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Changing the tenancy agreements
We get quite a few requests from prospective members asking if they can amend the basic form of the tenancy agreement to suit their particular circumstances, or have versions of the agreements sent to them in MS Word or other editable formats. We have therefore prepared these notes to answer their questions.
First, we would suggest that you have a look at the sample tenancy agreement (see the link to the right). Although part of it has been blanked out, you will get a pretty good idea of its contents. You may find that after all, the Landlord-Law agreement covers all the points which have been worrying you.
The agreements are all in pdf format. There are (although not in the sample) ‘form fields’ or boxes where you can add tenancy specific information such as the names of the parties, the address of the property, the fixed term, etc. However the rest of the agreement cannot be changed, and we do not provide versions in Word so this can be done.
There is a very good reason for this. Our agreements have been carefully drafted so as to comply with the legislation which affects tenancy agreements. Perhaps most important are the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Under these, if a contract term is drafted in a way which is ‘unfair’ it could potentially be void and unenforceable.
This will generally be the case if the term is taking away a right which a tenant would otherwise have (for example the right to have at least 24 hours notice in writing of inspection visits). However in order to avoid creating an unfair clause, you need to have a pretty good idea of what those rights were in the first place!
Most landlords will not have sufficient detailed knowledge of tenants rights to avoid this sort of drafting error. If you change a tenancy yourself, you may inadvertently be adding an invalid clause, in respect of the very thing which is worrying you the most! Also people who are inexperienced in legal drafting will often write something which has a double meaning – it is very hard to avoid this sometimes, even for experienced lawyers.
In most cases landlords will not need anything other than the standard Landlord-Law agreements. They are very widely drawn and, at the last review (when they were converted to a plain English style) we consulted Landlord-Law members who made a number of helpful suggestions which were incorporated into the final drafts. We also have a large number of different varieties for different circumstances.
If however you still consider that your tenancy needs something in addition to the standard agreement, there are three possible answers.
1. The extra notes field
The first answer is that we have added an ‘extra notes’ field under the property address in all our tenancy agreements. This can be used for extra information about the property, for example if it comes with a particular parking space, or if there is a right of way across the garden. This can be a useful place to put extra information, plus as it is in the ‘particulars’ section it will be difficult for your tenant to ignore it.
2. Add an appendix
The second solution is to prepare an appendix to add to the agreement. For example some landlords like to have ‘house rules’, particularly with type B type agreements. These can be prepared separately and attached to the main agreement.
If you decide to do this, it is best to say in the main body of the agreement something like ‘see also Appendix A annexed’ or ‘see also the House Rules annexed’. This will have to be written in ink after the tenancy agreement has been printed, and both this and the appendix will need to be initialled (and in the case of the Appendix, dated) by all parties at the same time as the tenancy agreement is signed.
Be aware if you do this however, that the unfair terms regulations will apply to these rules in the same way as to the main agreement. You should read our article on Unfair Terms in Tenancy Agreements before finalising them. There may also be problems in interpreting the agreement, if your house rules contradict the main tenancy agreement terms.
A few of our agreements already have wording at the end providing for a separate appendix. If people require it we are happy to load up further agreements with this clause, on request.
3. Use our service
The third solution is to use our 
tenancy amendments service. However you will need to pay extra for this.