Prove you served the paperwork.
An England tenancy depends on the right documents being served, and on being able to show when and how — the evidence deposit claims and possession disputes turn on. Record each one here and generate a dated written record to keep on file. Free, no sign-up.
Tick each document you served, then add the date and how it was served. Items marked required are the ones the law says a tenant must be given.
- By hand, with a witness — note the date, time and who handed it over.
- Recorded or signed-for post — keep the receipt and tracking. First-class post is usually treated as served two working days later under most tenancy agreements; recorded delivery gives you a signature.
- Email — only if the tenancy agreement allows service by email to a stated address. Keep the sent message and any read receipt.
Information for your own records, not legal advice. This produces a written summary; keep the actual documents (and any proof of postage or email) alongside it. A possession claim should be reviewed by a solicitor before you rely on it. These requirements reflect the prescribed-information regime in England — the rules differ in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
Serving isn't enough. You have to be able to prove it.
An England landlord must give the tenant the current How to Rent guide, a valid Energy Performance Certificate and a gas safety certificate, and must protect the deposit in an approved scheme and serve the prescribed information about it within 30 days of receiving it. These duties did not change when the Renters' Rights Act 2025 reformed possession law on 1 May 2026 — they remain legal requirements in their own right, with penalties of one to three times the deposit for the deposit failures.
Until 1 May 2026 these documents were also the preconditions for a no-fault Section 21 notice, and missing or late service was one of the most common reasons such notices failed. Section 21 has now been abolished in England: possession needs a Section 8 notice citing a statutory ground (only a notice validly served before 1 May 2026 can still be relied on for a limited period). But the paperwork still matters — a landlord's compliance record is exactly what a court scrutinises in deposit-penalty claims and contested possession proceedings.
The catch is that doing it isn't the same as being able to show you did it. If a tenant disputes that they ever received the How to Rent guide or the EPC, the question becomes one of evidence: what was served, on what date, and by what method. A contemporaneous written record made at the time, kept with the documents themselves and any proof of postage or email, is what tends to settle the argument.
This tool helps you make that record while the detail is fresh. It doesn't replace keeping the documents, and it isn't legal advice. Note too that this reflects the England regime: Wales (under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act), Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own rules and their own paperwork.
Why the paper trail matters more now: since Section 21 no-fault eviction was abolished in England on 1 May 2026, possession turns on a valid Section 8 notice and the documents behind the tenancy. Our Renters' Rights Act guide walks through what changed and the reformed grounds, and the eviction notice generator drafts the notice itself for whichever of the four nations you're in.
Serve it, record it, keep it together.
Stead's landlord tools store tenancy paperwork against each property, track the compliance every letting depends on (gas, EICR, EPC, deposits and prescribed information), and remind you before any of it lapses.