Note – there is a lot of content here.  You might want to bookmark this page so you can come back later.  

Or why not consider getting my Tenancy Agreements Audio book, which was based on this series?

Day 1 – An introduction to the series
Quite a short post to start off with, discussing what I will be looking at and setting out a list of the types of agreement which will not be covered in the series.

Day 2 – Why use one?
You don’t actually need a written agreement to create a valid tenancy. The post explains why you should.

Day 3 – Tenancy or license?
One of those legal hair splitting things. I explain the difference and why it is important.

Day 4 – Tenancy types
Not all tenancies are assured shorthold tenancies. This posts looks at the different types and explains why it is so important to use the correct agreement for the correct tenancy type.

Day 5 – Shared houses
There are two main ways of dealing with situations where several people will be sharing a property. This post looks at them both and when you should use them

Day 6 – Parties
Not birthday parties, silly! The parties to the agreement. This means the landlord, the tenant, and sometimes the guarantor. Things discussed include children, agents and when only one of joint owners is listed as the landlord.

Day 7 -Addresses
Looking at section 48 notices, and company registered offices.

Day 8 – Guarantees
How they work, and when they should be included with the tenancy agreement.

Day 9 – Agents
I take a look at the law of agency, and discuss if and when agents should go on the tenancy agreement.

Day 10 – The property
Tips on describing the property to be let correctly in the tenancy agreement

Day 11 – Rent
I discuss setting the rent, increasing the rent, and rent review clauses in tenancy agreements.

Day 12 – The term
The period of time the property is let for. I discuss short lets, and the legal differences between different term lengths.

Day 13 – The deposit
A look at the tenancy deposit regulations and when they apply.

Day 14 – Inventories
The importance of inventories and the advantages of using a professional inventory clerk

Day 15 – Unfair terms (1)
I look at the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations and describe how they affect tenancy agreements

Day 16 – Unfair terms (2)
Here I look at some practical applications of the regulations and how they affect particular tenancy agreement clauses

Day 17 – Bills
How these can be dealt with and apportioned in the tenancy agreement

Day 18 – Penalty clauses
How you can deal with these, without falling foul of the unfair terms regulations

Day 19 – Use
Looking in particular at why you should not allow your tenants to run a business from your rented property

Day 20 – Repairs
A quick look at the landlords statutory repairing covenants, and how you should deal with various repair and redecoration issues in the tenancy agreement

Day 21 – Insurance
Looking at both landlords’ and tenants’ insurance

Day 22 – Service of notices
Another look at s48 notices, and clauses for the service of notices on tenants

Day 23 – Inspections
When you can do them, looking also at the ‘covenant of quiet enjoyment’ and keys

Day 24 – Ending
Looking at clauses relating to ending the agreement, including break clauses, and what to do if one of joint tenants wants to leave.

Day 25 – Assignment
The Office of Fair Trading say it is unfair to forbid this. I have my own solution.

Day 26 – Left items
Items left behind by tenants when they vacate can be a big problem for landlords. I discuss how your tenancy agreement can help

Day 27 – Students
Looking at the particular problems associated with student lets, and how they can be overcome

Day 28 – Pets
Most landlords automatically forbid pets. This clause looks at why you might want to change your mind and what you should put in your tenancy agreement if you do

Day 29 – Preparation
Tips on preparing tenancy agreements for use, on signature, and stamping

Day 30 – Renewals
When your fixed term comes to an end, do you give a new agreement for a new fixed term? I discuss where whether you should do this, and talk about renewal forms

Day 31 – Conclusion
As the series comes to an end, I talk about where to find tenancy agreements, the Landlord Law service, and a special offer.

Read more about tenancy agreements here.

This is day 31 of my 31 days of tips on tenancy agreements series. To see the rest of the series click here

Finding tenancy agreements, and the Landlord Law service

Today is the last day of my 31 days of tips. I hope you have enjoyed it, and that you have learned something. When I started writing, I wondered whether I would have enough material to cover 31 posts. Having written it though, I keep thinking of things I have left out!

However the series has covered the critical things you need to know, whether as a landlord or as an adviser.  It there are any other burning issues you would like me to look at in future, please leave a comment.

Finding tenancy agreements

The final thing to discuss with you, is where to get tenancy agreements.

In many ways, there is an embarrassment of riches. Modestly priced printed forms can be found in most large stationers, from respected names such as Lawpack and Oyez. There must be hundreds of other suppliers available online, both free and paid for. It seems like every online landlord service wants to have its own tenancy agreement for download by its users.

Probably the most reliable forms are those from the legal publishers (eg Lawpack and Oyez) who will have them checked regularly by solicitors, and from the Landlord Associations (such as the National Landlord Association and the RLA) where they are also checked over regularly and brought up to date if there are any changes in the law.

