Read the document to make sure it meets your needs and that everyone involved understands and agrees with all of the Tenancy Agreement’s terms. Remember that, if you have any questions, you can Ask a lawyer for advice.
Tenancy agreement for a house checklist
Make it Legal™ Checklist
Here are a few important steps to take to finish your document
Each party involved in the tenancy (ie the landlord and the tenant(s)) must sign the Tenancy Agreement. If the landlord is a company or an LLP, its representative must sign.
You can sign your Tenancy Agreement by either:
Signing online
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You can sign online using RocketSign.
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You can send an email request inviting the other party (eg your prospective tenant) to sign.
Signing in print
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Print a copy of your Tenancy Agreement for each party. Everybody should sign and date all copies.
A copy of your Tenancy Agreement will be stored automatically in your Rocket Lawyer account ‘Dashboard’.
If you signed and sent your Agreement online, you should also download and securely store a copy of your Agreement for your records.
If you signed in print, you should securely store your paper copy of the signed Tenancy Agreement.
Make sure you meet your responsibilities as a landlord. Tenancy law requires that landlords do certain things when renting out a residential property. If you don’t do all of these things, this may preclude you from, for example, using some eviction methods down the line.
When starting a tenancy, landlords should always:
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provide each tenant with a copy of the Tenancy Agreement
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provide each tenant with a free copy of the ‘How to rent’ guide
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carry out a ‘Right to rent’ check to ensure that the prospective tenants have the legal right to rent in England, based on their immigration permission
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place any tenancy deposit that the tenant has provided into a Government approved tenancy deposit protection scheme within 30 days. Landlords must also provide the tenant(s) with certain details about the selected scheme and should provide a receipt for the deposit. For more information, read Deposit protection schemes and Prescribed information for tenancy deposits
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provide the tenant with a free and up-to-date Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and, if the property uses gas appliances, a gas safety certificate. An EPC provides information about the property’s energy efficiency. For more information, read Energy performance certificates
For more information, read Legal obligations of a landlord.
It’s also a good idea to make an Inventory of the property and its contents or to complete a Property inspection report. These documents create a record of the state of the property and its contents at the start of the tenancy, which you can compare to its state at the end.
