New landlord: anything you wished you'd put in the tenancy agreement?

[largeprintagathachristie]

Hello. Accidental landlord here, and it's all happened very quickly, along with work pressure and some health issues.

Have received a draft assured shorthold tenancy agreement from the estate agent (I'm paying for management). I will need to sign by Thursday.

I assume they will have covered everything but is there anything
you wish you had put in (or left out) of such an agreement?

thank you!

I'm a tenant so slightly different perspective, but something I have seen sometimes added to tenancies when renting: you may wish to specify whether you wish the carpets or the property as a whole (including carpets) to be professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy as a stipulation. You may wish to also think about whether you would allow pets, and if so what type and how many, and whether the above cleaning clause would be especially useful in that case.
Best of luck with it.

Hopefully some landlords will be along to advise you soon

Best in mind that most of what people add to tenancy agreements doesn't actually override the statutory tendency law. I've had clauses about how much notice to give, clauses how often to wash the windows, requiring professional cleaning with receipts on move out and not being allowed to change the locks and to allow the landlord access for viewings, inspections and whatnot random proof fees, but none of that is enforceable anyway. So just make sure you are realistic.

What do you mean by accidental landlord

I had a stipulation that it was forbidden to put in a smart meter, having been stung when a previous tenement took it upon themselves to change the water from rated to metered.

6 month break clause on renewals? It has to be carefully worded. All legal obligations are your responsibility so don't rely on the Agents to do things properly. I'd have the agreement looked over by a property law solicitor. Join the National Landlords Association and have some £££ in reserve.

I would strongly suggest you restrict it to no pets. If the tenant has a dog and is anything less than mariculture you could end up with a jelly hairy house which takes a lot of sorting out. Some also say no children but that really does restrict the number of potential tenants.

make sure you state that there is an annual review of increase & percentage (this doesn't mean you will increase every year but it will give you the opportunity to do so - blinking insurance costs, doing expensive work etc) also re decorating - they have to ask permission (so you can talk it over re colours etc) alternatively they should redecorate in same colour (do something neutral) You cant ask for extra deposits for pets so I would second no pets - cats/carpets or fleas) if you have white goods put in that its their responsibility to fix them. leave instructions for boiler etc.

Accidental landlord is a misleading term, surprise landlord or or unintentional landlord might be more accurate.
Presumably you unexpectedly found yourself in a situation where your best option was to rent out a property that you own, it is still the case that you made a decision to be a landlord, it wasn't an accident.

no such thing as an accidental landlord.

forget the tenancy agreement, they are almost impossible to enforce. Cover yourself with rent guarantee insurance, legal expenses cover, malicious damage cover, buildings and landlord contents (of course). make sure that all the right docs are handed over and signed for before keys are provided. And triple check deposit protection rules have been complied with, cock that up and you WILL get sued and there's no defence.

the buck stops with you.

BTW I doubt 'no smart meter' is legal, as tenants who pay the bills are entitled to choose the supplier. As most suppliers now mandate smart meters that one won't work.

nor do smart meters but that's another story...

If you supply white goods does not a landlord have to fix or replace them if they break?

forget the tenancy agreement, they are almost impossible to enforce. Cover yourself with rent guarantee insurance, legal expenses cover, malicious damage cover, buildings and landlord contents (of course). make sure that all the right docs are handed over and signed for before keys are provided. And triple check deposit protection rules have been complied with, cock that up and you WILL get sued and there's no defence.

Pretty much this.

Another PP has mentioned that many clauses that a LL may put in a tenancy agreement aren't actually enforceable because they cannot override a tenants legal rights.

Being a LL can work great but it can also financially cripple you if a tenant decides to become an arsehole and screw you over. You need all the insurances you can get just in case.

If the tenant has a dog and is anything less than mariculture you could end up with a jelly hairy house which takes a lot of sorting out
What are you smoking Marie and is there any left?

State the maximum number of people allowed to live in the property. 1 bedroom = 2 people, 2 bedrooms = 4 people etc.

unenforcable - and possibly wrong anyway depending on your local HMO laws.

@TheQueef

What are you smoking Marie and is there any left?

Ha..auto correct on iPad went mad and I didn't check

I included a clause on how long guests were allowed to stay in the property as I had a feeling they were going to expand - they turned reception rooms into bedrooms and had friends staying in the loft!

Despite our clause about not changing the meters, our tenants changed it to a card (prepayment) meter which caused a lot of problems afterwards. I would stress that they can't change the meter!

I would have had a solicitor draw up an agreement. When my tenents were horrible I sent the agreement to my solicitor he told me in was unenforceable, and not worth the paper it was written on.

No subletting or moving in anyone not named on the tenancy, no pets without permission which you will not unreasonably withhold. Tenants with pets tend to stay for a long time which makes life much easier.

Make sure you protect the deposit properly, give them a copy of the EPC and gas safety cert, and get them to sign and date copies of the inventory confirming it is correct, including photos. And drop them an email or text regularly just checking in so they can tell you about minor problems before they become major ones. IME if you and the tenants keep talking to each other, it's usually OK.

Please if the property is not in an immaculate state and needs updating, do allow pets. We have to go into a rental, and it was bloody difficult to find somewhere that allowed pets.
Even the ones with cheap laminate flooring wouldn't allow pets. If the carpets need replacing and your tenants are decent they'll probably snap up the opportunity like we did.

I have included a clause specifying that i will deal with damp but not condensation issues from a lack of ventilation and heating.

www.propertyinvestmentproject.co.uk/blog/what-landlords-should-know-about-white-goods/
re white goods - basically you state you are not responsible for repair

I'm struggling to find anything in the suggestions for tenancy agreement that are any use. Either they try to override the law in which case they are unenforceable, or they are restating the default position.
If i were renting a property out i would have a very simple tenancy agreement with the main terms, and a separate tenant and landlord expectations leaflet which outlines any hopes about what influence i hope to have over their ability to treat the place as their own, and what i can do to help them.
That keeps things a lot simpler, and if they beach the expectations then that's still down to a no fault eviction which works regardless.