Here is a quesiton for the Blog Clinic from John who is a landlord:
Hi, I am trying to find out if a contract can be signed without my presence and sent to me. My tenant is currently living in another city and is hoping not to have to come down until her moving in date.
Can I send her the contract for her to sign and send back to me? Who will she need to have as a witness in order for it to be legal?
There is no legal requirement for the landlord to be present with the tenant when they sign the tenancy agreement. It is quite common for tenancy agreements to be sent out to tenants, either by post or by email, for them to sign and send back before the start of the tenancy.
It is best for the tenant to sign the tenancy ‘as a deed’ which means having wording to this effect on the tenancy itself and the tenant signing before independent witnesses who then give their name and address under the signature.
The witness can be anyone who is not a party to the agreement (ie you, the landlord, would not have been an appropriate person) but it is best to have someone who is independent (ie not a close relative).
Note that if the prospective tenant has never seen the property, the Distance Selling Regulations may apply.
Are you a landlord? 
As already mentioned, this is fine for tenancy agreements provided it is not classed as a contract at distance (i.e. if they haven’t seen the property).
However, as you use the word ‘contract’ it’s worth expanding on this a little.
Other contracts signed remotely are likely to come under the The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. E.g. agents sending terms of business for signature by email, fax or mail. These would need to have a cooling off period of 7 working days which commences from the date the agent acknowledges receipt of the signed contract.
Tenancy agreements are exempt from the Consumer Protection (Cancellation of Contracts Concluded away from Business Premises) Regulations 1997, but an agent’s terms of business are not. If an agent visits the landlord and gets them to sign terms of business away from the agent’s offices, then cancellation rights will almost certainly apply.
Note that the cancellation period under Cancellation of Contracts regulations is 7 days, not 7 working days like the Distance Selling regs. There are other differences too, e.g. the contract must contain a cencellation form and prescribed wording from the regulations.
It’s worth agents seeking proper advice when forming their terms of business.
Many thanks for picking up on this Jamie.
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