If you manage property on both sides of the border, the vocabulary is the first thing that trips you up and the last thing anyone warns you about.

It matters more than it sounds. Search for "how much notice do I give a tenant" and you'll get English answers, confidently written, that don't apply. Use an English template and the words in it describe a legal relationship that doesn't exist in Wales. Ask an agent about "the tenancy" and you'll get an answer about something else.

This guide maps the vocabulary. It doesn't tell you what any of it requires of you for that, go to the Welsh Government guidance linked throughout. It tells you what the words mean so you can find the right answer instead of a plausible wrong one.

One Warning Before the Table

These are not translations. Wales didn't rename English concepts; it built different ones under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.

An occupation contract is not a tenancy agreement with Welsh wording. It has a different structure, different components and different rules. Treating the left column as interchangeable with the right is how people end up confidently wrong, and it's a worse mistake than not knowing the word at all.

Use the map to search and to read. Don't use it to assume.

The Core Vocabulary

Three entries deserve a note.

1. Written statement, not agreement:
   In Wales, the document is a written statement of the occupation contract. The contract exists whether or not the document has been issued, which is a different conceptual relationship from an English tenancy agreement.

2. Contract-holder, not tenant:
   Not a euphemism. It reflects that the relationship is contractual in a specific statutory sense, and the word appears throughout the legislation, the prescribed forms and the official guidance. Using "tenant" in Welsh correspondence isn't unlawful, but it signals to anyone knowledgeable that you're working from English materials.

3. The two possession rows are deliberate:
   Section 21 and Section 8 notices are England-specific mechanisms under the Housing Act 1988 and related legislation. Wales operates its own possession framework under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, with its own grounds, its own numbered prescribed forms and its own timing rules. There is no row-for-row Welsh equivalent to put opposite them, and pretending otherwise is precisely the error this article exists to prevent.

Concepts With No English Counterpart

This is where the map stops being a map.

The four types of term. Welsh Government guidance sets out four kinds of term that can feature in an occupation contract:

• Key matters - the names of the parties and the address of the property, which must be inserted in every contract

• Fundamental terms - the most important aspects, including possession procedures and the landlord's repair obligations

• Supplementary terms - practical day-to-day matters, such as the requirement to notify the landlord if the property will be empty for four weeks or more

• Additional terms - anything else specifically agreed, a pets clause being the usual example

English tenancy agreements have no equivalent architecture. Everything is just a clause. In Wales the category a term sits in affects whether and how it can be changed, which is why "it's in the contract" is a less complete answer here than it is in England.

Model written statements. Welsh Government publishes template written statements containing the relevant fundamental and supplementary terms. There is no English equivalent published by government.

Converted contracts. Tenancies that existed before 1 December 2022 became occupation contracts by operation of law rather than by agreement. They're called converted contracts, they follow different rules in several respects, and a great deal of published guidance forgets they exist. If your Welsh portfolio predates December 2022, this word matters to you.

Prescribed forms. Wales runs on numbered forms RHW followed by a number for notices, variations and terminations. The number is not decoration. Which form applies depends on the circumstances, and the Welsh Government's landlord FAQ is the place to start.

Joint contract-holders joining and leaving. People can be added to or removed from an occupation contract without ending it and starting a new one. English practice generally requires a new tenancy. This one changes how you handle a departing housemate.

Occupation date. The date the contract-holder became entitled to occupy. It anchors several other things, and it isn't always the date on the document or the day someone moved their boxes in.

English Terms That Don't Carry Across

Some vocabulary has no Welsh counterpart because the thing itself doesn't exist here.

Assured shorthold tenancy, AST. Not the framework for residential letting in Wales.

Section 21 notice. An England-specific possession mechanism. Wales has its own possession framework under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.

Section 8 notice, and the numbered Schedule 2 grounds. England-specific grounds under the Housing Act 1988. Wales has its own grounds under its own Act, with different numbering and different tests.

Decent Homes Standard. An English standard. Wales regulates property condition through the fitness for human habitation duty instead.

Awaab's Law. English legislation. Wales responded to the same events through a different route.

What This Means in Practice

Templates. A document that describes a Welsh residential arrangement as a "tenant," "tenancy" or "AST" may have been written using English terminology, so check its source before relying on it. That includes reference forms, standard letters and the auto-text your team uses.

Your systems. Field labels, dropdown options, letter templates and the words your software puts in front of you shape the words your team uses. If your system says "tenancy start date," someone will eventually treat it as the occupation date. Portfolios that keep Welsh and English properties distinguishable in the record avoid the slow drift where one nation's vocabulary colonises the other.

Listings and adverts. Advertising a Welsh property as an AST tells a knowledgeable applicant you don't manage in Wales often.

Searching. This is the practical one. When you look something up, use the Welsh term. "Notice to end a tenancy Wales" returns English pages with the word Wales in them. "Section 173 occupation contract" returns Welsh material. The vocabulary is your filter.

Reading anything you find. If a guide uses "tenant" and "tenancy" throughout while claiming to cover Wales, it may well be an English article with the place names changed. That's a reliable tell, and it's caught more than one widely-shared piece.

Your own writing. Correspondence, notices and file notes that use Welsh terminology are easier for a colleague, an adviser or a court to follow. It also keeps [your records consistent with the documents they describe](INTERNAL LINK: record-keeping article — live, add slug).

Conclusion

Getting the words right doesn't make you compliant. It makes you able to find out what compliance means, which is the step before.

The single highest-value habit is to notice when something you're reading uses English vocabulary about Wales. That's usually the point at which to stop reading and go to the source.

Everything else follows from the same principle. Wales isn't England with different place names. It's a separate legal system that happens to share a border, and its vocabulary is the first sign of that rather than a cosmetic difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is a contract-holder the same as a tenant?
The word replaces "tenant" in Welsh residential letting, but an occupation contract is not simply a renamed tenancy. Treat it as a different concept, not a translation.

2. What is a written statement?
The written document setting out the occupation contract. It occupies the place a tenancy agreement would in England.

3. Is an AST used in Wales?
Assured shorthold tenancies are not the framework for residential letting in Wales. If paperwork for a Welsh property refers to one, check where it came from.

4. What is a converted contract?
A tenancy that existed before 1 December 2022 and became an occupation contract by operation of law. Different rules apply to it in several respects, so it is worth knowing whether yours is one.

5. What is the Welsh equivalent of a Section 21 notice?
There isn't a direct equivalent. Wales operates its own possession framework under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, with its own grounds, forms and timing.

Important Notice

This article applies to Wales only, and it explains terminology rather than legal requirements. Housing law is devolved, and Wales operates under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. Guidance written for England does not apply here.

The comparisons above are a navigation aid, not statements of legal equivalence. Welsh concepts are not renamed English ones and should not be treated as interchangeable with them. Nothing in this guide states what any of these terms require of you, what notice applies in any situation, or which form to use.

Confirm your position using Welsh Government guidance and Rent Smart Wales, and take advice where it matters. This content is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. RIOO is not a law firm.