In This Guide
Administration
Being a landlord
Buy to let investment
Choosing the property
Finding tenants
Letting property
Lettings agents
Levels of service
Preparing the property
Problem tenants
Tenancy
1. Types of tenancy
2. Resident landlords
3. Duration and termination of the tenancy
4. Rent increases
5. Rent assessment committee
6. Tenancy agreements
7. What they contain
8. Example agreement
9. Other issues
Tenancy
Tenancy agreements
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Letting your property is perfectly safe provided that you have a solid tenancy agreement and serve the correct notices at the correct times. If you do both of these things, then a court is extremely likely to make an order in your favour should you ever need to take legal action to gain possession of your property.
There is no legal obligation for you to have a written tenancy agreement, but we would strongly recommend it. A written document makes it very much easier to sort out any disputes that occur. Additionally, you cannot use accelerated possession procedure without a written tenancy agreement.
If you do not have a written tenancy agreement, you are obliged by law to provide the tenant within the main terms of the tenancy in writing within 28 days of their requesting it. This includes the start date, amount and frequency of rent payments, rent review arrangements, the length of any fixed term that has been agreed.
Most lettings agents will have their own in-house agreements that has been drafted by solicitors and which they can amend to meet your own particular circumstances. These tenancy agreements will often be much more detailed than an off-the-shelf agreement, which is by nature a lowest common denominator.
Unless you are familiar with legal jargon or feel confident that you can ensure that there will be no unsuitable clauses, it is usually best to get a specially tailored tenancy agreement drawn up. This will make sure that it addresses any issues that are specific to the property you are to let out, or any individual circumstances that you may have.
If you are a little more confident in your understanding of legal documents, you can buy a standard tenancy agreement from a legal stationers and remove any unnecessary clauses or add any additional ones that are required. The agreement can be modified to cover the specific needs of your property - garden maintenance, pets, security and so on. You are strongly advised to have it checked professional before you use it. This should still be a lot cheaper than paying for one to be drawn up from scratch.
The agreement that you draw up should always include a clause that permits you to take back possession of the property if the tenant does not pay the rent or is in any other way in breach of the contract.
The tenancy agreement should be signed by all tenants so that they are jointly and severally liable for the tenancy. You should also sign the agreement, though your lettings agent can sign it on your behalf if you wish.
Whichever avenue you decide to go down, you must make sure that any tenancy agreement that you use complies with the Housing Act 1988 (as amended 1996).
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