The Contract

Your tenancy agreement is not a ‘one off’ ‘throw away’ document, like a receipt. Your tenancy agreement is a legal document containing all the terms of you contract, and important everyday information, such as your rent price and the dates that tell you when you can move in and when you have to move out. So, make sure you have a copy of the agreement in a safe and easily accessible place.

The Agreement itself must be signed by you, the landlord and the agent if this is applicable, for example if you use a letting agency such as STAR or Cardens. The agreement must be clear and in simple language, so that the purpose and meaning of each term in the agreement is clear and understandable. If you feel that the agreement is unfair or unclear, you will need to talk to your landlord, as redraft might be necessary.

Reasons to Read through Your Tenancy Agreement:

1. Check there isn’t a drafting error, e.g. when the rent to be paid and how much the rent is. For example if you sign an agreement that charges you a higher rent than was originally agreed in a conversation with the landlord,  you may have to pay the greater amount.
2. Make sure you understand all of your obligations under the contract.
3. Check that there aren’t any obviously unfair terms. E.g. you can’t have guests over.

What Your Tenancy Agreement Should Include:

1. Your Name and Address
2. Your Landlords Name and Address
3. The Address of the Property Which is Being let
4. The date on which the tenancy begins
5. Details regarding other residents
6. Duration of the tenancy
7. Rent Payments; Amount and Due date
8. Statement of what rent includes e.g. some student houses, have water gas and/or electricity included in the rent.
9. A Notice Period if you are to leave the tenancy agreement, this may not be applicable on all agreement, as the standard rental period is about 48 weeks.

Pre-Contractual Action:

When you rent a house, your landlord may seem like the nicest person ever, the house perfect and your housemates are amazing. But from time to time, call it ‘luck of the draw’ if you will, you may come across problems.

1. Make sure you read the contract before you sign it and are happy with all the various elements of it. If you are not happy with it, talk it through with your landlord or letting agent.
2. Make sure you understand all the obligations on your part as the tenant.
3. Talk to your landlord. Most landlords are not wanting to rip you off as it is bad for business because their reputation will suffer as a result. If you are pleasant towards them and your demands are not excessive, then it is unlikely that they will be unwilling to co-operate.
4. Discuss Terms: If there is anything you are unsure about in the contract, make sure you discuss it with your landlord so it can be amended. If they don’t want to change it, then perhaps you should look for another house, especially if the issue within the contract is very significant. No illegal term in the contact (e.g. that voids your rights) will be enforceable. The golden rule is if you feel your contract is unfair, don’t agree to it.
5. There cannot be any illegal terms in the contract e.g. your landlord voiding all responsibility for repairs.
6. Know your rights and your responsibilities
7. Make sure you know your landlord’s responsibilities.

Before You Move In:

1. Be very careful who you share the property with, particularly if you are all signing the same tenancy agreement – by doing this you are making yourself liable for their share of the rent as well as your own. If you do not know the person you are moving in with make sure you meet with them beforehand and like them. Perhaps try to get references from their previous housemates as this will give you a better understanding of the person you are going to be living with.
2. Make sure you understand the tenancy agreement before you sign it. If there is anything you don’t understand, take advice from studentlaw.co.uk, the Guild Advice Unit or the Citizens Advice Bureau.
3. If your landlord takes a damage deposit, which they most probably will, the deposit will normally need to be protected by one of the government authorised tenancy deposit schemes. Make sure that the deposit is actually protected by checking with the scheme administrators, who should be listed on your tenancy agreement.
4. When you first go into the property, check the contents and condition of the property carefully against the inventory (if there is one). If anything is damaged or in poor condition, make sure you notify this to the landlord immediately in writing and keep a copy of the letter. This will help you if you have any dispute regarding the damage deposit at the end of the tenancy.
5. It is possible that your cooker will be electric, but this doesn’t mean that your central heating is not gas. Your landlord must have any gas appliances inspected by an engineer registered with the Gas Safe Register every year and give you a certificate confirming this, both when you go into the property and annually after that. Make sure he does this. If not, you can complain to your local Health and Safety Executive. Also, ask your landlord for emergency help lines in case you smell gas.

Joint Tenancy:

It would stand to reason that getting a house with your friends would be good, but an individual agreement, would be best reached to avoid these sorts of costs, as then if someone leaves, the rest of you won’t have to pay.  Therefore getting a house with your friends may seem like a great idea, but you will be liable if they decide to move out. If you go with a letting agent you are more likely to get an individual agreement, so you are not liable for the others.

If it is agreed that one of your party leaves, then it is important you get this agreement in writing, so the landlord cannot claim that this was not agreed.

