3 Application of Parts 1 to 5 and 7 of the Act in respect of assured shorthold tenancies
Parts 1 to 5 and 7 of the Act (including section 20, when read as provided for in this regulation) are to be treated as having effect in relation to assured shorthold tenancies, and for this purpose—
(a) references in the Act to a standard occupation contract are to be read as references to an assured shorthold tenancy,
(b) references in the Act to a contract-holder are to be read as references to a tenant under an assured shorthold tenancy,
(c) references in the Act to a landlord are to be read as having the same meaning as do references to a landlord in the Housing Act 1988,
(d) section 20 of the Act is to be read as follows—

“20 Restriction on terminating contracts
1 A landlord of a dwelling subject to a standard occupation contract may not give a notice under subsection (1)(b) or (4)(a) of section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 in relation to the dwelling at a time when—
(a) the landlord has required a prohibited payment to be made,
(b) as a result of the requirement, a prohibited payment has been made to the landlord or to any other person, and
(c) the prohibited payment has not been repaid.
2 A landlord of a dwelling subject to a standard occupation contract may not give a notice under subsection (1)(b) or (4)(a) of section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 in relation to the dwelling at a time when—
(a) a holding deposit paid in relation to the standard occupation contract has not been repaid, and
(b) the circumstances are such that the failure to repay the deposit amounts to a breach of the requirements of Schedule 2.
3 In determining for the purposes of this section whether a prohibited payment or a holding deposit has been repaid, the payment or deposit is to be treated as having been repaid to the extent (if any) that it has been applied towards either or both of the following—
(a) a payment of rent under the tenancy;
(b) a payment required as security in respect of the tenancy.”

, and
(e) Schedule 3 to the Act is to be treated as being omitted.
Reg. 3 in force at 1.9.2019, see reg. 1(2)