What Must Be in a Tenancy Agreement

A tenancy agreement is the contract between you and the people who live in your property. It records what was agreed on both sides, and it is the first document a court or an adjudicator will read if a dispute arises. Get the basics right at the start and most arguments later become much easier to settle.

The core details every agreement needs

Start with the facts that identify the letting. Full legal names of every tenant, the address of the property including the flat or unit number, the date the tenancy begins, and whether it runs for a fixed term or rolls on from month to month. Where the tenancy is joint, name every tenant as jointly liable so each one is answerable for the whole rent rather than only their own share.

Rent comes next. State the amount, the date it falls due, and how it must be paid, whether by standing order to a named account or another method you both accept. Say what happens if payment is late and whether interest or a fee applies. Record the deposit amount, which approved scheme holds it, and the conditions for getting it back. If a rent free period or a discount is part of the deal, write the dates down, because a concession nobody can point to is a concession you cannot rely on.

Rules on how the property is used

The agreement should cover how the home may be used. Whether pets are allowed, whether the tenant can sublet or take in a lodger, whether a business may be run from the address, and how long guests may stay. These clauses need to be reasonable: a blanket ban on all visitors is unlikely to hold up if tested, while a clear rule on long stays usually will.

Set out obligations around the garden, bins, communal areas and any shared facilities. If the property has a driveway, a parking space or a storage unit, say who uses it. Small details become arguments when they are left unwritten, and an argument over a parking space costs more time than a sentence in the contract.

Think about how each rule would actually be enforced. A no-smoking clause is easy to write and hard to police, but it still matters if the smell of smoke means redecorating at the end of the tenancy. A clause permitting pictures on hooks causes fewer arguments than a blanket ban on altering anything, because tenants will hang pictures whatever the contract says.

Terms you cannot impose

No agreement can remove rights the law gives a tenant. Clauses that let you enter without notice, that require the tenant to give up the right to challenge a rent rise, or that impose a penalty far larger than any loss are unlikely to be enforced. Many jurisdictions apply a fairness test, and a term that fails it can be struck out of the contract entirely.

Watch for terms that push your repair duties onto the tenant, or that force them to use a particular contractor. Those tend to be treated as unfair because they tip the balance of the contract against the person who did not draft it. If a clause exists only to protect you from a legal duty, remove it rather than risk the whole agreement being read against you.

Deposits, guarantors and attachments

If someone guarantees the rent, add them as a party or attach their signed guarantee. A guarantor who has signed nothing has agreed to nothing, and chasing a debt against an unsigned guarantee is usually wasted effort. Record the deposit separately from the rent, because the scheme that holds it creates duties that run alongside the tenancy contract.

Attach or reference the safety records the tenant must receive, the energy or efficiency rating, and any licence the property needs. Where the property is licensed, the licence conditions apply whether or not they appear in the agreement.

• Gas safety record - Current certificate for every gas appliance in the property.
• Electrical report - Inspection confirming the wiring and fixed installations are safe.
• Energy rating - The efficiency certificate, with the minimum standard checked.
• Property licence - Copy of any local authority licence and its conditions.

Signing, copies and later changes

Give every tenant a dated copy they can keep, and keep your own signed copy somewhere you can find it in a hurry. If the tenancy is signed remotely, use a method that shows who signed and when, rather than a scan with no audit trail.

When something changes, whether the rent, the tenants or a rule about pets, record it in writing and have both sides sign. A verbal agreement is hard to prove and easy to misremember. Some changes need a formal notice or a fresh agreement, so check the position where the property is before you act.

Review the document before each new tenancy. Wording that was acceptable five years ago may no longer match the law, and stale clauses cause the disputes a short update would have prevented.