You are likely to be an assured tenant if all of the following applies:

• you pay rent to a private landlord
• your landlord does not live in the same building as you (unless it’s a block of flats) 
• you have control over your home so that your landlord and other people cannot come in whenever they want to 
• you moved in between January 15, 1989 and February 27, 1997 and your landlord did not give you a notice saying that you have an assured shorthold tenancy.

You can also be an assured tenant if you moved in after February 27, 1997 but this is rare. This would only apply in either of the following scenarios:

• your landlord gave you a written notice saying that you have an assured tenancy before your tenancy started.
• you previously had an assured tenancy with the same landlord

You are likely to be a regulated tenant if all of the following applies:

• you moved in before 15 January 1989 
• you pay rent to a private landlord 
• you have control over your home so that your landlord and other people cannot come in whenever they want to 
• your landlord does not live in the same building as you 
• you do not receive board or other services such as cleaning

Regulated tenants usually have more rights than other types of tenancy agreement, including stronger rights against eviction.

You are likely to be an excluded occupier if you:

• share accommodation with your landlord 
• live in the same building as your landlord and share accommodation with a member of your landlord’s family 
• are living in your accommodation for a holiday
• do not pay any rent for your accommodation.

You’ll usually have less protection from eviction with an excluded tenancy agreement.

Fixed term or periodic tenancies refer to the length of time your tenancy agreement is for.

Fixed term 

A fixed term tenancy runs for a set amount of time (usually 6 or 12 months).

If the fixed term ends and you do not agree a new fixed term with your landlord, or they don’t end the agreement, it will automatically become a periodic tenancy.

Periodic

A periodic agreement runs from week to week, or month to month (depending on when your rent is due). They can also be referred to as a ‘rolling tenancy’.

The law gives certain rights to both tenants and landlords which cannot be superseded by terms in a tenancy agreement.

If your tenancy agreement contains unfair clauses (for example the landlord says you are responsible for structural repairs or that they have the right to immediate access to the property at all times) then these terms are not legally binding.

If your landlord is trying to act on unfair clauses you can contact our Environmental Health and Housing Standards team for advice, by emailing healthandhousing@wrexham.gov.uk or by calling 01978 292040 (please contact us via email unless your enquiry is urgent).