Tenancy Agreement (AST)
How to get my FREE tenancy agreement form.
The free tenancy agreement form is one of a selection of free landlord forms and documents we provide our users. Our free tenancy agreement is for Assured Shorthold Tenancies (AST) and has been prepared for us by Fidler Pepper solicitors.
Once created it can then be viewed as a tenancy agreement PDF, downloaded to your computer and printed off.
Users can choose to simply create a single form without registering or alternatively sign up for our free landlord software – the Property Manager. Those users who register are then able to save their details, so when they need to create further tenancy agreements they can use their data to automatically fill in the required fields.
Both registered users and non-registered users are free to create unlimited tenancy agreements and landlord forms.
Our Property Manager software is designed to save landlords time managing their rental properties.
Where should I get my landlord insurance from?
Using Property Manager to create your Tenancy Agreement
Creating a tenancy agreement should take no longer than 3 minutes. We have timed it! Having done it once, it will take landlords even less time next time round. The other good thing about using the Property Manager is that because it is Internet based you can use it at work………when the boss isn’t looking! A great time saving manoeuvre.
NOTE: This Tenancy Agreement is not suitable for Scottish Rental Property – Sorry
Our tenancy agreement is not suitable for lettings within Scotland or Northern Ireland because the law governing property rental is different in these countries.
The Landlord
The Property Manager draws the details for the landlord from the user details taken when a landlord signs up to use Property Hawk. Therefore it is best to use your’s or your businesses’ full name. The correspondence address that you enter must be an address in England or Wales in order to comply with section 148 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987.
The term of a tenancy
The most common term for an Assured Shorthold Tenancy is 6 months. A fixed term AST offers the advantage to tenants and landlord of stating clearly their intentions. It is possible to grant a tenancy for longer or shorter periods of time. There is little advantage to a landlord in letting their property for longer than 6 months other than providing the tenant with a greater amount of certainty. This may be vital in persuading them to take your rental property ahead of another.
The Rent
Landlords should enter the amount of rent payable in the rent field, being careful to ensure that they select the correct rental period e.g. monthly, annually etc. Remember if a landlord selects a weekly rent they are required by law to provide the tenant with a rent book. It’s therefore not advisable for landlords to go for weekly rent, because of the additional administration. Most landlords now prefer rent to be paid monthly, paid in advance by standing order or direct debit. It is probably the easiest way for collection.
The Deposit
It is normal for a tenant to pay a rental deposit as security for the landlord, in case of repairs or replacement resulting from the tenancy. Landlords need to be aware of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme which requires a landlord to hold any deposit taken in the custodial or one of the approved insurance backed schemes. Some landlords now choose not to take a deposit. They instead prefer to charge the tenant an admin charge for setting up the tenancy or insuring themselves against potential damages resulting from the tenancy.
Executing the tenancy agreement
The tenancy agreements then have to be signed by the landlord and the tenant. The landlord should never handover the keys and / or allow the tenant into occupation before they have a copy of the assured shorthold tenancy with the tenant original signature (i.e. not a faxed or scanned copy.)
Most tenancies no longer need to be witnessed. This is because only documents that are signed as a deed need witnesses. Most documents transferring property rights need to be signed as a deed, but section 54(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925 provides that this not necessary for short leases (i.e. for less than 3 years) at a market rent.
Remember if you are taking a tenancy deposit you will need to do this.
Hi All;
I wonder if you can help me?!!
I am a single male who has been on the housing register since: Nov. 2003.
During; the time I have been working, my rent went up from £300-00 to £476-00 in just 3 years.
There were 8 individual incremental increases during this time…
Logically speaking; if I was to pay nearly £500-00 per month just for rent; I might as well get a proper mortgage.
I was wondering; is it legal or morally correct to increase a Private Tenant’s rent from £300-00 per month to a whopping £476-00 per month.
In just three years…
I had read somewhere that the Landlord/Council are only permitted by-legislation; to increase a tenant’s rent by a maximum of 10% per annum.
Otherwise; they are profiteering….
On top of the rent I had to pay: £72-00 for Council Tax. and take 2 different buses to work from two completely different companies…
My overheads and travel expenses were quite large!
I was eventually better off on benefits than working!
Can you help?!!
Hi Gary, thanks for your post and without knowing all your details it’s difficult to comment fully.
On the face of it your increases do seem hefty. As a general point market rents in the private sector have not kept pace with the increase in inflation so have been actually falling.
It may be that the original rent of £300 was very low. Some landlords offer below market rents to attract a tenant and then increase it as the tenancy extends and they feel comfortable with the tenant.
On the topic of Council Tax then unfortunately that is not anything to do with your landlord. That is cost of you receiving your local services. The only point I would make is that many local councils are introducing mandatory licensing of landlords which is a cost that your landlord will have to pay for. This may then be added in to his rent costs and result in some not all of the rent increases. It would be interesting to hear more about what time of place you are renting and what area of the country to gauge whether the rent is above the market level.
Chris
Just a small quibble. “The correspondence address that you enter must be an address in England or Wales in order to comply with section 148 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987.” It’s actually section 48, not 148. I know because I spent several minutes puzzling over an Act which comprises only 62 sections! It matters because we live in Northern Ireland. (It appears, however, that it is perfectly OK to use a valid E&W address where we don’t actually live, provided we trust the person there to alert us promptly to any notices served there.)
Hi Paul, I think the act you refer to relates to leasholder rights which is not the same as the rights of a landlord and tenant in relation to the AST which is governed by the Housing Act.
Hi, I am taking over the management of my property from the letting agent.
do I need to complete a new tenancy agreement with my tenants or can I continue on the agents one?
If I need to issue a new one and use your template how do I specify that it is a periodic tenancy agreement i.e. what “term” should I use?
TIA