served, plus six months’ notice. For a fixed-term contract of less than two years, your landlord cannot include a break clause at all. For a fixed term of two years or more, your landlord cannot give notice until at least month 18, and must still give six months’ notice.

Worked Example: Seren’s Twelve Months of Security

Seren moved into a three-bedroom house in Bangor on 1 March 2026 on a periodic standard contract, paying £695 a month (£8,340 a year). Her landlord decided in June 2026 to sell the house and wanted her out.

• The earliest her landlord could serve a Section 173 notice was 1 September 2026 — six months after the occupation date.
• The notice would then have to give six months, so the earliest date Seren could be asked to leave was 1 March 2027.
• That is a full 12 months from the day she moved in — and if the landlord missed any compliance step, such as the written statement or deposit protection, the notice could be invalid altogether.

Seren used the time to save for her next move instead of being rushed out in eight weeks, as she would have been under the old law.

Comparison Criteria	Wales (Section 173)	England (old Section 21)
Minimum notice	6 months	2 months (now abolished)
Earliest it can be served	After 6 months of the contract	After 4 months of the tenancy
Practical minimum security	12 months	6 months
Compliance bars	Written statement, deposit, Rent Smart Wales, fitness	Deposit, EPC, gas safety, “How to Rent” guide
Court application deadline	Within 2 months of the specified date	Within 6 months of the notice

If a Contract-Holder Dies: Succession Rights Explained

The Renting Homes Act gives Welsh renters succession rights that did not exist under the old law. If a sole contract-holder dies, the contract does not automatically end. Instead, someone who qualifies can succeed to the contract and carry on living in the home. There are two rounds of succession, so a home can pass on twice.

A priority successor is the spouse or civil partner of the person who died, or a partner who lived with them in the home as their principal home. A reserve successor is either a family member who lived with the contract-holder as their principal home for the 12 months before the death, or a carer who lived with them and cared for them during that period and has no other home to occupy.

The order is: first a priority successor, then a reserve successor. If the person who died was themselves a reserve successor, no further succession can take place. If a joint contract becomes a sole contract because one joint contract-holder dies, that is not a succession — so two further successions can still happen afterwards.

If you are a joint contract-holder and your partner dies, the contract simply continues in your name. The succession rules matter most when the person who dies was the sole contract-holder. If you think you qualify, tell the landlord in writing as soon as you can, and get advice from Shelter Cymru or Citizens Advice. For the wider picture, see our guide on what happens if a tenant dies.

Joint Contract-Holders: Adding or Removing Someone

One of the most practical improvements in Welsh law is how joint contracts work. You can add a new joint contract-holder with your landlord’s consent — the landlord can only refuse for reasonable grounds — and a joint contract-holder can withdraw from a periodic contract by giving notice, without the whole contract having to end and a new one being drawn up. The person who leaves stops being liable for rent from the day they cease to be a contract-holder.

This matters in real life: a partner moves in, a housemate moves out, a relationship ends. Under the old law, changing the names on a tenancy usually meant ending one tenancy and starting another, with new fees and new paperwork. In Wales, the contract carries on and the names change within it.

There are safeguards. If a joint contract-holder withdraws, the landlord must give notice of the change to the other occupiers and to any potential successors. And if the remaining contract-holder is left in a home that is far bigger than they need — or, for a community landlord, no longer meets the allocation criteria — the landlord may have a ground for possession. For the England-focused detail on shared tenancies, see our joint tenancy guide.

Pets, Children and Benefits: What Your Landlord Cannot Ban

There is no statutory right to keep a pet in Wales. Whether you can have a pet depends on your contract: it can be agreed as an additional term, and many landlords will agree if you ask — especially if you offer a higher deposit or a pet agreement in writing. If your contract says no pets and you keep one anyway, you are in breach of contract. Always get permission in writing before a pet moves in. Our guide to renting with pets has practical tips for persuading a reluctant landlord.

Children and benefits are a different story. Since 1 June 2026, it has been unlawful in Wales for a landlord or agent to discriminate against you because you have children or receive benefits. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 is mainly an England law, but its anti-discrimination provisions were extended to Wales through the Renting Homes (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026. Two new fundamental terms were added to most occupation contracts (sections 54A and 54B of the Act):

• You may allow a person under 18 to live in or visit the dwelling, and your landlord must not interfere unless the restriction is a proportionate way of achieving a legitimate aim — overcrowding is the usual example.
• Your landlord must not prohibit you from being a benefits claimant.

