What Legal Documents Must a Landlord Provide?

When a landlord rents out their property, they’ll be aware that they must provide their tenants with certain documentation. Failure to provide these documents could result in financial penalties while using outdated or unenforceable agreements could put your property business on the wrong side of the law and create avoidable and uncomfortable tension with your tenants. In this article, we discuss the six key contracts and documents that landlords should have prepared when they are taking on a new tenant. 

1. Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement (AST) 

You’ll want to ensure that you have a tailored, up to date and compliant tenancy agreement that outlines the relationship between landlord and tenant(s). There are different types of tenancy agreements depending on the property, the number of tenants and their relationships to one another. The type of tenancy agreement impacts the landlord’s obligations, such as where to install fire alarms. Landlords are required to protect their tenants’ deposit in a government-approved scheme and some landlords might need to register for a licence if they let a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). 

AST agreements are shorthold tenancies that typically last for 6 or 12 months with the option to become rolling periodic tenancies after this point. Whilst a written and signed tenancy agreement isn’t mandatory for something to be considered a tenancy, creating a clear and robust tenancy agreement that outlines your rights and obligations is a simple and effective way to protect your interests and avoid unnecessary conflict with tenants. ASTs will specify a host of information relating to the property. For example, whether tenants have access to shared facilities, if they need to pay for council tax and other utilities, and whether there are any permitted occupiers such as family members. The tenancy agreement will also detail the letting agent if the landlord has engaged one to manage the property on their behalf. 

2. Guarantor Agreement 

A guarantor is a person who will financially guarantee the rent of a tenant in the event that the tenant can’t make the payment. A landlord might ask for a guarantor where they consider it more likely that the tenant could default on rent payments. For example, if they don’t have a fixed income or are a student. A guarantor will likely be required to enter into a guarantor agreement with a landlord so that the landlord has a claim against the guarantor if the tenant enters arrears. Due to the lack of consideration, a guarantor agreement will have to be signed and witnessed as a deed. 

3. How to Rent Guide and Safety & Energy Certificates 

Landlords are legally obliged to provide their tenants with a copy of the Government’s How to Rent guide. The guide explains the nature of an AST and its key terms so that the tenant can understand it.

Alongside the How to Rent Guide, landlords must also supply the tenant with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), Electrical Installation Condition Report and gas safety certificate. 

Making sure that your tenant has recognised receipt of these documents (perhaps by signing them) is particularly important as a catalogued audit trail will be useful to you if disputes arise. If a landlord does not provide these documents to tenants, the landlord may not serve a section 21 notice to evict tenants at the end of their tenancy. 

4. Information about deposits 

Landlords commonly require tenants to pay a deposit as security against damage they might cause. The basic idea is that landlords can use this money to repair damage caused by tenants. However, landlords must handle the tenant’s deposit money in a particular way and must communicate with the tenant how they’ll handle the deposit. 

Landlords must protect a deposit (capped at 5 weeks’ rent) in an approved tenancy deposit scheme within 30 working days of receiving it. Crucially, tenants must be notified of details of the scheme. 

5. Rent increase, rent arrears or tenancy amendment letters 

Things change from time to time so you therefore want to ensure you have a host of letters that can help you communicate with your tenant(s) in certain situations. For example, depending on the agreement and the landlord’s preferences, a rental agreement can be modified to make amendments (typically with the tenant’s consent) or to increase the rent. When a tenant is in arrears, a rent arrears letter can be created to remind the tenant of their obligation to pay rent and seek clarity on when the arrears will be repaid. 

Having access to these sorts of letters when you take your tenant on ensures that you have control, having foreseen all possible circumstances. 

6. Notices 

Similarly, it’s wise to have notices available when you take on a new tenant. At the very least, you should understand how to serve notices and what notices you can serve in different circumstances. 

Notices are regulated by the Government and irrespective of what notice you provide in your tenancy agreement, you’ll need to ensure that you comply with the regulatory framework. For example, during Covid-19, the Government introduced temporary changes to notice lengths. 

To effectively evict a tenant under the terms of an agreement, landlords will typically serve a section 21 or section 8 notice. A section 21 eviction notice can be used when the grounds for eviction are as per the requirements detailed by the latest government legislation. Furthermore, a landlord needs to be familiar with the required notice periods for section 21 and section 8 notices for different circumstances and must not make mistakes on this document.

Conclusion 

Landlords are required to provide their tenants with a whole host of information when renting out their properties and making sure you have all of these documents and agreements prepared is a sure way to avoid unnecessary conflict and allow you to quickly mediate disputes that might arise. Legislate is a software platform that allows you to create and manage lawyer-approved agreements which are tailored to your specific requirements. Their platform allows users to generate all of the agreements listed above and attach the necessary documents you’re required to present your tenants with. With all your contracts and documents stored in one place, Legislate makes the management of these agreements post-signature very easy. Sign up today and create an account for free!

The opinions on this page are for general information purposes only and do not constitute legal advice on which you should rely.