A landlord letting a property in Wales needs to give the contract-holder a written statement of the occupation contract within 14 days of the occupation date, and the process starts before that clock even begins. This article walks through the practical sequence: working out which contract type applies, what has to be ready on day one, and what the written statement actually has to contain. It does not repeat the general checklist in our occupation contract explainer, which covers what the document should include rather than the steps to issue it correctly.
> Quick answer: Confirm you are the landlord under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, decide whether the letting is a standard or secure contract, and prepare the written statement before occupation starts. Give the contract-holder that written statement within 14 days of the day they become entitled to occupy. The statement must set out the key matters, the fundamental terms and the supplementary terms. Miss the deadline and the contract-holder can apply to court, and you cannot use the no-fault possession route until you have put it right.
Step one: confirm you are the landlord and the contract type
The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 applies to almost all residential lettings in Wales, replacing the assured shorthold tenancy entirely for property there. Before drafting anything, work out which side of the transaction you are on. Most private landlords letting to a single household or a group of sharers are issuing a standard contract, the Welsh equivalent of what used to be an assured shorthold tenancy. Community landlords, mostly local authorities and housing associations, issue secure contracts instead, which carry stronger security of tenure. This article is written for a private landlord issuing a standard contract, which covers the large majority of lettings arranged through a private agreement.
Getting this classification right matters because the fundamental terms that apply, and the possession routes available later, differ between the two. If you are not sure which applies, check the position on gov.wales before you draft anything, because the wrong contract type creates the same kind of problem as using an English tenancy agreement altogether, which our companion piece on using an English tenancy for a Welsh letting covers in full.
Step two: prepare the document before the tenant moves in
The written statement duty is triggered by the occupation date, not by when you get round to drafting the paperwork, so the sensible order is to have the document ready before the contract-holder moves in. A standard occupation contract has three layers: the key matters, names, the property address, the occupation date, and rent and payment detail; the fundamental terms, set by the Welsh Government and not open to being weakened; and the supplementary terms, default provisions that apply unless the parties agree a variation, provided any variation still leaves the contract-holder no worse off. Using a Welsh Government model written statement, or a template built to that structure, means all three layers are incorporated correctly rather than reconstructed from memory.
At this stage also confirm Rent Smart Wales registration and licensing are in place. These sit alongside the contract rather than inside it, but a landlord who is not properly registered and licensed cannot later rely on a no-fault notice, however correctly the contract itself was drafted.
Step three: give the written statement within 14 days
Section 31 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 requires the landlord to give the contract-holder a written statement of the occupation contract within 14 days of the day they became entitled to occupy the dwelling. The Act is specific that no fee can be charged for providing it, and the contract itself is not enforceable in the ordinary way until the statement has been given. That second point is easy to underestimate. A landlord who delays the paperwork is not just late with admin, they are delaying the point at which the arrangement they intended is actually the arrangement the law recognises.
The 14-day clock also restarts in a narrower situation worth knowing about: if the identity of the contract-holder changes during the life of the contract, perhaps one joint contract-holder is replaced by another, the landlord must give the new contract-holder a written statement within 14 days of that change, or of becoming aware of it if later. Treat that as a fresh trigger rather than an extension of the original one.
What happens if the deadline is missed
Compensation runs from the point the statement should have been given. Under the Act, a landlord who fails to provide the written statement owes compensation equivalent to a day's rent for each day the statement remains outstanding, up to a maximum of two months' rent, and interest is added once that two-month period has passed without the statement being provided. Where the contract-holder believes the failure was intentional, they can ask the court to increase the compensation, up to double the original amount. The contract-holder can also apply to the court to have the terms of the contract set, rather than waiting indefinitely for the landlord to act. This is a meaningful financial exposure for what is, in practice, a paperwork failure that is entirely avoidable.
Serving the fundamental and supplementary terms correctly
Once the written statement is with the contract-holder, the substance of what it says matters as much as the timing. Fundamental terms cannot be removed or watered down except where doing so genuinely improves the contract-holder's position, deposit handling being the clearest example. Supplementary terms, covering matters like repair obligations, apply automatically by default but can be varied or, within limits, excluded by agreement, provided the fundamental protections underneath are untouched. A landlord who copies an old document without checking whether it reflects the current model risks quietly omitting a fundamental term the Act requires, which is a compliance gap rather than a drafting style choice.