Landlords were required to give existing contract-holders a written statement of the new terms, or of the contract as varied, by 14 June 2026. If your written statement was drafted before June 2026 and you have not received that update, ask your landlord for it now — and if you are refused a home because you have children or claim benefits, that refusal may now be unlawful. See also our guide to no-DSS bans, which explains the wider ban in detail.

A note on “no DSS” adverts: Adverts that say “no DSS”, “no benefits” or “working professionals only” have been effectively unlawful in Wales since 1 June 2026. If you see one, you can report it to Rent Smart Wales or seek advice from Shelter Cymru.

What Changed in Wales in 2026?

Beyond the June 2026 anti-discrimination terms explained above, one more change is on the horizon — but it is not law yet.

A possible end to no-fault eviction. The Welsh Government has announced plans to ban no-fault evictions entirely in Wales, which would bring Wales into line with England after the Renters’ Rights Act. At the time of writing, this is an announced plan, not a law — no bill has been passed, and no date has been set. A Section 173 notice can still be served today. If the ban becomes law, this guide will be updated, but do not assume the no-fault route has already gone.

For the England side of the 2025 Act, see our Renters’ Rights Act 2025 guide.

Wales vs the Rest of the UK: The Key Differences

Wales now has the most protective private-renting system in Great Britain on notice periods, and the most distinctive in its paperwork. Here is how the four nations compare on the rules that matter most to renters.

Rule	Wales	England	Scotland	Northern Ireland
Main agreement	Occupation contract	Assured periodic tenancy	Private residential tenancy	Private tenancy
Key law	Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016	Housing Act 1988 + Renters’ Rights Act 2025	Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016	Private Tenancies (NI) Order 2006 + Act (NI) 2022
No-fault route	Section 173, 6 months’ notice	Abolished (from 1 May 2026)	None — eviction only on grounds	Notice to quit, 4–12 weeks
Your notice to end it	4 weeks	2 months	28 days	4 weeks (12 weeks after 10 years)
Deposit cap	None	5 weeks’ rent	2 months’ rent	1 month’s rent
Deposit protection deadline	30 days	30 days	30 working days	28 days
Rent rise notice	2 months, once a year	2 months, once a year	3 months, once a year	3 months, once a year (from 1 Apr 2025)
Letting fees	Banned	Banned	Banned	Agent fees banned; landlord direct charges limited
Landlord registration	Rent Smart Wales, compulsory	PRS Database (from 2026)	Landlord registration, compulsory	Landlord Registration Scheme, compulsory
Council tax/rates	Council tax	Council tax	Council tax	Domestic rates, not council tax

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Renting in Wales is genuinely different from renting anywhere else in the UK, and the differences mostly work in your favour. You get a written statement within 14 days, six months’ no-fault notice that cannot arrive in your first six months, a rent rise only once a year with two months’ warning, a ban on letting fees, and — since June 2026 — a legal right not to be turned away for having children or claiming benefits. The trade-offs are real too: there is no cap on the security deposit, and there is no statutory right to keep a pet.

Your three most important habits as a Welsh renter are simple. First, get your written statement, read it, and keep it safe — it is your contract. Second, check that your landlord is registered with Rent Smart Wales, and your deposit is protected within 30 days. Third, keep everything in writing: your four-week notice, your repair requests, your rent-increase letters. Paper trails are what turn rights on paper into results.

If you are moving to Wales from England or Scotland, do not assume the rules you know still apply — they mostly do not. And if you are already renting in Wales and something in this guide does not match your experience, check your written statement first: the answer is usually in there.

If a rent rise looks wrong, read our guide on challenging a rent increase. If your landlord is ignoring repairs, see our guide to landlord repairs. And if you need to leave, our guide to ending your tenancy walks you through the notice step by step.

Further Reading

• GOV.WALES — Tenants: housing law has changed (Renting Homes): https://www.gov.wales/tenants-housing-law-has-changed-renting-homes
• Rent Smart Wales — UK Government Renters’ Rights Act 2025: implications for Wales: https://rentsmart.gov.wales/en/rentersrights/
• GOV.WALES — Renting Homes (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026: guidance for landlords: https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/pdf-versions/2026/5/3/1778061422/renting-homes-miscellaneous-amendments-wales-regulations-2026-guidance-landlords.pdf