If one of the tenants wants to move out, but the rest of you want to stay, all the tenants named on the tenancy agreement will be jointly liable for all of the rent until either the tenancy is ended, or a new tenancy agreement is signed with the remaining and the new tenants. If one of joint tenants wishes to leave therefore, it is in the interest of both the tenants and the landlord to ensure that a new tenancy agreement with any replacement tenant is signed as soon as possible. Then the outgoing tenant is not liable for rent for a property he is not using and the remaining tenant is not liable for rent for someone who has left.

Normally the procedure will be more or less as follows:

1. Speak to the landlord and see what his views are about taking a replacement tenant
2. Normally the landlord will agree so long as his costs (e.g. of taking references and doing a credit check) are met.
3. Sometimes the landlord, or letting agents, will agree to find the replacement tenant. However if the outgoing tenant can find a replacement himself this will save time and costs.
4. The replacement tenant will need to be acceptable to the landlord/agents and also to the remaining tenants who will have to live with them, so the remaining tenants are usual best placed to find and interview or a replacement.
5. A new tenancy agreement will be signed once the new tenant has been found.
6. Note that the term does not have to be another six months or a year; it can be for the remainder of the preceding fixed term if wished. For example if a tenant moves out two and a half months into a six month term, the new agreement can be for three and a half months.
7. If a damage deposit has been paid, it is generally more convenient for the incoming tenant to pay the outgoing tenant his share of the deposit, so the incoming tenant will then be entitled to the outgoing tenants share at the end of the tenancy. However if the outgoing tenant is responsible for any damage to the property, this will have to be sorted out. Many landlords will require the property to be re-inspected before allowing the new tenant to take over, so these problems can be properly addressed.
8. Even if one of the party has caused damage, then the cost of repairs may be taken out of the entire group’s shared deposit.

If the landlord refuses to sign a new tenancy agreement with the replacement tenant, it may be possible for the new tenant to live in the property as a lodger of the remaining tenant. However this is less satisfactory, whereby they pay you the rent and you in turn pay the landlord.

Inventory:

When you move into your house there will be an inventory made of everything in the house including the carpet, curtain and appliances. Inventories are designed to avoid dispute, by stating what was in the property when you moved in and in what condition. Therefore it clearly indicates what can or cannot be removed from your deposit, when the inventory is retaken at the end of your tenancy.

Before you sign the inventory make sure you check it and raise any concerns that you have. Also note damage and condition of certain property so that you cannot be blamed for it. This ought to be done by making written and photographic evidence. Make sure you date and sign the list, sending one copy to your landlord and the letting agent and retaining a copy yourself.

You should always retain the receipts for goods you have replaced and give estimates to your landlord if damage is to be repaired.

You should remember that the landlord ought to expect reasonable wear and tear on goods throughout the lease which is likely to be a year, however anything beyond reasonable, the cost of replacement or repair shall be taken from your deposit.

MAKE SURE YOU READ AND CHECK YOUR INVENTORY AND CHANGE ANYTHING THAT DOESN’T MATCH.

Ending the contract:

The standard to which the property should be left at the end of the tenancy agreement should be similar to the standard in which it was originally let. The landlord can expect it to be left clean and tidy, but cannot expect it to be in exactly the same pristine condition as it was (if it was) when it was let, due to the ‘fair wear and tear’ rule.

Certainly the landlord cannot expect it to be in a better condition than when it was let, and if the property was originally let in a dirty condition he will not be able to justify making any deductions from the damage deposit for cleaning.

So far as re-decoration is concerned, if the décor is in the condition that would be expected after the property has been lived in for whatever period of time the tenancy was for, the landlord cannot claim the cost of re-decoration from the deposit. Note that the standard will depend on the people actually living in the property. For example a family with young children cannot be expected to return a property in the same condition as a single person. However if the property is left in an exceptionally filthy state or if it has been re-decorated in a different colour scheme without the landlords permission (assuming the tenancy agreement forbade this), then a deduction for decorating costs may be allowable.

However, if a landlord is to have any chance of success at an arbitration for disputed deductions it will be essential for him to have a detailed inventory/schedule of condition, which must have been agreed by the tenant (and preferably signed by him) at the start of the tenancy. Photographs can often also be useful (provided they are clear and where appropriate show a ruler for scale) and at least one inventory company is now taking videos as a matter of course at the start of tenancies.

Some landlords put clauses in their tenancy agreements specifically requiring the tenant to be responsible for re-decoration costs at the end of the tenancy, regardless of the condition in which it is left by the tenant. Such a clause will almost certainly be void under the ‘Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999’, and these expenses are unlikely to be allowed by arbitrators if disputed. Redecoration during voids is an expense which a landlord should expect to incur as a matter of course as part of the costs of being a landlord.