Occupation contract issuing checklist
| Stage | What to do | Deadline or trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm status | Check you are the landlord and the letting needs a standard contract | Before drafting |
| Registration | Confirm Rent Smart Wales registration and licensing | Before letting the property |
| Draft the contract | Prepare key matters, fundamental terms and supplementary terms | Before the occupation date |
| Issue the written statement | Give the contract-holder the statement | Within 14 days of occupation |
| Contract-holder change | Reissue a written statement to a new contract-holder | Within 14 days of the change |
Drafting the contract with a vetted template
Inside AI Legal Drafting, the 99 Data Rooms template library, the Occupation Contract sits in the Property and Tenancy group. It is built to the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 structure, fundamental terms that cannot be weakened, supplementary terms that can be varied, and the current written statement and notice position, and the assistant selects vetted clauses by ID against your answers rather than generating wording from scratch. That matters here specifically, because a landlord issuing their first Welsh contract is often adapting an old English document, and a generic AI tool will happily blend the two frameworks without flagging that they are legally different. See our companion guide on drafting a Wales occupation contract with AI for the walk-through of that process.
From draft to a properly issued contract
Once the draft is ready, share it with the prospective contract-holder as a tracked, revocable link rather than a printed pack or a plain email attachment. Gate it behind a verified email so you know the person opening it is the person you intend to let to, and page-by-page analytics show whether they actually read the fundamental and supplementary terms sections before signing, which is useful evidence if a dispute ever arises about what was disclosed and when.
When both sides are ready, send the contract for signature in the browser. Electronic signatures are admissible for most commercial documents in England and Wales, with exceptions including deeds, wills, land transfers and lasting powers of attorney, so a standard occupation contract signs cleanly this way, and the executed document returns with an audit certificate recording who signed, when, their IP, intent to sign and a SHA-256 fingerprint. This is general information, not legal advice. Store the signed contract and the written statement in the same room, note the occupation date, and set a reminder well ahead of any point where you might need to serve notice, the same discipline our guide on what happens if you miss a contract renewal date recommends for any document with a future deadline attached, since our guide on what happens if you use an English tenancy agreement in Wales covers the specific ways getting the paperwork wrong at this stage causes problems later.
This article is written for landlords letting property in Wales, where the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 applies. If you are letting in England, the fundamental-and-supplementary structure described here does not apply to you at all, and you need the Housing Act 1988 framework covered in our assured periodic tenancy guide instead. If you are outside England and Wales entirely, the underlying discipline, get the document ready before occupation, issue it on time, and keep proof you did, is still the right checklist to hold your own local process against, even though none of the specific deadlines above will apply.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to issue a written statement in Wales?
Fourteen days from the day the contract-holder becomes entitled to occupy the property. The same 14-day period applies again if the identity of the contract-holder changes during the contract, running from the date of the change or from when the landlord becomes aware of it.
What must the written statement contain?
Three layers: the key matters, such as names, the property address, the occupation date and rent; the fundamental terms, which cannot be weakened; and the supplementary terms, default provisions that can be varied by agreement provided the contract-holder is left no worse off.
What happens if I never issue the written statement?
The contract-holder can apply to court to have the terms set, and you owe compensation equivalent to a day's rent for each day it remains outstanding, up to two months' rent, with the possibility of that being doubled if the failure looks intentional. You also cannot rely on a no-fault notice until the statement has been given.
Do I need to register with Rent Smart Wales before I can issue a contract?
Registration and licensing are separate compliance requirements that sit alongside the contract, not inside it, but they matter later. A landlord who is not properly registered and licensed cannot rely on a no-fault possession notice, even where the written statement itself was issued correctly and on time.
Can I use my old English tenancy agreement for a Welsh letting?
No. Since the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 came into force, an assured shorthold tenancy is not a valid instrument for a Welsh letting. Our guide on what happens if you use an English tenancy agreement in Wales sets out exactly what goes wrong when landlords try.
Issue the right contract for Wales
Draft a compliant standard occupation contract from vetted clauses built to the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 structure, issue the written statement on time, and keep the whole record in one place. The free tier gives three rooms and twenty-five active links, forever, with no card required; the AI drafter and e-signature start on Pro at £19 a month. Start for free and get the sequence right from the first day of occupation rather than fixing it after the fact.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Occupation contracts, notice periods and compensation rules in this area have changed before and may change again. Verify anything critical with a qualified adviser or the current guidance on gov.wales and legislation.gov.uk before you rely on it.
Sources
- Written statement of occupation contract, duty to provide within 14 days: Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, s.31, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/1/section/31
- Compensation for failure to provide a written statement: Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, s.35 and s.87, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/1/section/35 and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/1/section/87
- Setting off compensation against rent: Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, s.88, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/1/section/88
- Fundamental and supplementary terms, explanatory notes: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/1/notes/division/1?view=plain
- Written statements and model contracts, Law Wales: https://law.gov.wales/public-services/housing/renting-homes-wales-act-2016
- Rent Smart Wales registration and licensing: https://rentsmart.gov.wales
- Electronic execution of documents, Law Commission (2019): https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/electronic-execution-of-documents/