Tenancy & deposits
What is a tenancy agreement?
A tenancy agreement is the contract between landlord and tenant setting out the terms of the let. Its type determines which statutory rights apply, and statute overrides terms that conflict with it.
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</figure>The type matters more than the wording. Whether a tenancy is an assured shorthold, a common law tenancy or a licence follows from the facts of the occupation, and calling it something else in the document does not change it.
Clauses that conflict with statute are unenforceable, and some are penalised in their own right. Terms attempting to charge prohibited fees or to contract out of repairing obligations are the standard examples.
Much of what protects a landlord sits outside the agreement altogether — the certificates served, the deposit protected, the checks carried out. A well-drafted agreement does not rescue a tenancy where those were missed.
What goes wrong in practice
- A template used for a tenancy type it was not written for.
- Prohibited fees included as clauses, which exposes the landlord rather than the tenant.
- Agreement signed before the required documents were served, where order matters.
- Variations agreed by email with nothing recorded against the tenancy.