About to sign a contract?
Legally, this is the Big Moment. Once a contract is agreed, it becomes very difficult (often impossible) to get out of that contract. By the time you get round to signing up, you should already have looked at the written contract/tenancy agreement and got advice on it if there’s anything in it you don’t understand. Your last major chance to negotiate is before you sign the contract: once you and the landlord have signed, it binds both of you in law and you can only get it changed if the landlord agrees to the change (very rare).
Write in any repairs to be done before you move in!
Some landlords promise to make all sorts of improvements before you move in (“Oh yes – I’ll have a new carpet in here, and that sofa replaced, and that gutter sorted out...”) and then do nothing at all. To make sure your Landlord keeps his promises, we suggest getting these repairs written into the contract with a penalty clause (like “15% off the rent”) if they’re not done. If you don’t get a penalty clause written in, you might not be able to enforce the contract to repair.
Keep a copy of the contract
This is simply good sense. If the landlord refuses to give you a copy, be concerned and seek advice: this may be harmless or may be a sign that something fishy is going on. In some circumstances you have a statutory right demand certain contract terms in writing.
If your contract is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy
Check it gives details of which Tenancy Deposit Scheme your deposit will be protected by. If it doesn’t, query this with the landlord. If your Assured Shorthold Tenancy was created after 6th April 2007, or you gave your deposit to the landlord after this date, the law says that your deposit must be protected by a tenancy deposit scheme. Click here for more information on this scheme (external link - opens in a new window).
Although there are many different types of housing contract - Assured Shorthold tenancies, Assured tenancies, Licenses, joint ones, individual ones, and many more - some things are the same whatever type you have; even if there's nothing in writing. These are:
Contracts
When you agree to rent a property you are creating a contract between yourself and the Landlord even if there’s nothing in writing. You have rights as a tenant (for example, under the Housing Acts 1988 and 1996) which nothing in your agreement can alter (despite what your landlord thinks or says).
Make sure you can prove what you agreed with your landlord: insist on getting a written copy of your housing contract, and any other deals you make with your landlord, and keep copies of all correspondence with your landlord. Letters are easier to prove than conversations, emails, or texts; provided you keep a copy and send them by recorded delivery. So, do send anything important to your landlord the old-fashioned way.
Tip: if your landlord hasn’t given you an address in England or Wales to write to in order to contact him/her, your rent is not yet “due” (so you don’t have to hand it over in this circumstance only). However, don’t spend the rent: you’ll still have to pay all the rent owed as soon as the landlord does provide you with this “address for service”. Do not act on this tip without getting advice first – sometimes things are trickier than they look.
Probably the most important piece of advice in this whole guide is: read your contract thoroughly before signing it; and, if you don’t understand anything in it, bring a copy to the Student Advice Centre: we can go though it with you.
Retainers
You will often be asked to pay a "Summer Retainer" when signing a housing contract. These are contracts by which the Landlord undertakes to hold the accommodation ready for you to move in at the start of the tenancy.
Tip: if you and the landlord have already signed the tenancy agreement, and you have a copy of it, when the landlord mentions a retainer: we say don't pay or agree to it - the retainer will give you no extra rights whatsoever and the contract will be enforceable. However: if your landlord insists on a retainer before they will sign the contract, you may well have to pay one if you want the house.
Retainers do not give you the right to live or store your belongings in the house during the period covered by the retainer (unless the retainer document specifies that it does give you this right). This means that the Landlord would usually be within his/her rights to let the house to someone else over this time provided they are out of the house by the date on which your tenancy begins.
However, don’t feel a retainer’s an awful deal that automatically means you have a bad landlord: if they didn’t charge these, they might well just charge higher rents instead.
Joint Tenancies
If you are living in a house and sharing with other students, you might all sign one agreement renting the entire house instead of each signing individual agreements to rent a room. Often, this will be a joint tenancy.
You can usually tell if you’ve signed a joint tenancy by looking for three things in the contract:
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It will give the rent for the whole house.
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It will be signed by everyone.
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The phrase “joint and several liability” will usually be in it somewhere
In a joint tenancy, if someone moves out then the other students may (usually, "will") have to pay that person's rent until someone else moves in because the tenants have agreed to pay the whole-house rent between them. But the people left in the house might be able to sue the one who’s left for their losses.
Sub-tenants
If your landlord does not own the house they have rented to you, but is renting or leasing it, you are a sub-tenant. Things get tricky here as three sets of relationships are created:
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Head Landlord (your landlord’s landlord) and Tenant (your landlord)
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Tenant (your landlord) and Sub-Tenant (you)
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Head Landlord (your landlord’s landlord) and Sub-Tenant (you).
The law on sub-letting is complex. If you are a sub-tenant and run into a problem with your tenancy, seek advice.
Tenants of Landlords with Mortgages
Many landlords have mortgage agreements with lenders, some of which prohibit the letting of the mortgaged property! This doesn’t change anything in the rest of this guide, but adds in something new – what if there’s an issue with the mortgage lender?
In relation to the lender, the tenant has no protection. So, if the property is repossessed by the lender, the tenant can be evicted. This is, however, not the case for tenants where the landlord took out the mortgage after the tenants moved in.
If you find yourself affected by repossession of the landlord's property you should seek advice on where you stand legally - you may also be able to claim compensation from your landlord.
So, you want to end your housing contract?
The most important advice we can give you is: don’t sign a new housing contract until you are certain you can get out of the old one or you might end up having to pay two rents at once.
Also, remember: a contract does not have to be on paper...
...even if you’ve never signed a paper contract with your landlord, you still have one in terms of leaving – either an implied one or a verbal one based on what you and the landlord have agreed with each other. If there’s nothing in writing, you probably have an Assured Shorthold; but see our guide to contracts – what type does your agreement with the landlord seem to be most like? If in doubt, check it out with an Adviser – a mistake could be costly.
Now we've given you those two warnings, we suggest you read the following pages in order; but we'll let you choose from the list on the left...