Tenancy Agreement Information

In the UK there are a variety of ways in which an individual can hold an interest in land. In the UK we refer to land and fixtures on that land as "Real Property" although for the purpose of contracts such as a tenancy agreement the term is generally shortened to "Property".

On this website we provide shorthold tenancy agreements which are suitable for short term renting of a property. The formal name for the document is an "Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement" or AST for short.
 
An Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement (AST as it is commonly known) aims at accommodating the rules relating to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS as it is commonly known). The implementation of the scheme means that certain mandatory clauses must be in the tenancy agreement to ensure compliance. If you download tenancy agreements from any other site you should check to make sure that the agreement is up to date and includes clauses that deal with the TDS.
 

What Our Free Tenancy Agreement Covers
 

Our free Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement is prepared to help residential landlords comply with the Housing Act 1988 (1988) by including the required TDS provisions. However, this AST does not cover the following types of tenancy;

A. A tenant and the landlord share a property and reside together.

B. The landlord is not considered as a residential landlord. In other words the landlord is a commercial landlord.

Complying with the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996), any tenancy effective on or after February 28 1997 becomes an AST. It does not affect the status if the landlord already provides a notice on the tenant about excluding the tenancy from AST. On the other hand, it will switch the AST status to be assured tenancy once the landlord provides the notice.

The requirements for ASTs which are included in the Housing Act 1988 are;

A. It is only for individual tenant.
B. The occupation of the property must be as the only or principal home for the tenant.