Understanding your rental contract

Renting a property anywhere in the world requires a written document that shows the agreement made between the tenant and the landlord. This document is called a tenancy agreement or rental contract or lease agreement.

There are two types of tenancy agreements:

Fixed-term, which means it is running for a set period of time

Periodic, which means it is running on a week-by-week or month-by-month basis)

It is important to note that both you and your landlord have certain rights and responsibilities regardless of you having a tenancy agreement or not.

Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs)

The most common form of tenancy is called an AST. This is true if the rent charged is under £100,000 a year and over £250 a year (or £1,000 in London). If you find yourself in front of anything other than an AST, you should be very careful as it is the only type of contract that will protect you from evictions and your deposit.

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It is important to remember that an AST falls under the consumer contract umbrella of contracts, which means it must be in plain language.

Components of a rental agreement

Overview:

• The names of ALL the people involved

• The rental price and how it will be paid

• Information on HOW and WHEN the rent will be reviewed

• The deposit amount AND how it will be protected

• Details of when the deposit can be fully or partly withheld (Landlords in England and Wales are required to place the tenant’s deposits in one of three government-approved deposit protection schemes: the Deposit Protection Service, My Deposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme).

• The property address

• The start AND end date of the tenancy

• Any tenant or landlord obligations

• An outline of bills you’ll be responsible for

• Break clause - whether the tenancy can be ended early and how this can be done

• The notice period you and your landlord need to give to end the tenancy

• Who will be responsible for minor repairs

• Whether the property can be sublet

• Anything else that was discussed when you made your offer and was accepted by the landlord

Implied terms of tenancy agreements

There are certain things that you and your landlord are obliged to do which may not be set down in the agreement but must happen by law.

• Your landlord must carry out basic repairs

• You have the right to live peacefully without getting bothered by your landlord

• You must use your home in a ‘tenant-like’ way, not cause damage, etc…

• You must provide access for any repair work that needs to be done

After you closely look at the above matters in your rental agreement, you should pay attention to any particular rules that might make your life difficult in the long run. For example, the landlord may not let you dry laundry inside to prevent dampness, or that you can’t store bikes or scooters indoors to not damage the paint.

All of the above are important matters to pay attention to. The more things you have written down in the contract the safer you are from the landlord pulling some wired strings on you. If you want to change something in the agreement, ask for an amendment and an updated copy.

After all the tenants and the landlord sign the contract, a copy should be sent to everyone.

Changes made down the road

It is common that things change during your tenancy. If you need any change, you should inform your landlord and amend the contract.

For example, you might want to move your partner in. You should check with your landlord if it's possible so you can add them to the agreement as well.

Or you might want to get a pet. This is important to check with your landlord since at the worst case scenario you can risk your contract being terminated.

Or you might want to switch energy suppliers. Your landlord should not unreasonably prevent this.

For any change you make, remember to always ask for a copy!