Well, here we are at the end of this series on tenancy agreements. I hope you have enjoyed it, and that you have learned something.
Its a long series but there is still a lot I had to leave out. Tenancy agreements is a big subject.
The last thing to discuss is where you can find one.
Finding tenancy agreements
In many ways, there is an embarrassment of riches. Modestly priced printed forms can be found in most large stationers, and 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 perhaps 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. That is, admittedly, the most common type, but 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, but 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 students
- agreements suitable for non-standard ways of paying rent, and
- with space for you to add your own clauses
I also have
- A separate form of guarantee
- A renewal form
- A form you can use to amend your tenancy and add extra terms if you agree to let your tenant keep a pet, or
- Run a home business from the property.
We have information videos on the site about the tenancy agreements and members can ask me questions (for example about a special clause you want to include) in the Members Discussion forum. Not all properties or tenancies are the same – so why should all tenancy agreements be the same?
All Landlord Law members can use the tenancy agreements at no extra charge and they are stored in our cloud for you so you can re-use them as and when you wish.
But whatever tenancy agreement you use – make sure it is appropriate for your situation, does not have any unfair clauses and is up to date. Remember – with a cheap or free tenancy agreement you may just get what you paid for.
