Is My Tenancy Agreement Valid / Legal?
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Is My Tenancy Agreement Valid / Legal?
I am applying to rent a property and because my son will be 18 when we move in (he is 17 now), I have been informed that he has to be referenced (costing me £50 on top of the £150 for my referencing) and that he has to be added to the tenancy agreement. Is this a legal necessity and if so what are the consequences?
ANSWER 1:
No, it's not legally required. However, the landlord can demand what he wants when you move into their property and it's for you to decide whether or not to accept it.
That said, I'd strongly suspect this is not the landlord, it's the letting agent's policy; everyone over 18 must be referenced. The best I can suggest is highlighting to them that if he's under 18 now he won't have a credit history so a credit check is worthless. Also, if he's lived with you his whole life, there's not much more information that can be gleaned that wouldn't otherwise be on your report.
What you should be aware of is that if he is placed on the agreement and you fail to pay the rent, perhaps due to illness or redundancy, he is liable for the full amount. Theoretically they could obtain a judgement against him if they thought suing you wouldn't get their money. This would really hammer his chances of getting credit in the future, and he'd be paying a judgement debt for some time (I assume he's not massively affluent at this stage in his life).
Basically, you're dealing with letting agents. They're unregulated and generally uneducated, yet very difficult and sure of themselves. Good luck.
Is a tenancy agreement legal if a landlord has not given a tenant or shown a tenant a copy of the EPC when signing the tenancy agreement?
ANSWER 1:
The agreement is still valid. The contract you made was for the landlord to give you the property and you to give them rent. Extra legal requirements, such as gas safety checks, EPC, deposit protection etc. don't affect the tenancy itself, they just have consequences for the landlord.
Trading Standards enforce EPCs. Theoretically they can impose a £200 fine on the landlord, however, most likely they'll just give them a deadline to get one done. As they last for 10 years I'd expect your landlord has one and just forgot to give you a photocopy.
I'm not sure why you want it if you've already moved in, it offers no value to you. This sounds like you're trying to get out of an agreement on a technicality. It doesn't work like that.
I am no longer using a Letting Agent to manage my property, I'm doing it all myself. Do I need to draw up a new Tenancy Agreement, or can I use the one the agent issued- will that still be legal?
ANSWER 1:
You can use the current one dependant on copyright. It is legal to use whatever tenancy agreement you want, just be sure the terms are what you want them to be and they're not ridiculous or illegal.
Using an agents agreement may not infringe on landlord law but may on other grounds. If I were you I would purchase one online (they're not expensive); just be sure you know what you're signing.
I have bought an unfurnished AST tenancy agreement from W H Smith two years ago, could I type out the same agreement and use it for another property instead of re-purchasing agreements all the time?
ANSWER 1:
You can do that, but it's important to ensure the Tenancy Agreement is still up to date with any changes in law that may have occured. Also, retyping a Tenancy Agreement may take a long time, might be worth Spending £4.99 on a Tenancy Agreement to avoid all the hassle. The downloadable version comes in a word document, so you can keep it saved on your computer and reprint it as many times as you wish.
I have a tenancy agreement which is a photocopy or print out which is very badly copied. In most cases the clauses are unreadable. Is the contract still legally enforcable?
ANSWER 1:
Yes, If you have signed it. You have accepted the terms of the contract by signing it, if you have not signed it as of yet I would ask your Landlord to issue a readable copy and do not sign the agreement until you have read and understand the contents.
Can I put a penalty clause in the contract saying the tenant must pay interest on unpaid rent?
ANSWER 1:
As long as the interest rate is reasonable, this is a perfectly valid clause and is found in most tenancy agreements.
but ensure that the clause complies with the unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations
My tenency agreement has a wrong date on it, would this be a valid document in a court of law?
ANSWER 1:
Yes, the agreement would be valid as a court of law would look at the facts and evidence before making a decision. However, it may be a trivial issue depending which date is wrong.
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