So far as free agreements are concerned, unless they are provided by a firm of solicitors, I would be careful about using them. They may have been correct when they were drafted, but have they been checked and updated since then? Some will be good but others less so.

The problem about most tenancy agreement providers

The trouble though, about most documents on sale or downloadable for free, is they are only suitable for letting out a whole house or flat on an AST.  Although that is the most common type, there are others (as we have seen in this series).

For example in some shared houses, landlords will want to rent out rooms individually with tenants sharing the common parts (e.g. kitchen, sitting room and perhaps bathroom). Some publishers provide agreements for this, for example Lawpack. However many don’t.

But there are other situations. What if:

• you want to add a guarantee
• or pay the bills on behalf of the tenant
• or the tenancy is a common law one?

A few specialist suppliers provide documents for these situations, but not many. This is where my Landlord Law service comes in, and why so many landlords find it invaluable.

The Landlord Law service

I provide forms for all the situations described above, as well as:

• special agreements for tenants with pets
• special agreements for students
• special agreements for landlords and agents using TDS to protect deposits
• agreements suitable for non standard ways of paying rent, and
• with space for you to add your own clauses

I also have versions with different combination’s. For example

• for a room in a shared house, with guarantee clause, where the landlord pays the bills, and
• for a common law agreements with a break clause and space for your own clauses

There are also renewal forms and inventory forms.

You can read more about the tenancy agreements service on Landlord Law here.

Have you found this series useful? Is there anything else you would like me write about on tenancy agreements? Have you used the Landlord Law forms?  What other types of tenancy agreement would you like to see provided?

This is day 30 of my 31 days of tips on tenancy agreements series. To see the rest of the series click here.

Tenancy agreements renewals

It is customary for letting agents to arrange for a new agreement to be prepared and signed at the end of the fixed term (and to charge a fee for this). However although this can be a good idea, it is not always necessary. I wrote about this in my ‘Urban Myth’ post here.

As I said there, section 5 of the Housing Act 1988 automatically renews a tenancy on a periodic basis (the period based on how rent is paid) after the fixed term ends. So the tenant will have, usually, a monthly periodic tenancy, on the same terms and conditions as the preceding written agreement.

When are renewals appropriate?

Generally in the following circumstances:

• If the landlord wants to increase the rent. This is the most important reason for getting the tenant to sign a new document, as once this is done he cannot challenge the new rental figure as he has agreed to it.

• If the landlord (or the tenant) wants the security of a fixed term. Although as discussed on day 25, the landlord may not be able to prevent the tenant moving out so long as he is able to find a suitable replacement.

It may be better to allow the tenancy to roll on as a periodic if

• Either the landlord or the tenant’s future plans are uncertain and they want to retain the flexibility of a periodic tenancy

• If the landlord is unhappy about the tenant and has served a section 21 notice, but is allowing him to stay on, on a month by month basis, provided he complies with the terms of the agreement. The effect of signing a new tenancy or renewal form will be to cancel any section 21 notice served, and will mean that the landlord will not be able to evict the tenant under s21 until the new fixed term has ended.

Renewals forms

If you do decide to renew the tenancy, it is not necessary to have a whole new agreement. You can use a short ‘renewal form’.

This will provide details of the new fixed term and rent, and state that all the other terms and conditions of the preceding agreement will apply. Provided you are happy with the original agreement, renewal forms are a good idea – they are simpler and use up less paper (so are better for the environment). We have a renewal form which is available for landlord members of Landlord Law.

Do you have any comments on this section? Do you regularly renew your tenancies or do you allow them to roll on as periodic tenancies? Do you think agents are justified in charging renewal fees? Do you use a renewal form or give the tenant a complete new tenancy agreement?

Tomorrow is the final post in this series

NB Read about my tenancy agreements service here.

This is day 29 of my 31 days of tips on tenancy agreements series. To see the rest of the series click here.

Preparing tenancy agreements

After having sourced your tenancy agreement and found your tenant, you need to get it ready for your tenant to sign.  Here are a few tips for you:

• Make sure that you have all spellings correct, ie of such things as the address of the property and the names of the landlord and tenant.

• If possible have the agreement details typed rather than handwritten.  Handwriting is often hard to read, and if it is misread this could cause confusion.

• Generally try to have the agreement looking clear and professional.  A scruffy  photocopy with scrawled handwriting will not reflect well on you as a landlord. After all this is the document which will govern how the tenancy operates, and may well one day be scrutinised by a Judge (for example if you need to evict the tenant).  Take care with it.

