Landlord Law
I am just finishing a fairly long running project (about 2 months) to develop some new special tenancy agreements for student lets, for my Landlord-Law site.
Developed initially in response to a query from one of my members on the discussion forum, they are designed to deal with two particular problems with student lets:
- The fact that they are generally signed when the previous tenants are still in occupation (which could potentially cause major problems if they refused to move out, as legally they are entitled to do), and
- The fact that landlords will want to let the property for the whole year, but many students will not want to live there over the summer.
It was initially just going to be one agreement. However when I put it out to consultation with the membership, some of them wanted one part and others wanted another, and some said that they would definitely not want that part, so in the end I decided to do a number of different agreements using different combinations.
Then another member sent me his standard agreement for out of season holiday lets so I thought that perhaps I would do one of them too.
So there will eventually be four different types, although at the time of typing this I have not yet loaded up the out of season holiday let one.
Its been a bit of a time for tenancy drafting recently. Apart from these student agreements, I have been asked by clients to do an under 18 tenant (signing jointly with her guarantor), an assured tenancy for an elderly couple renting a flat intended for the rest of their lifetime, and a memorandum for protected tenancies. Heigh Ho!
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The Landlord Law Blog from Tessa Shepperson
Hi There,
Having two sons away at University I am pleased to see that at least you are trying to add a little variety to the process. I’m fed-up of draconian rental agreements that run from one blue-moon to the next etc. But I’m particularly concerned by these ‘guarantor’ documents and clauses that seem to litter most agreements. What protection is there for hapless guarantors who, when the tenants have established their bona-fides with the landlord, wish to withdraw from that part of any agreement.
I’m particularly keen to understand if they can simply run indefinitely or can I issue reasonable notice??
Best wishes and great blog!
P¬)
The agreements I draft try to be even handed, so as to comply with the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.
So far as guarantors are concerned, the guarantee will definitely end if any aspect of the tenancy changes, for example if the rent goes up (because the guarantee the guarantor signed was on a different basis).
Other than that it depends on how the guarantee deed was drafted. If a gurantor only wants to guarantee for a specific period of time (ie the duration of the fixed term and no more) he should ideally request that the guarantee say this.
However once the guarantee is signed and the tenant has moved in, the guarantor cannot end the agreement unless the landlord agrees. After all, the landlord may have only agreed to take on the tenant on the basis that there is a guarantee in place, so the guarantor cannot agree to the guarantee and then withdraw once the tenant is in situ!