• You need to have two copies, one for the tenant and one for you.  Traditionally the landlord will sign one copy and the tenants will sign another, and then swap them over, so both have a copy of the agreement signed by the other.  However there is no harm in having both parties sign both copies.  You only do one copy for the tenants even if there are several of them.

• If there is more than one tenant sharing on a joint and several basis, they should all sign the same agreement.

• If there are any other documents to attach (such as an inventory, house rules, insurance policy terms, headlease etc) they should ideally be initialed and dated by both parties at the same time as the tenancy agreement is signed.

Signature

So far as signature is concerned, the first thing to say is that if at all possible you should make sure you have a tenancy agreement with all the tenants original signatures on before you let them into the property.

Faxed or scanned copies, could prove problematic, and are not recommended.  Although I understand that some landlords have done this without problems – maybe this is because they have had good tenants and the validity of the tenancy agreement has not been called into question.

Under no circumstances should you let the tenants into the property before signing the tenancy agreement.

Once they are in, they can, legally, refuse to sign anything (whatever they may have told you previously), and the only way you can get them out is via a court order for possession.

I would also recommend that, where agents are instructed, the landlord signs rather than the letting agent (unless the agent has power of attorney).  In practice it would be very difficult for a landlord to refuse to ratify an agreement signed on his behalf by his agent, however it could cause problems.

Some tenancies need to be ‘signed as a deed’.  What does that mean?  It means, basically, that the tenancy agreement should say it is signed as a deed, and the signature should be witnessed by someone independent.  This means someone other than the other party to the agreement!

As mentioned on Day 12,  because a tenancy agreement is a ‘document of title’, it needs to be signed as a deed unless the exception set out in section 54 of the Law of Property Act 1925 applies.  This section says that so long as

• the term is less than three years,
• the tenant is paying a market rent, and
• the term starts immediately,

the tenancy will be valid if there is just a signature.

So if you are arranging for the tenancy agreement to be signed by the tenants a long time before they are due to move in, or if you want to give the tenant a three year term, or if you have agreed to an exceptionally cheap rent, you will need to sign as a deed.

Stamping

A tenancy agreement is a ‘stampable document’ and previously stamp duty was payable (particularly prior to December 2003).  However now stamp duty is only payable for tenancies with a rent of over £125,000 pa. If you need any further information about this see the HM Revenue & Customs website.

Do you have any comments on this section?   Do you have any views about the legality of faxed or scanned signatures, and agents signing on their landlords behalf? Have you ever experienced any problems with tenancy agreements not being signed as a deed?

Tomorrow I will be looking at renewals.

NB Read about my tenancy agreements service here.

This is day 28 of my 31 days of tips on tenancy agreements series. To see the rest of the series click here.

Letting to tenants with pets

Most landlords are adamant. No pets.  Pets can cause damage to the property, future tenants with allergies may not want to live there, and you are worried about neighbours complaining about barking dogs.

However maybe you should sometimes re-consider this blanket prohibition, particularly if you are finding it hard to let your property.  Would allowing a tenant with a pet really be so terrible?  Depending on the tenant and the pet of course.

Research by the Dogs Trust shows that

• 78% of pet owners have experienced difficulty in finding accommodation which accepts pets
• 54% were never able to find a suitable property, and
• 8% had to rehome their pet

The majority of pet owners are decent responsible people.  In most cases, if you offer them a tenancy, they will be so grateful to have found a somewhere where they can keep their pet that they will take good care to keep it, by paying rent promptly and keeping the property in good condition.  You may also find it considerably easier to find a tenant for your property as your pool of prospective tenants will be so much wider.

However you do need to protect your position and the tenancy agreement is the best place to do this.  For example

• The agreement should have a section where details of the pet are set out, including the breed of animal (where known) and microchip details, and

• Provide for a non returnable ‘pet payment’ (to be used to get the property thoroughly cleaned professionally when they vacate)

• Have details of the animal’s vet and

• The name, address and contact telephone number of someone who will look after the animal if anything happens to the tenant (ie so you are not stuck with it)

The agreement should also have pet related terms and conditions, setting out things such as the tenants responsibility for the welfare of the animal, and for ensuring that it does not cause a disturbance.

You can find more information on the Lets for Pets web-site.  Note that Landlord Law members can use our special letting with pets tenancy agreement, available to annual members.

You will also find a lot of general information about letting to tenants with pets in the article that you will find here.

If you *don’t* want to have pets, make sure that your prohibition clause is valid.  Please see the guidance given on Day 16 regarding this.

Do you have any comments on this section?  Do you allow your tenants to keep pets or are you very much against it?  Have you experienced any problems with pets in properties?  Do you have any funny stories?

Tomorrow I will be looking at preparing the agreement and signature

NB Read about my tenancy agreements service here.